1 Coat vs 2 Coat Plastering 

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I was always told to two coat plaster. There is a massive difference in the finish. Great video 👏

Totally agree with you on this mate… 2 coats for show, 1 coat for dough 💷🤑🤠

Hi Alex , A 40 year plasterer here ,just wanted to comment on plaster in the eye , happened to me a few years ago trowel full in the eye blind for 5 days , it burns like acid , be ware .

By far the best and most comprehensive plastering tuition channel

I've been plastering for 35 years,when I started walls were float and set ,skimming cement walls you need 2 coats ,today everything is plasterboard,all I ever do is 1 coat on boards lay on with steel ,flatten with ox plastic ,then 2 wipes with nela an a splash brush ,perfect every time

This is a great video. I use one coat and two coats plastering. On lovely flat new boards one coat is fine as long as it ends up 3mm thick. . On an old house with damaged walls two coats can really help sort a lot of problems before you put on the finish coat. Both techniques are good . Different situations call for different techniques. Keep the great videos coming. 👍

i learnt 2 coat plastering, after 2 years i went to one coat and have done for 13 years never had a call back painters love my work customers love the work never had a complaint ever, cuts time doing alot more work in one go if want. if your replastering old walls by all means 2 coat unless you built out bad bits then skim but other than that one coat all day, still the same finish some people just cant one coat cause you learn 2 coat

Great vid Alex I generally 2coat but there are times when I have one coated and sponged and got a good finish. Totally agree with what you say about the traditional plasterers ‘spongers ain’t plasterers crap’ you can say that about any trade when I first started out the old boy Chippeys never had all the cordless tools and chop saws just literally a bag of hand tools and saws they actually sharpened themselves. So yeah if your finish ain’t compromised and you get a good finish using a sponge why not if it makes your life easier 👍

dan solo got a very good explanation on why sponging is wrong

Brilliant, I've used the one coat sponge method now for 30 years, I'm 60 now, it's a perfect match sponge and spatula, especially for mechanical plasters

🙌🏼 thanks for the mention Alex 👍🏼 Will let you know how I get on once this dorma is insulated and ready to go

I've been plastering around 15yrs always just used one trowel and one coat of multifinish. I do use a spray bottle but never used a sponge, a spatula/speedskim or a flexitrowel - Never even knew they were a thing until recently!!! I'll admit I do get tiger stripes every now and then but walls are flat and you don't see the stripes once it's painted.

One coat all the way I want to get home quick ☺️

I have always done two coat work but I am thinking of trying this on my next job, I have used the sponge before and it works really well and after watching your video I can definitely see the advantage, thanks for sharing

We try to 2 coat most walls as we just find it's a flatter finish. But we sponge that also, just for the reason it dries more uniform.. And as for your point about bg not recommending sponges they also dont recommend using pva and we all do that also.. 😁. Good video Alex 👍

1 coat or 10 coats it's all about application at correct thickness.. Fill out your beads and get it on.. Flatter you can lay it on the better The rest is down to timing.

Been plastering over 20 years, never one coated, always 2. Got a sponge the other day and found if I give it a go after flattening I can get a nice finish. Got a Refina fine sponge. Dunno if a medium would be better though. And yes, cleaning them is a pain.

Each to there own bud everybody does it a different way but as long as the results the same crack on great vid 💪🏻👍💪🏻

If u get it flat enough on good 1st coat u dont need alot for 2nd timing and a good trowel IMO . Was taught old school way long time ago just got back into doing a few walls here a few ceilings over artex The little jobs no one wants loving it not greedy just earning 👍👍👍

Just another thought. This really could help get us work back from the taping and filling teams. It must be cheaper and quicker then getting them to come in three times. 👍

Most plasters here in Ireland put 2 coats on with the one mix. And sponge float. First time seen Alex doing 2 coat with 2 separate mixes and flatten between coats, looks great 👍

I'm currently doing my level 2 NVQ and one coat plastering is something that was massively frowned upon by my teachers. In the coming months, my NVQ assessor will be coming on-site to assess me for my NVQ and if he spots me applying one coat, he will definitely fail me. Interestingly a friend of mine works on building sites in London and apparently it's now standard practice to apply one coat of plaster on new builds.

I do both depending on job You can make just as good job 1 coating Iv done it plenty of times infact did it Friday 😁 Iv never had a come back on jobs

Bang on 2 coats around the beads bang on 2 coats until that last couple walls and you second coat Same mix and last wall gets a oner . Sponge floating is balls just flatten immediately and add a second wet trowel . Timing timing 👍 I am old school old guard trained and trust we all any of us have ways of doing

Enjoying the videos , I am a plumber and i price by the job not how long it takes. Why should we suffer because we can do the same job quicker. Show Buisiness not show Friends .keep up the good work 👍

Well said pal .. nothing wrong with sponge. Been spreading 35 years and can do it all. And what I’ve learnt is …… Always make the Painters job easier , then you’ve succeeded and your a decent plasterer. It’s irrelevant how you did it. Know one cares . Except the painter and client.

I personally don’t use the one coat method but I don’t tear it down for the simple reason being….17:30 exactly!! I can’t show you that evidence and neither can 99.99% of the other plasterers in this country

All depends on the man with the trowel in his hand. Plenty good 1 coaters about

Ive plastered for 20 years. 2 coat for few years, then 1. Gone back to 2 coating. A few pals have been sponging... Ive tried it. Like it. Fuck 2 coating. Back to 1 and a bit of sponging. Yeaaaaaah.

Seen this method many times, and that was a good example. I tend to two coat with the same mix, then use sponge float. Is this ok?

Very informative video!

Good demo. Thx.

At 17:11 when you said you had a second coat of skim fail on you, what does that look like? Lots of shrinkage cracks? The second coat curling/falling off? Crumbling of the plaster?

Your exactly right 2 hits a day on 2 coats is more than enough im 60 and still banging um out good on yer

How things change EH?? ...... When I started, (Traditional) plastering would be a 'Three - Coat - Finish' ....... Steel Float - Wooden Float - Steel Float ...... Then just as it was tightening up a wet cross-grain-float (wood again) would be used all over, much like a Sponge-Float these days. It would also be used to make sure our internals and externals (pre-metal beads of course) were absolutely Spot-On :-) ........... Finishing Sand & Cement Render and Board ...... I think one-coat can be successful these days because of the quality of the 'fixings' - in our days the boards were all over the place, and we used Four sand - One lime - One cement for our rendering which gave a 'lot' of suction. You would never get away with one-coat back then with the materials we had - No Multi-finish until the 80's/90's - I think ?? ..... And the promotional BLURB from gypsum was that it 'could' be used as a One-Coat finish (Not that I ever did) and could still do two houses a week on my own :-)

I do 9 coats, 2 vests and a bomber jacket. Not sure why, looks shite.

Good video we put 35m2 to 40m2 one nan sets on. When we sponge we only sponge say a 1/3 of the set then back and take out the lines then next 1/3 and so on . That way you can put decent size sets on and sponge no problem. Going to give your method a go though

NVQ’s..my father was a senior lecturer for over 40 years..taught City&guilds in engineering/tech drawing/maths/computers etc..always referred to NVQ’s as not very qualified..🤣🤣🤣

Hi Alex , great video thanks. Where did you get those tickler brushes from? they look really good.

Was going to try but struggling to get 1 coat on before going off

Why does it need to be sponge float if only doing one coat?

Alex we all do it but I wouldnt broadcast it on here as people are anti 1 coat JS

Also can you do a vid on how you protect you iPhone speakers 🤣🤣🤣 My phone is currently in a sandwich bag. Plaster kills iPhones 🤣🤣🤣👍

Just read what it says on the back of the bag.. that is the correct way.

I’m newer to plastering (finished college and had site experience for a year) I’ve moved to a new company and they want me doing 1 coat finish which feels weird to me but seems to be the normal now I’m up north from London (I’m a decent plasterer and do get a good finish) I have 3 ceilings to do on Monday so would you recommend I start using a sponge float due to the company wanting 1 coat? I have a refina sponge float, I also use speedskims, flexi trowels and so on

Easier to do walls than ceiling and around patio doors

Hi Alex great work, was just wondering which angle trowel or as you would say twitcher do you use on the corners, is it Ragni??. I have been told the Ragni angle trowels are better than the Marshalltown one's, What do you think.

I got tought to always do 1 coat onto board

Can't believe it is even a discussion

What happens if you one coat, flatten and trowel without the sponging and going over 3 or 4 times with a spat?

Call me a cynic but maybe British gypsum insist on two coats because ur using more of there product that way .most things in this life come down to the dollar I find

Whats the difference between 1 coat and using spatula and 2 coat without sponge float

Another good vid Alex, how’s the nela trowel coming along or you not really using it at the moment

Interesting, hard to tell on a video but one coated walls looked a little lumpy bumpy to me. Personally I’ve found when I do it, you can get the walls lovely and smooth but never as flat as two coats!

Hi Alex. Love your videos. As a DIY'er, I'm liking the sound of one coating to take the pressure off by not having to make a second wetter mix. Do you have to use a cement trowel to flatten or will the Marshall Town Permashape laying on trowel do the job? Thanks.

i bought a refina sponge and the sponge just came of the trowel within a few uses. used a spray carpet adhesive to fix but still.... wasnt impressed

I always do just one coat, don’t bother sponge floating. Don’t really bother troweling it up just give it a flick over with the trowel. I also just lay on and do the whole set with a flexi trowel, painters are always moaning at me about the finish being crap, I really don’t give a darn.

was just replying to dan solo replying to you but now its gone? did you remove his comment?

Never use a trades person who dismisses new techniques without a reason…

So will mixing gear in dirty water effect the rate in which the plaster goes off? And what is your take on using of date plaster? Does using out of date plaster cause the plaster the go off quickly?

Paper tape is way better. Btw, how tall are these ceilings? No stilts, and barely reaching on an 8' wall and ceiling.

Never done it!!

What's that spat you use? He handle looks much comfier and more natural to use than the ones I've tried (and subsequently discarded because I didn't get on with them)

Alex, how much would you charge for skimming out that garden room?

So how long did this. Job take ?

Hi Alex, would you recommend only using the one coat sponge method on plasterboard ? or can you do it on other surfaces Great informative video on timings etc once again Alex

Dirty water, cement/ bonding, 1 Coat 🙏😜

Is that dewalt light any good,? Maybe review for that.

I'm a old school 2 coat plasterer ( at least ), 1 coat isnt proper plastering in my opinion

What opinions on felt brushes, I haven't seen videos on them

I see you have a cough, try gargling with cider vinegar at the end of the day, this may help

What spatula do you use mate?

How about a video showing no sponge no water no sprayer just timed to perfection fist coat then flattened off and then second and then flatten and then Trowelled off . 🤔😉👍.

would you say the mt’s are better than the nela carbon?

Come on we all know the answer to this

I like this chaps videos ..... but talk about tearing the arse out of it ...

4 coats it better

I bet plasterers who hate on 1 coating still haven't got over being told to show their working out in school.. If you get the result, who cares how it's achieved?