The use of cement mortars for plastering walls, types of coatings, preparation for work and the technology of applying compounds to the surface in various ways. The content of the article:
- Varieties of coatings
- Preparatory work
- Application methods
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Wall plastering technology
- Without beacons
- By lighthouses
Plastering walls is a rather laborious, but often necessary process, which involves leveling the surface of enclosing structures and protecting them with a solid solid layer from damage, cold and noise. Being an intermediate stage of finishing works, plastering also has an aesthetic and sanitary and ecological purpose. The finished texture serves as the basis for paint, roll and tile coatings.
Varieties of plaster wall coverings
With the help of plaster compositions, made with your own hands or in the factory, you can perform four types of wall plastering with cement mortar:
- Facade finishing … Often called "fur coat" and is used as external insulation for corners, walls and plinths of buildings.
- Rough ordinary plaster … Most often it is used when there is no need for absolutely smooth wall surfaces, as well as for sealing chips, cracks and antibacterial treatment of structures. In addition, rough plaster may involve further leveling the walls with putty. This option is especially suitable with a large curvature of the surface and a desire to save money on the purchase of a gypsum finishing material.
- Quality plaster … It is used to create substrates for tiling or wallpapering. It is the most popular type of exterior and interior wall decoration, it forms a smooth, even surface and corners of the correct shape.
- High quality plaster … It is perfectly flat, applied in several layers and is a base coat for painting walls. It is often performed with the installation of lighthouse profiles and is controlled vertically and horizontally in two planes.
Preparatory work before plastering the walls
Plaster is a "wet" finishing process, in which the appearance of dust and dirt is inevitable. Therefore, before starting work, all things should be taken out of the room and wall accessories removed. If it is not possible to move the furniture to another room, it can be moved to the center and covered with plastic wrap. It is also worth taking care of the floor covering, it is best to cover it with a layer of sawdust. The luminaires should be removed and the room de-energized for electrical safety.
After carrying out these activities, you can start cleaning the walls. It is convenient to remove the old whitewash or wallpaper with a spatula or scraper, before that, the entire surface must be moistened and wait for its outer layer to swell.
The cracks found after this procedure on the cleaned base should be cut with a grinder or chisel and filled with plaster putty using a fine mesh or serpyanka tape.
Before applying the solution to the walls, it will be useful to make incisions up to 10 mm deep on their stone or concrete surface. The density of their application is about one thousand pieces per 1 m2 area. They will help to securely fix the plaster layer on the base. This work can be done with a chisel or an old ax.
Ways to apply plaster to walls
Traditionally, plastering compounds are applied sequentially in three layers, each of which performs a specific function:
- Splashing … An initial layer that ensures the adhesion of the future finish to the base surface. When applying it, liquid solutions are used. The thickness of the layer applied to brick or foam concrete walls should not exceed 5 mm, for wooden surfaces - 9 mm. In order to maintain a constant thickness, this layer is usually distributed only over even walls made of concrete.
- Primer … This is the second layer of plaster, which is applied with a thicker mortar after the spray has hardened. A mixture resembling a dough in consistency is leveled, and then rubbed, achieving a relatively even coating. The primer layer acts as the base of the finish and determines the overall thickness of the plaster.
- Covering layer … It is the final step in plastering. For its application, finely dispersed mixtures of a semi-liquid consistency are used, and the dried primer layer is pre-wetted to increase adhesion between the second and third layers. Then the coating is carefully leveled and rubbed.
At the beginning of each of these stages of layering the plaster, you should wait for the time that is regulated by the manufacturers of ready-made dry mixes and building codes.
Cement mortar plastering technology
The process of plastering walls with your own hands with cement mortar is quite painstaking. Before starting it, you should stock up on patience, attention and some tools: a trowel, a spatula, a plastering bucket, a float, a rule and a half-trowel.
Plastering walls without lighthouses
Professional plasterers call the technique of laying cement mixtures "blotting", it is carried out with a spatula or trowel. To level the layer, a rule or a half-grater is used, and to smooth it, a grater is used.
The mortar should be slapped with a trowel into the wall surface. Only in this case will it adhere well to the plane, since fine particles of the mixture from the impact of the impact can easily penetrate into the pores of the wall surface. The movements of the master sprinkling the solution are similar to the actions of the ping-pong player, there is dirt and splashes all around, but this factor will have to be reconciled in the name of obtaining the optimal result.
It is not required to fill a large wall area with a solution at once, it is better to finish finishing in sections of no more than 1 m2… When you have finished processing the planned part of the wall with a blotch, you can begin alignment. In its process, circular movements are performed on the surface with a grater, the mixture is added to the voids, and its excess is removed and sent back to the container. Freshly laid plaster should dry within 7-8 hours, and then the next layer is slapped.
Correct room corners are made with edged boards. It must be attached with screws to a wall adjacent to the plane being processed. And when it becomes necessary to plaster the adjacent surface, the board can be fixed with jibs. Geometrically accurate internal corners are formed using two half-beads connected at an angle of 90 degrees. Any flaws in the work and excess plaster mixture must be eliminated within the next 12 hours, otherwise it will be very problematic to remove the frozen solution.
Plastering of walls on lighthouses
This performance technique is much simpler than it might seem at first glance. For work, you will need light metal T-shaped cross-sectional profiles, which you can always buy. An alternative to them can be wooden slats, but this is not the best option, since they often deform when wet.
It is convenient to install the extreme vertically located beacons at a distance of 0.2 m from the intersection of adjacent walls or the end of one of them. To determine the curvature of the surface of the walls vertically, a building level or plumb line is used, which can be made from a piece of cord by tying a load to its end.
Plaster tubercles are applied along the vertical of the rule. Pressing them down with this tool, you need to form a planned level that serves as a guide for the process of leveling the walls.
The position of the beacon is fixed with a plaster mixture. The next extreme beacon is also installed. In order to determine the location of the intermediate profiles, between the points of the beacons that are at the same level, you need to pull the cords. You can also designate the level of the future coating using self-tapping screws hammered into the wall. After finishing work, they should be removed.
After polymerization of the gypsum mixture that fixes the beacons, the gaps of the wall between the profiles are thrown with mortar. The rule is pressed against the beacons without undue effort and the plaster layer is leveled by moving the tool along the profiles, like on rails. Moving the rule in the vertical direction, the movements should occasionally be alternated with small turns left and right to obtain an even layer. After the plaster dries a little, the beacons can be carefully removed from the wall, and the grooves left after this procedure can be repaired with mortar.
How to plaster walls - watch the video:
Despite the complexity of plastering the walls with a cement-sand mortar, any home master can handle it. This does not require much: study the manual and comply with all its requirements. Then an excellent result of work will delight the eye for a long time, bringing moral satisfaction.
