By far the most frustrating thing about plastering jobs is the drying times. This is especially true with inside corners - with a knife you pretty much can’t do both sides the same day because you’ll always end up messing up the opposite one.
I finally gave one of those corner tools a try, and the result is fucking mint. The customer is going to be so happy with these flawless corners tucked behind the curtains in their living room.
I can do all sorts of DIY things around the house.
Drywall/plaster, I am terrible at. Much respect for those skilled in the trade. Their work on a ladder above their head beats what I can do at eye level over 2 days.
(The other thing I don’t touch is plumbing. Jeez, that water really wants to be outside of the pipes. Unlike drywall, the impact of bad plumbing is much more than an eyesore.)
It is actually just as hard as it looks. Not only the act of plastering itself, but knowing which products to choose and how to use them correctly. It seems simple on the surface, but it’s an art in itself.
Yep. Have a lot of respect for people who know the right materials.
I see what you did there
As another DIYer for mudding and taping, what I’ve learned is that less is more. Better to do 5 wafer-thin passes with virtually no sanding than 2 passes and sand like a sumbitch because it’s full of bubbles.
This is a good tip, thanks. I have been approaching it with a “I’ll build up a ton, then sand it back to what I need” which is probably one of the many ways I mess it up :)
That’s how I started out, too. Not only does it take forever to dry, it’ll crack and slump. And then, of course, there’s the interminable sanding.
You can also play with the later coats, going with a thinner consistency so it fills the little holes better and you’re scraping most of it off. Watch a few youtube channels of pros, it’s time well spent to save time later.
Same. Drywallers and plumbers are Gods in my book.
Well I’m plumber by training so this finally confirms the belief I’ve had about myself all along!
Plumbing is way, way easier than drywall (in fact I would go so far as to call the supply side of it “easy,” including soldering copper pipes); it’s just that the penalty for failure is so much higher.
I partly agree and partly don’t.
Plumbing as a field is way broader than installing drywall, and there’s a ton to learn. No single plumbing task is really harder than hanging drywall (except maybe welding), but doing all the drywall in an entire building is a hell of a lot easier than doing all the plumbing for it.
I’m only talking about DIY plumbing a single-family house, and I only said the supply side was easier. The drain side is more complicated to understand, with the slopes and venting and whatnot.