Knauf Airless spray plaster

[Pete]

Anybody used this type of plastering? I can plaster but it takes me a bit longer than a trade plasterer. Have not decided if we are taping/filling or full skim yet but noticed this and wondered if anybody has used this system or had experience of it. I already have an airless sprayer so would be another good use for it. I realise it is dearer than normal board finish but it seems quicker and cleaner. TIA

[Nickfromwales]

Linky 

[ProDave]

So it relies on you taping and filling all the joints first to present a flat surface, and presumably all the corners as well. So is little more than a thick paint?

[Pete]

 

27 minutes ago, ProDave said:

So it relies on you taping and filling all the joints first to present a flat surface, and presumably all the corners as well. So is little more than a thick paint?

They use it on hotel refurbishments so assume it is more than a thick paint. Cannot remember the constituent parts but marble dust is one of them. Yes you have to tape, fill no as they would be square edged boards . It has a white finish so  assume painting will be a lot easier. I have a rep calling so will give more info if I feel it is for us.

[ProDave]

2 hours ago, Pete said:

 

They use it on hotel refurbishments so assume it is more than a thick paint. Cannot remember the constituent parts but marble dust is one of them. Yes you have to tape, fill no as they would be square edged boards . It has a white finish so  assume painting will be a lot easier. I have a rep calling so will give more info if I feel it is for us.

My point is, it's not completely de skilling plastering. It would be no good just spraying it on unprepared plasterboard, the tapered edge joints would show. So you have to do something, tape and fill the joints, so it's not a "lot" of saving in skill is it?  Perhaps it just hides slight imperfections in the taping and filling?

[Alexphd1]

Very interested in this as well as I have also just bought a airless sprayer.

[Nickfromwales]

14 hours ago, ProDave said:

My point is, it's not completely de skilling plastering. It would be no good just spraying it on unprepared plasterboard, the tapered edge joints would show. So you have to do something, tape and fill the joints, so it's not a "lot" of saving in skill is it?  Perhaps it just hides slight imperfections in the taping and filling?

I assume it's like K-rendering, where you still have to trowel it to a flat finish. The spray aspect is likely just to get the product onto the wall so it's no good without a degree of skill and prior plastering experience, otherwise it's going to be expensive Artex with just as bad a finish. Taping is going to have to be absolutely perfect as with regular skimming you can press any scrim tape back flat as you go, but with this it will not be so simple. 

@Pete @Alexphd1 do either of you have any experience laying on / trowelling up with normal plaster? If not, I suggest you look long and hard at this before getting in too deep. . Go buy a trowel and a bag of multi finish and have a little go, but it took me over a decade of watching plasterers before I had the balls to get my own plastering tools and have a go. I started off with the cupboard under my neighbours stairs, then some dry lined PB in his lobby, and a few small bathroom ceilings. I'm good now, but wouldn't dream of skimming a whole house or any very big walls, especially where they are subject to a lot of natural light. 

That said, I've seen a lot of 'plasterers' ( on their mothers side ) who have been at this for years and still couldn't get self levelling compound flat.  

 

 

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

Note the BFO mixer required to compliment the pump. Looks like someone will need to be mixing and feeding whilst your spraying and trowelling. 

[PeterW]

26 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Note the BFO mixer required to compliment the pump. Looks like someone will need to be mixing and feeding whilst your spraying and trowelling. 

 

I thought it needed its own mixer and sprayer - it is something like a rotary mixer and screw compressor combined. 

[Declan52]

As nick says it just looks like how they put k rend on but adapted to use skim. I would think it would take quite a few mixes to perfect how creamy you need it to be so it can be sprayed out and hold on the wall without it running down the wall.

Plastering is best left to plasterers. I am an expert at the old Spanish wall type look, bumpy as fook ESP when the sun shines along it.

[Nickfromwales]

I don't personally see any value in yanking on the purse strings when it comes to the finish. It's what you'll be staring at for the next however many decades, and once you've painted it, if it's not perfect, it'll be waving at you every day. 

Save money on energy, save money on prudent purchasing, but don't try and save money when it comes to putting the icing on your very expensive cake. 

I had a similar exchange when I did an extension, when the customer questioned my painters quote of £1100 to do the hall stairs and landing, large house. When done, and all my lovely filling, sanding and blending-in was done, you couldn't tell where the old and new met. The customer said it was the best money he's spent ( hurt my feelings, but he was kinda right  ). 

Pay a plasterer. Whilst he's skimming, go outside and start on all the landscaping you've been avoiding for the last 24 months  

[Pete]

13 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

As nick says it just looks like how they put k rend on but adapted to use skim. I would think it would take quite a few mixes to perfect how creamy you need it to be so it can be sprayed out and hold on the wall with it running down the wall.

Plastering is best left to plasterers. I am an expert at the old Spanish wall type look, bumpy as fook ESP when the sun shines along it.

It is pre mixed, all you need to do is liquefy it prior to putting on the wall. A lot less water content than normal plaster as well.

[Pete]

31 minutes ago, PeterW said:

 

I thought it needed its own mixer and sprayer - it is something like a rotary mixer and screw compressor combined. 

airless sprayer is all that is required with the correct nozzle size. I think the one you are refering to is for exterior render applications which is completely different product (i think)

[Nickfromwales]

2 minutes ago, Pete said:

It is pre mixed, all you need to do is liquefy it prior to putting on the wall. A lot less water content than normal plaster as well.

Yup. It's the amount of water that's in question. I've no doubt they specify it, but if doing mix after mix in the same wet hopper you'll need 'the eye' or it'll come out different each time. 

Still, irrelevant if you can't lay on and polish it. 

It does say it sands back easily but bollocks to that. I'd bet my left nut that any imperfections will be far more prone to cracking and shrinking back compared to two coats of regular skim. I just think this is something to put out to tender, and deffo not a DIY job imo, unless you've got previous plastering experience.    

[Pete]

11 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

I don't personally see any value in yanking on the purse strings when it comes to the finish. It's what you'll be staring at for the next however many decades, and once you've painted it, if it's not perfect, it'll be waving at you every day. 

Save money on energy, save money on prudent purchasing, but don't try and save money when it comes to putting the icing on your very expensive cake. 

I had a similar exchange when I did an extension, when the customer questioned my painters quote of £1100 to do the hall stairs and landing, large house. When done, and all my lovely filling, sanding and blending-in was done, you couldn't tell where the old and new met. The customer said it was the best money he's spent ( hurt my feelings, but he was kinda right  ). 

Pay a plasterer. Whilst he's skimming, go outside and start on all the landscaping you've been avoiding for the last 24 months  

I see your point Nick but my thoughts are that I can plaster incl ceilings so if this product was suitable to try at first in areas that are not as large/and away from natural light it means I could do a fair amount of the house myself and if needs be get a pro in to do the larger areas. I also have an airless sprayer so it is only the cost of the product and by the time I have finished with the rep I hope to have e few freebies to have a go with.

[Nickfromwales]

In that case, give it a go. 

Just be wary of how much you lay on and how warm the house is. Try and cool it by opening all the windows before sun up ?

[Pete]

I won't be using dirty water as the old plasterer's use. Don't ask what dirty water is!

[Alexphd1]

I bought (ebay) the machine graco Mark v to paint, but it's big enough to plaster which is a bonus. I have done little bits of plastering here and there but nothing major.  I'm game on buying a few bags and trying somewhere out of sight but if I need to buy the hopper add on I probably won't bother. 

[Nickfromwales]

5 minutes ago, Alexphd1 said:

I bought (ebay) the machine graco Mark v to paint, but it's big enough to plaster which is a bonus. I have done little bits of plastering here and there but nothing major.  I'm game on buying a few bags and trying somewhere out of sight but if I need to buy the hopper add on I probably won't bother. 

How much did you pay for the sprayer? And will you be up for selling it at the end of the build ?

[Jeremy Harris]

Reading the info on the sprayable "plaster", it isn't really traditional gypsum plaster, as far as I can tell, but some form of thin layer polymer coating.  My guess is that this takes away a great deal of the traditional skill needed with plaster, as there won't be a need to let the plaster start to cure before polishing it flat.  It also looks to go on in a much thinner, single layer, plus the video shows waste stuff being re-used by scraping it back into the hopper.  Do that with traditional gypsum plaster and it's guaranteed to make it lumpy.

[Pete]

I may be up for selling mine at the end of the build. I will have to ask SWMBO as it was a 25th wedding present. Sort of thing @Onoff would do!

[Pete]

I know most people would rather go down the traditional route and have a two coat plaster finish which is what I had at my last house (new build) but when I left it you could see tiny cracks that aligned with the PB joints so which ever route you choose can have problems. House was 10 years old when we left and the PB was dot & dabbed. 

7 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

Reading the info on the sprayable "plaster", it isn't really traditional gypsum plaster, as far as I can tell, but some form of thin layer polymer coating.  My guess is that this takes away a great deal of the traditional skill needed with plaster, as there won't be a need to let the plaster start to cure before polishing it flat.  It also looks to go on in a much thinner, single layer, plus the video shows waste stuff being re-used by scraping it back into the hopper.  Do that with traditional gypsum plaster and it's guaranteed to make it lumpy.

All the more reason to give it a go.

[Alexphd1]

Machine was 700 plus 80 shipping north. I will be selling when finished builds but not even started build number 2 (my build) and I am looking at another plot for a holiday home today... so could be a while. 

[Onoff]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

I may be up for selling mine at the end of the build. I will have to ask SWMBO as it was a 25th wedding present. Sort of thing @Onoff would do!

 

I'll have you know I once bought the missus 5L of car shampoo and the same of screenwash for Xmas. I was struggling for ideas and there was other stuff too!

 

She's forgotten the other stuff but likes to remind me on occasions of the cleaning products.

[Jeremy Harris]

I've just pumped a litre of home-made ethylene glycol/sodium nitrite corrosion inhibitor into my cheap airless sprayer and stored it away in the workshop loft.  Brilliant bit of kit, with the one reservation that it's a pain to clean out thoroughly after use.