Plastering

The plasterer rang with a couple of days notice of a free slot which, for a change, we were ready to accept. This final (?) plastering job is now underway. Most of it is similar to what I have blogged before for the other rooms - sand & cement render to the block work, skim over the plasterboard etc. The only difference this time is that firstly he is using "bonding" to patch a wall from which I have hacked off the loose sections of existing plaster, before skimming over the whole thing; and secondly the curved section for the underside of the staircase.

The staircase is straight at the bottom but has 3 "winding" steps through 90 degrees at the top. The underside of this winder is free plastered onto a wire mesh. This picture shows the first piece of mesh in place :

Before this was started I glued and screwed the central triangular step braces that have been hanging around in the box of bits since the stairs were fitted. Surprise, surprise, these upper steps now feel much more solid to walk on !

I also made sure that the wedges used to hold the treads tightly into their slots were firmly tapped home as these are not going to be accessible after today. I also found that every bolt holding the staircase to the wall had worked loose, so I tightened them up and fitted an additional lock nut on each one.

Additional pieces of mesh form the approximate shape and are screwed/nailed to the underside of the steps. A double thickness of plasterboard covers the straight flight and brings the levels up flush with the strings :

Bonding plaster is layered onto the mesh to build up the shape :

Whilst this was being applied, the plasterer warned us to go easy on the stairs, as the vibration from heavy footsteps can cause the whole lot to flop to the ground ! Fortunately this did not happen. Once dry, this will be over-coated with "finish" skim at the same time as the rest of the walls and ceiling, in a couple of days time.