Hi

Any plasterers here in Canada?

I am desperately trying to buy plaster (multi finish ideally) for hubby here in Alberta ...but can't find anything!

If you have found plaster, where did you buy it!??

Or what is the best equivalent??

Thankyou

It's called drywall compound. Perhaps that's why you can't find it.

You can get the stuff in any hardware store.

And taping, mudding and sanding is SO MUCH fun...

I don't do that. I'll put up the boards but the rest of it is up to Souvette.

I don't touch anything wet. Union rules.

So your 'T' total then? Or are their the usual exceptions, as in every rule

Loadsamoney (Doin' Up the House)!

Unfortunately drywall compound isn't the same as the cementitious plaster used by 'plasterers' in the UK.

I haven't seen any in Canada. I suspect that the overwhelming use of drywall means that it has very little appeal. Drywall mud is typically use as a gapfill to finish already fixed drywall. Conventional UK plaster is used to construct the wall surface itself.

I'd ask JamesM for an expert opinion. He's always been plastered whenever we met.

The plaster you are referring to is a mixture of sand, cement and water that plasterers mix themselves and, if the OP is a plasterer, I would imagine that he would be able to make it himself.

"Skim" is the finally layer used by plasterers in the UK and its equivalent in Canada would be the drywall compound referred to above.

If the OP wishes to make bespoke friezes, cornices, etc. or something more ornate, I suspect he will need to obtain that type of plaster from a specialist and I would argue that Google will be his friend.

Having updated an old and disgusting bathroom...

it was my 1st time taping, mudding and sanding (turns out I have a nack for it!) took over a week with drying, layers and sanding...!

If we could get the right 'ingredients' here, hubby would have done his own mix...

If he could have plastered it would have taken 2-3 days to finish.

He did however use his hawk & trowel, with a slightly altered drywall mud to cover some patch work...worked out ok, but the sanding...ohhh the sanding...

Google has found me one company in ON that has a finish plaster...and am awaiting a reply!

From years ago on site, I seem to recall that the skill of pros and the difference between them an amateurs is speed, as most can do most things given enough time. If one is spending hours sanding, it is because one is putting on too much mud.

Cementitious plaster sets on contact with water by a chemical reaction. It is supplied typically in large bags in the UK. It comes in different mixes for different uses, bonding, browning and finishing etc. Drywall skim sets by evaporation of water and quite often shrinks and for these reasons can only be appled quite thinly to allow evaporation whereas cementitious plaster can be applied thickly.

It is possible to mix your own plaster but plastering can be hard work and without the obligatory labourer to do it for you it's best to keep a defibrolator handy.

Exactly...I'm the labour!

started with the bathroom as it was the most urgent
(plumbing under the floor was in a bad way)...
found wires going nowhere and no insulation (explains the frozen pipes!).
The room was 25x 10ft...had to reboard walls and build more...wanted to plaster the lot and the ceiling.

So it has taken 3 weeks (as hubby working f/t 10hr days) and could only do weekends and evenings but it has been a good lesson...

Every day is a school day!