Tuesday 14 February 2012

Earthquake (Plaster cracking) - Part 2

Help, earthquake has hit Cliddesden!

A few problems occurred while the plaster was drying. We done the plastering in the kitchen, and we did not count on it taking 4 days to dry! So, this meant we had to move the board while it was still wet to another location (Spare bedroom). Just as we were going to move it, we found that the cat (Tiggs) had managed to climb on it and there were some nice paw prints in the landscape, and around the board. As the plaster was still pliable we managed to smooth them out. The following day, cracks started to appear where the polystyrene had gaps, and where the cardboard profile formers were. We were now heading for a disaster... 

Cracks in plaster

After a bit of a discussion on how we were going to patch this up we decided that we would wait for the plaster to finish drying and fill most of the cracks with Polyfiller. Then apply a layer of gauze and plaster to try and hold it together. This partially worked, but we still had to use some Polyfiller to fill a few more cracks once the plaster (with gauze) dried.

So, a few lessons have been learnt here:
1) Don't use cardboard with wall plaster (It gets a bit wet, and while drying will crack the plaster)
2) Try and but-up all polystyrene blocks so there is no gaps
3) Use gauze to tie the plaster together - it helps give strength
4) Don't move the board when it's drying
5) Don't leave the cat in the same room as the plaster is drying
6) Don't make the plaster mix too watery

Luckily though it has all stuck. Part 3 coming tomorrow...

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