Doing plaster repairs and installing drywall may well account for a healthy portion of your work. Fixing old plaster and replacing lath and plaster with new drywall are much-requested jobs. Both plastering and drywalling take skill and time, and many customers are happy to pay well for a quality job. Here are some tips for these types of jobs:
- Use a fast-drying plaster (20 to 45 minutes) and a heat gun if you need to speed up drying even more.
- Use as little plaster as possible to cover the area and do several coats. The end result will be better, and you won’t have as much to sand off or sanding dust to clean up.
- Always use fiberglass drywall tape instead of the paper tape because fiberglass tape won’t bubble and is more durable.
- If you have loose plaster to repair, or a hole in the plaster, the rule of thumb is that if the area is larger than four feet square, remove the lath and plaster and replace it with drywall. If the area is smaller, remove the loose plaster, fill the area with new plaster, sand smooth, and prime.
- Cracks in plaster need to be investigated to determine if the crack is from movement in the floor or wall. Ask the customer if it has been fixed previously. If so, you can go ahead and fix it, but the customer should know that the crack will return unless the structural problem that causes the movement is fixed.
- To fix a crack start by opening it up with a knife or pointed paint scrapper, then make sure it won’t move by using drywall screws on each side of the crack. Tape over with fiberglass drywall tape and fill with fast-drying plaster, then sand smooth and prime.
- Before applying a second coat of plaster or drywall compound, make sure there is no sanding dust left behind. Plaster will not stick to sanding dust.
You should allow, on average, about six hours to install, tape, and finish 500 square feet of drywall. The amount of materials you’ll need for drywall jobs are as follows:
About 350 lineal feet of tape for every 1,000 square feet of drywall.
About 30 nails or screws for each 4′ x 8′ sheet of drywall.
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