alcazar

iTrader: (2)

The stuff for plastering walls, not sticking plasters?

I've not used any here in the UK for an age, and have just been given half a bag to patch a hole I made in the bathroom wall when plumbing, in order to get at the fixings better.

I was surprised to note that it seems an even darker brownish-pink than I remember.

Yet the same stuff bought in France, for less money, is white...and lasts longer unused before the whole bag goes off. I have a bag over there I've been using for well over 18 months, whereas this bag, opened quite recently, needs to be used on the wall within ten minutes of mixing, or it's unworkable

Why is our stuff such sh1te? And pink???

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

To make more money out of us UK suckers. Take paint for example. It used to be decent stuff but now half of it is practically water which means you end up buying twice as much as it's such a watery thin mix!

Paben

iTrader: (5)

It's pink so you can see you've covered it with the white skim finish.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

The pink plaster you mention will be Gypsum and its far superior to the white crap you will use in France. I pressume its Knauf plaster you use in France and its useless. If you try and mark the Gypsum plaster with your nail when its set it wont mark it but do the same with the white plaster you mention and it will gouge marks in.

The white plaster falls off the walls more often as compared to Gypsum. Also if the Gypsum plaster is setting within 10 minutes its an old bag and should be returned for your cash back.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Not had any trouble at all with the french stuff, seems hard enough once set, although that does take longer than UK stuff, and I've not had any fall off yet.

Plus it covers with two coats of paint...UK stuff takes about four.

taylor85

iTrader: (5)

yep did alot of work in paris few years ago we bought our own plaster over in pallet loads

i wasnt the guy putting it on the walls and ceilings but still remember him saying he wont use that EU ****e

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

There's a different way to use it, but it's every bit as good as UK stuff once up...just doesn't go off by the bagfull and is white!

taylor85

iTrader: (5)

Im not the plasterer, these were government projects they mostly make us take UK materials anyway to meet standards as general building spec is alot higher here

mrtheedge2u2

I have the white plaster in my house. It is rubbish. You just look at the plaster and a big scrape appears in it. I want to replaster the walls but it is throughout the entire house.

hodgy0_2

My FIL had white plaster used throughout his large flat - this was about 12 years ago

the main reason was it saved him several thousands on paint - as he left it white

the plasterers said it was a bit harder to get the same finish as the pink stuff

maybe something to do with ambient air temperature

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Gypsum is white.
UK plaster is pink due to impurities that they don't bother to remove, so it should be dirt cheap...it isn't.

Gypsum is Calcium Sulphate. 1/2 water. It is white in it's normal state.

The Joshua Tree

Am i missing something, why can't you just add a colour powder dye to the UK plaster when it's being mixed so you can have it any colour you like ? Surely in this day and age you'd think that would be possible.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Over here in Croatia they only have the knauf crap as well and it's almost impossible to use in the same manner as Gypsum, also a 5kg bag is around £3.50, so here they just tape and plaster the joints then sand them down and paint the whole board.

Obviously I ended up bringing a load of gypsum over here to do a few walls and ceilings as the knauf once it dries (very quickly) there's no flicking water at it and playing around with it for a couple of hours like you can with British gypsum, so you need to be full on professional to use it.

I could probably use it these days as I'm a lot better than I was when I first started out plastering, but it's bloody expensive and a ball ache so I just bring it over from the UK as and when.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Costs me less per bag for the french white stuff than the lousy UK pink stuff.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Yes, but you can't REMOVE the horrid pink UK colour.

Paben

iTrader: (5)

Why all the fuss about the colour? It's a base coat not a finish, and the different colouring is like painting - undercoat should always be different to the top coat so you can see what needs doing.

4u2nv2

its the aggregets they use that colure it, its full of chemicals for curing too. when its wet its pinky brown but when its dry its almost a biscuit colure. im a plasterer of 20 years,
the white plaster is mostly lime and there for soft. and is used for buildings that are built of stone or old buildings with no footings, its more for allowing a certain amount of movement as it will not crack as easy as the harder pink stuff.
ive plastered walls before for the customer to varnish as they loved the uneveness of the pink, looks really cool to be honest and almost goeas a salmon colure with a clear varnish.
there is paints out there nowa days to cover fresh plaster in one coat..
stay away from cheap home brand paints (already watered down and is crap) and will take 4/5 coats to cover.
fresh dry plaster is like a sponge, we use to make up really weak unibond and water, and lickem with that first then use a average paint to cover 2/3 coats.
we send our customers to our local paint/dec shop for fresh plaster paint comes in white or mag, we found by watering it down by a 3rd helps cover the plaster easyer 2 coats done.
you cant use dies with the skim as its like mixing 2 colures together to make another. the pink is too dominating if you like...

4u2nv2

make sure you unibond what your plastering before hand and let it dry before skim, 50/50 water unibond.
this will seal your area to skim and stop the sucktion and give you more time also dont try doing it in 1 coat, do a couple of coats leaving 10 mins between coats....

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

A squirt of washing up liquid also helps stop it going off when it's a bit old, keeps it smooth and silky for a little longer.

4u2nv2

wouldent recomend putting that in skimming it will make more bubbles then is good and will only hinder the process, skim will go greasy for a while and the fairy liquid makes it pull, if you can get past that then itwill hold it off but at the expence of labour. tryed and tested from a plasterer that speads 100sqm a day... hand full of lime in the skim will hold it off perfect, you put fairy liquid in render mixs (sand/cement) to liven it up a bit and make it more workable, altho you would be shot nowa days for using it on building sites, plastasieser is what you should use but again we do still use it as it does make the render nice and fluffy more so with sharper sands.

Devildog

Geoff


You ask a question on here. You get sensible answers, You then contradict those answers, argue the toss with professionals who know better and (presumably) go off and Google your question to get an answer anyway.


Why not just Google the question in the first place?

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Sorry, but I've done none of those things, except ask the first question.

The answers I've got have not yet identified why something someone else said was gypsum, which I DID then google, is pink in the UK and not white. gypsum is NOT pink.

I HAVE disagreed with people's summing up of french plaster, as I just don't find it either soft, or difficult to work. And I've used quite a lot now.

Sorry if you see me as otherwise, or wasting folks' time. It wasn't my intention.

Now, if someone can actually tell me WHY it's pink?.

4u2nv2

2nd time. its the chemicals and the agregates in the skim.. gypsum you refer to being calcium is mainly plaster boards not skim, farmers spread it accross there fields as its good for neutral soils and replemishis the soil ready for next years crop.. and yes they get the slurry direct from gypsum as its a waist product for them...
it is purly the chemicals and aggregates that stain the skim...

4u2nv2

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/dire...=true&t=Gypsum

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Sorry, i missed the first post. So they ADD stuff to it to make it coloured? Or do tha additions have other uses?

DYK

Haha we used to use washing up liquid in mortar.As my work mate would do the mixing he would squirt a bit of washing up liquid in the mix and say,just a little squeeze squeeze..

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Your idea of using a lot is totally different to mine. I use that white plaster at work for Persimmon homes and that's why I know it's no good. I will use a few hundred tonnes of it a year and have to say it's the worst plaster ever.

As you say it sets slow so that's good for a DIY'er but for a tradesman it's terrible. To get a good finish on it takes some work and I mean when your putting say 60m 2 on in one go and not one wall.

The idea of wondering why it's pink, who cares and it may be more of a branding thing as people will know it's Gypsum. They used to do wall finish years ago and that was white but they abandoned it for multi finish.

4u2nv2

multi finish is hard very hard when set, gypsum would never go off in its natural state it will need a catalist hence the agregates/minerals sulfas calcium and god nows what other chemicals, its all to help aid the 3 hour window you get from mixing. when it starts going it gets warm due to the chemical reaction. its pink its gona stay pink no matter what you do to it, its only pink untill you paint it pmsl.

4u2nv2

houses are built with a small buget in mind for maximum profit (housing developments) the pen pushers dont give a dickie bird about the tradesmen. fact is, a bag of white skim is a quid cheaper per bag then multi finish, so over 50 houses 40 bags per house, well you do the math..
its got nothing to do with quality of skim just that its cheaper there for better for the profit,
times are changing and products change all the time.

jukebox

years ago pink plaster was from the south of england , grey plaster from the north, but not seen the grey for a few years, end of the day its gyprock mined from the quarries