# Plaster trick for renovation work - so you dont miss any.



## paintninja (Jul 5, 2014)

Tip for plaster repairs.


One of the biggest problems we encounter, more so with repaints, is finding all the repairs we do around the place. The dings, scratches etc. that we plaster up and then half way through rolling a wall realise we havnt sanded / primed the repair.

I have a couple of solutions for this, one is to colour the plaster with stainer, but the problem with this is that you often need to put an extra coat on the spot after sanding but you definately wont miss it. The other way is shown below, ideal for people painting their own house, bit more sanding required until you learn how to do it better. I spot prime at the same time as sanding, sand two spots, prime two spots.

The other trick i have found over the years is that you are better off priming spots with the low sheen, even though this is technically wrong and you should be undercoating the spots. The reason is the sheen on the final coats. I call this playing catch up, on the sheen. 

Spot coat the repair, then two coats over the top with low sheen i find works much better on the finished job than using undercoat on the patches. I have found that even after 2 coats on top in some light conditions / situations you still can see the repair after the job is finished and i believe its the level of sheen that is showing, the wall is slightly shinier than the patch because there are more coats of low sheen on the rest of the wall.

using low sheen or whatever your using on the wall eliminates this. Below is another way of applying the plaster so it can easily be seen to be sanded.


----------



## Brian C (Oct 8, 2011)

Mate, I dont want to rain on your parade, but this tutorial you-tube stuff is for the home handyman. 

We are professional painting contractors on this forum and we know it already.


----------



## paintninja (Jul 5, 2014)

Brian C said:


> Mate, I dont want to rain on your parade, but this tutorial you-tube stuff is for the home handyman.
> 
> We are professional painting contractors on this forum and we know it already.


I realise this of course. I was asked a question before from somebody i believe to be a non-contractor / painter type however. And there are an awful lot of unskilled tradesmen out there. 

And i do earn money from these videos.

The apprentices we have coming through here presently, some have only worked for large companies. I had a young guy (qualified) the other day ask me how to repair damage to a render wall, this same guy has never worked off a set of trestles in his whole apprenticeship. So for guys like you this stuff might be amateurish, but for guys just coming through at the moment this could be quite helpful.


----------



## Brian C (Oct 8, 2011)

O.K I admire your passion of the trade, but a lot of your topics are for amateurs, not professional painting contractors . 

I guess me being in the trade for 37 years make me think I have seen and heard it all before.


----------



## The 3rd Coat (Aug 17, 2013)

The undercoats I use have quite a bit of sheen, always have heaps of bonding primers left over from previous jobs, and that's what I use for spot priming.


----------



## Brian C (Oct 8, 2011)

Agree with you 3rd coat. All acrylic undercoats I have used have a low sheen finish.


----------



## Boco (May 18, 2013)

You can always tint mudd with food coloring, blue chalk, or masonary coloring.​


----------



## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

paintninja said:


> I realise this of course. I was asked a question before from somebody i believe to be a non-contractor / painter type however. And there are an awful lot of unskilled tradesmen out there.
> 
> And i do earn money from these videos.
> 
> The apprentices we have coming through here presently, some have only worked for large companies. I had a young guy (qualified) the other day ask me how to repair damage to a render wall, this same guy has never worked off a set of trestles in his whole apprenticeship. So for guys like you this stuff might be amateurish, but for guys just coming through at the moment this could be quite helpful.


I've never worked off of a tressel ladder before (over 10 years experience), and neither had my Dad (40 years of painting:, same with anyone in the company he works for. Its a minor detail that doesn't matter, its a ladder that can hold planks.

A real experienced painter would tag there patches on a light coloured wall, and spot prime while sanding. When you spot prime do you use a brush or a roller? What type of products do you use, quality flats and eggshells, or the low sheen builders grade stuff?

Do you actually know what the orface size does, or do you just assume its an overspray indicator like most spray and prayers?


----------



## paintninja (Jul 5, 2014)

journeymanPainter said:


> I've never worked off of a tressel ladder before (over 10 years experience), and neither had my Dad (40 years of painting:, same with anyone in the company he works for. Its a minor detail that doesn't matter, its a ladder that can hold planks.
> 
> A real experienced painter would tag there patches on a light coloured wall, and spot prime while sanding. When you spot prime do you use a brush or a roller? What type of products do you use, quality flats and eggshells, or the low sheen builders grade stuff?
> 
> Do you actually know what the orface size does, or do you just assume its an overspray indicator like most spray and prayers?


Well i generally use a tip with a larger orface size when im spraying thicker material, and a smaller one for finer work. Or for a heavier finish with the larger one, if i was spraying structural steel i'd use a larger orifce, while a front door a small one. The smaller the last number the smoother the finished surface. But i would say you will get more overspray with the larger orfice size yes, its letting more paint pass through the nozzle, so with that comes more overspray.

Smaller / finer tips slow the production rate down right at the last stage of the pump sprayer. I would say though that if overspray is your worry its not really orfice size, but the type of orfice, blue tips = overspray, green tips = greatly reduced overspray. Turning the pressure down just doesnt cut it you are still getting alot more overspray with a blue tip, which is what most painters do.


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

journeymanPainter said:


> I've never worked off of a tressel ladder before (over 10 years experience), and neither had my Dad (40 years of painting:, same with anyone in the company he works for. Its a minor detail that doesn't matter, its a ladder that can hold planks.


This is a certainly off topic, but the OP was talking about working off of a pair of trestles. These are trestles:










Think of them as heavy-duty sawhorses.



"Trestle ladders" (also called "A-ladders") are different critters all together. This is a trestle ladder:










Sorry you haven't had the opportunity to spend some time on one. We've used them a lot, and it is a unique experience, to say the least, especially when used without a plank. In that situation, you climb the vertical ladder section to the top and put one leg over the top rung. You hook the foot of that leg under one of the lower rungs to stay in place. Good luck doing all that with a work pot and brush!

The real fun is that there is usually enough free play in the system for the extension to flop back and forth as you shift around. It may be only a few inches, but it seems like more when you're perched on the top of a vertical ladder 20+ feet in the air.


----------



## Oden (Feb 8, 2012)

Yeh. The straight up ladder is no picnic to work off of. That damned gravity again.


----------



## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

Gough said:


> This is a certainly off topic, but the OP was talking about working off of a pair of trestles. These are trestles:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, I'll stick with my three way, and extension ladders. I hate ladder jacks, but using that system with a plank wouldn't be so bad


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

journeymanPainter said:


> Yeah, I'll stick with my three way, and extension ladders. I hate ladder jacks, but using that system with a plank wouldn't be so bad


Unfortunately, there are times when those just won't cut it.


----------



## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

I count my repairs.

6 repairs

6 sandings

6 primers

Done.


----------



## paintninja (Jul 5, 2014)

Yes did get off topic a bit, I honestly don't know how a painter can go 40 years without working off a set of A frames!


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

paintninja said:


> Yes did get off topic a bit, I honestly don't know how a painter can go 40 years without working off a set of A frames!


As I noted above, it may be a matter of nomenclature.


----------



## paintninja (Jul 5, 2014)

& the only reason that scaffolding is at the end there, is because the end wall had a metallic effect down it which was rolled and then brushed which i couldnt have done quick enough off a set of trestles. If that room was all one colour i would have used trestles right through it.


----------



## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

paintninja said:


> Yes did get off topic a bit, I honestly don't know how a painter can go 40 years without working off a set of A frames!


Commercial/industrial work. Whole different animal.

I'm confused about your last post. You rolled then back brushed for the metallic look?

Why not get a metallic style paint and spray with a conventional set up? 

When we had to do a gold finish(actual gold I'm the paint) that's what we ended up doing


----------



## Slopmeyer (Aug 2, 2009)

Why not just circle the repair with the back of your five in one and be done with it?


----------



## benthepainter (Jun 17, 2011)

paintninja said:


> Yes did get off topic a bit, I honestly don't know how a painter can go 40 years without working off a set of A frames!


G'day PN

23yrs in the trade I don't use trestles to bulky I use a double sided stepladder anything higher than that I use my mobile scaffold or ladder brackets 

But I can see how they would be heaps handy to have a set or two


----------



## Darps (Mar 24, 2014)

Can you show me how to do repairs on darker colored walls?


Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


----------



## Darps (Mar 24, 2014)

I've been having problems with my system. I use a magic marker to circle my repairs, but the paint won't cover the marker.


Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


----------



## Darps (Mar 24, 2014)

epretot said:


> I count my repairs.
> 
> 6 repairs
> 
> ...




That's the most inefficient way of doing things. So, if you have 7 repairs, you only do six of them?


Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


----------



## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

Darps said:


> That's the most inefficient way of doing things. So, if you have 7 repairs, you only do six of them?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


No, what I'm saying is...I will only do 6 repairs per project. If there are more than 6 repairs, then you need to hire a drywall contractor.

I mean, I'm a painter, not a magician.


----------



## jason123 (Jul 2, 2009)

I use a quality primer for my plaster and no flashing. One time I used zinger for spot priming then that flashed. 

That ladder looks like it's for daredevils


----------



## mudbone (Dec 26, 2011)

paintninja said:


> Yes did get off topic a bit, I honestly don't know how a painter can go 40 years without working off a set of A frames!


Definitely have to be in the right frame of mind.:whistling2:


----------



## RedOak (Nov 17, 2012)

or in order to see your patches you could just add a lil bit o chalk to the plaster so u see it? maybe?
s/n am i the only one who noticed the plastic knife? where they do that at?


----------

