HITACHI PLANT TECHNOLOGIES (PVT) LTD

BASIC INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

CHAPTER 12

PLASTERING

NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN ENGINEERING SCIENCES

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, KATUNAYAKE

HITACHI PLANT TECHNOLOGIES (PVT) LTD

BASIC INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

12.1 INTRODUCTION
The plastering is the art of covering rough walls and uneven surfaces in the
construction of building and other structures with a plastic composition called plasters, to get an even,
regular, smooth, clean and durable surface. The type of plaster to be employed at a particular place
depends up on the weather conditions, the rainfall, the presence of frost and the amount of finish that
it will have to take for giving a typical appearance.
Plaster is a fine paste of cement, lime and sand with water. It gives a smooth and dry
surface to the wall & also it is an excellent surface for decorative painting. A good plaster has to be
smooth, no absorb, washable, fire resisting & none effected by temperature or climatic changers.
Good plaster is done in three layers. First coat is known as render coat (thickness 10mm).
The second coat is known as floating coat and the third coat is known setting coat (thickness 8 mm &
3mm receptivity). The proportion of the moisture content 1:1:5 in cement: lime: sand. The final coat
finished with a neat smoothness surface.
In the internal plastering finish, get smooth & external plastering finish get rough. The main
tool used in plastering is trowel & float. Before plastering the wall must be wetted for mortar is
adhesive better.
Generally clean sand and fresh water is used. Fine sand is more suitable but not so fine as
pass more than 5% through a 100 mash sieve. Generally river sand is used for plastering. Sea sand is
not suitable for plastering, because of salt in it. Then the plaster will not dry, remain moist always.

12.2 PREPARATION FOR PLASTERING

The walls were cleaned & thoroughly wetted. Otherwise, walls will be absorbing water from the
plaster. When it happens, some cracks will be appearing on the walls and plaster will collapse.
The two ends of the walls were plumb vertically placed; obtain a required thickness of the plaster.
Then fixing a string along the above points gauge were placed horizontally about 1m intervals.
12.3 APPLICATION
The plastering was stared from top and worked down towards the floor. The towel dashed
the mortar between the gauges to slight than the required thickness. After that plaster well pressed in
to the joints, leveled and brought to a true surface by working a wooden straight edge reaching across

NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN ENGINEERING SCIENCES

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, KATUNAYAKE

HITACHI PLANT TECHNOLOGIES (PVT) LTD

BASIC INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

the gauges with small upwards and side away movement. For the plastering of the internal walls
toweling was done & during this setting coat of pure white lime, putty was applied on the surface.

12.4 PLASTERING OF CONCRETE WALLS

In case of the concrete walls or columns the surface should be hacked in addition to
cleaning for proper bonding. However since it was costly 5mm thick 1 st coat was applied on the
concrete surfaces and kept for 3 days and then the plastering was carried out. Even thought correct
method is to hack and plaster still this method was satisfactory. In case of the plastering of concrete
wall the mixed proposition was 1:3 cement: sand.
The plaster groove at 4m intervals and the corner beading at the corners were similar
situation for concrete plastering as well.
Location
Brick and block walls
Columns
Lift and stair walls

Plaster thickness
16 mm
20 mm
10 mm

Plaster Thickness

Plastering should be started from top and worked down towards the floor.
All putlog holes should be properly filled in advance of the plastering.

Fill this area

first

2m
6

2m

15mm

NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN ENGINEERING SCIENCES

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, KATUNAYAKE

Plumb
bob

HITACHI PLANT TECHNOLOGIES (PVT) LTD

BASIC INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

12.5 PLASTERING PROCEDURE

To ensure even thickness and a true surface gauge of 15 x 15 mm or

broken clay tiles set in mortar were first established on the entire surface at
about 2m intervals both vertically and horizontally. Mortar was applied between
the gauges to slightly more than the required thickness.
The plaster well pressed into the joints, leveled and bought to a true
surface by working a wooden straight reaching across the gauges with small
upward and side ways movements. Finally surface should be finished true with
a wood float and take semi rough finish, should be finished with a sponge. In
plastering internal walls it should be trawled to the extent required before
applying lime putty.
In suspending work at the end of the day, the plaster was left cut
clean to line both horizontally and vertically. When recommencing the
plastering, the edge of old work was scrapped, cleaned and wetted before plaster
was applied to the adjacent areas. When doing soft plastering thick lime putty
was applied.
Then the wall was wetted with spraying water and then the mortar
(1:1:5, cement: lime: sand) was applied with steel float and trowel, slightly
higher than the required thickness. Then it was leveled by means of straightedge
to the level given by the guide points. The plastering work was carried out from
top to bottom and stopped as a straight vertical line if it had to be carried to the
next day. Also vertical grooves were provided at 4m intervals for thermal
expansions.
In presence of two materials due to the different thermal
expansions plaster can be subjected to cracking. Therefore steel wire mesh was
provided to take the tension and avoid cracking.
12.6TOOLS FOR PLASTERING

Trowel
Bubble tube
Wooden float
Set squares
Brushes
Leveling rod

NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN ENGINEERING SCIENCES

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, KATUNAYAKE

HITACHI PLANT TECHNOLOGIES (PVT) LTD

BASIC INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

Plumb bob

NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN ENGINEERING SCIENCES

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, KATUNAYAKE