How and with what to plaster walls and whether it is necessary to do it at all? This question is faced by everyone who makes repairs or is engaged in the construction of a house. However, this is a very important and crucial stage of finishing work, on the quality of which the life of the coated stucco structure and the frequency of its repair will depend. Entrusting the work to specialists or completing the decoration yourself - depends on your capabilities and time, more often the owners of the premises themselves take up the matter. So what is better to plaster the walls?
Types and forms of plaster mixtures
The construction market offers a wide range of dry and ready-mixes for finishing work. The advantage of ready-made solutions is convenience - you do not need to mix anything, opened the packaging and started working. But such material will cost more than the most common dry mixes that need to be prepared independently. All packages of the semi-finished product have detailed instructions for preparing the working mixture, this process does not cause difficulties, even an inexperienced user can handle it.
According to the material, the plasters are divided into 2 main groups: cement and gypsum. Cement and cement-sand mortars are used for plastering external walls, facades, and industrial premises. Gypsum is great for interior decoration.
Types of plaster mixes by quality
- Simple. It is applied in several layers in rooms that do not require additional decoration. These are mainly cement and cement-sand mortars.
- Superior. It is used for decoration of residential, office, public premises. This is applied using special technology in several stages, the composition of this mixture includes substances that improve the quality of the coating.
- High quality. As a rule, these are dry or finished decorative stucco compositions for finishing the walls of the smallest fraction using color and / or textured inclusions.
In modern decoration, a combined wall coating is used when a cement-sand base is applied to a brick or block wall to smooth the surface, and thinner gypsum plaster is placed on top of it under the wallpaper or high-quality decorative plaster as a topcoat.
Do I need to plaster the walls?
There are many ways to give your walls and rooms a neat and tidy look. If the room has even walls and does not require leveling, as, for example, during cosmetic repairs, you can do without major plastering, and limit yourself to putty and / or priming for wallpaper or painting.
Facades can also be decorated in other ways (facing with facade bricks or ventilated systems: panels, tiles on profiles). If the walls were previously plastered, assess the condition of the coating. In old houses, the plaster layer is removed completely or in fragments and a new layer is applied, sometimes a cement-sand mixture of small thickness is applied on top to update and level the surface for painting.
To whom to trust plastering work?
Since the use of professional services is not cheap (from 500 rubles / sq. M for cement and from 300 rubles / sq. M for gypsum plaster), we therefore plaster the walls with our own hands, if time permits. In addition, it will help to keep the budget.
Work stages
To begin with, we determine which solution to plaster the walls is more rational in a particular case:
- For facades and exterior walls, it is advisable to use cement and cement-sand mortars. After hardening, such surfaces well tolerate the harmful external effects of rain, high temperature extremes, snow, mechanical shock. Often the plastered walls are covered with facade paints, then the building takes on a neat and elegant appearance, but it is important to choose a high-quality paint that will also be resistant to external influences.
- Cement and sand formulations are also suitable for interior decoration. If the premises are industrial, then the plastered walls are not subjected to additional decoration.
The walls in apartments and office premises are covered with cement-sand mortar at the stage of construction or overhaul, when it is necessary to hide large irregularities that occur during uneven laying of blocks or bricks. Typically, this coating serves as the basis for:
- Wall insulation, corners.
- Further puttying with plaster compositions.
- Wallpapering.
- Tiling.
The better to plaster the walls in specific conditions, sorted out.
Preparation of material and tools
Before starting work, it is necessary to stock up on the necessary set of tools and materials so that in the process of work there are no difficulties and hitches. For work you will need:
- Dry mix and water or ready-made solution.
- Drill with nozzle mixer for mixing the mixture.
- Measure for water and steelyard.
- Plaster mesh for stiffness of a thick layer (in basements, facades).
- Dowels, screws for fixing the mesh to the wall.
- Lighthouses (special profiles for even application of the mortar along the entire plane of the wall).
- Metal scissors for cutting mesh and beacons.
- Tape measure for accurate measurement of dimensions and distances between beacons.
- Bubble level and plumb line.
- Puncher for drilling holes for dowels.
- Construction pencil (thickened) for marking.
- Trowel for spraying mortar onto the wall (with manual spraying).
- The rule for leveling the bulk of the solution between the beacons.
- Set of spatulas for leveling plaster.
- A grater for leveling the cement-sand finish.
- Gloves for hand protection.
- A watch to track the time between batches and setting.
Work surface preparation
After you decide what to plaster the walls with, you should start preparing the walls for the workflow. Before starting work, the wall must be thoroughly cleaned of dust, dirt, extraneous and protruding elements. If the surface turned out to be even and smooth, it is necessary to make serifs for better adhesion of the solution to the wall.
Stucco mesh
When plastering facades, basements, where additional warming and applying a thick layer are necessary, a stucco mesh is attached to the primed base. It prevents the formation of cracks during shrinkage of the building and prevents the solution from spilling over.
There are several ways to fix the mesh to the wall, but the most affordable in home use is this: the dowels are connected with a Z-shaped wire, so that the closest fit to the working surface is ensured. The dowel-nails are fixed in increments of about 15 cm. Fastening is done from the bottom up.
In addition, the mesh is fixed with finely chopped pieces of a metal beacon: profile fragments 2 cm long are screwed to the mesh with screws. In this case, the lighthouse trim serves as a substitute for dowel nails.
Lighthouse
This procedure will ensure uniform application of the mortar over the entire plane of the wall.
The distance between adjacent beacons should be a few centimeters less than the length of the rule.
The marking starts from an angle at a distance of 15-20 cm. Holes under the dowels are made on the drawn vertical line. Further, with the help of a level or a plumb line, the dowels are put on the self-tapping screws in the same plane, so that the wall turns out to be smooth without differences.
Next, a small amount of mortar is applied on the line between the fasteners to fix the beacons, then by pressing the rule, the beacon is installed in the self-tapping screws. The protruding solution is smeared or cleaned. After installing several beacons, check that the installation is even. After a few hours, the wall is ready for plastering.
Wall plastering technology
Let's consider how to plaster walls with cement mortar. We prepare the solution according to the instructions on the packaging. To do this, we use a steelyard and a measure for water to accurately observe the proportions of substances. Mixing is done with a drill with a mixer.
We plaster the walls along the lighthouses like this: with the help of a trowel we throw the mortar on the wall evenly over the entire plane and use the rule to level it. Using spatulas, we correct minor irregularities. If you want to apply a large layer of the solution, it is necessary to do this in several stages with thinner layers, otherwise the stacked thick layer will fall off or drain.
If no further finishing is expected, grouting is advisable. To do this, the same solution is diluted with water to a creamy state, applied to dried plaster and rubbed with a trowel.
If subsequent finishing (putty or wallpapering) is implied, the dried plastered surface is cleaned with sandpaper to remove possible irregularities and traces of spatulas and primed with special compounds.
The technology described describes how to plaster walls with cement-sand mortar. Other types of plaster coatings are applied in a similar manner.
Gypsum plaster
Now we will consider how to plaster a wall with gypsum-based plaster.
Unlike cement mortar, gypsum plaster is often used as a finishing layer in the finish, because it has a finer fraction and gives the walls a smooth, well-groomed appearance, it can be colored and textured.
Also, gypsum plaster can be applied as a basis for further finishing directly on the laid wall. In this case, the application technology remains the same: surface cleaning, priming, exhibiting beacons, applying the solution. Plaster compositions are applied easier than cement, this work is easy to handle. Mostly gypsum plasters are sold in the form of dry mixes, the preparation of the working composition should not cause difficulties - detailed instructions are everywhere attached.
More often gypsum plasters produce a thin putty of the cement-sand layer, having previously primed it.
Plaster the walls with our own hands as well as decorative compositions. Especially if you want to give the walls a unique look. There are special plastic compositions with which you can apply a variety of textures and ornaments.
The choice is yours
How to plaster walls is everyone's personal choice. The most important thing when choosing a material is to take into account the conditions in which it will have to serve so that there are no problems during operation. As you can see, cement mortars are universal and can serve anywhere, but with interior decoration they often require additional coating. Walls with cement-sand lining are guaranteed to withstand various suspended structures. Gypsum plaster will give your wall a neat, smoother look, it is easier to apply, but if it is chosen as the main layer, it may be difficult to suspend cabinets due to the softness of the gypsum, although it can withstand the picture.
In any case, the plastered surface always lasts a long time, this method of finishing any walls and rooms is the simplest and most universal. Than to plaster walls - choose wisely!