Learn How to Plaster Like a Pro.

Learning how to plaster can be done in a number of different ways; which method you should choose will depend on how far you wish to go with your plastering. What we mean by this is fairly simple – you will want to only learn the basics if you’re redoing the living room ceiling, but you’ll need to know the nitty-gritty if you want to plaster as a profession.

So why do you want to learn? Plastering is a skilled trade, so if you want to earn money from it you’ll have to be willing to put a decent amount of time and energy into it. Plastering at home requires significantly less training, unless you’re a real perfectionist!

Watch How It’s Done

The best way of learning a few of the simpler techniques is to simply watch a pro in action – do you know a plasterer? If so, see if you can shadow them on the job for a couple of days, especially if it’s a project similar in scale to the one you’re planning to do.

Seeing it done with your own two eyes is often the best way of learning something practical, so it’s a good idea to try and watch a professional do it. If you don’t know one yourself, try speaking to a local tradesman and seeing if you can follow them around for a bit – there’s no harm in asking!

Sign up for a Course

There are a multitude of different short courses for Do It Yourself techniques available out there, and plastering is no exception. If you do a quick search on Google or Bing you’re sure to find plenty of colleges in your local area which you can go to, but here’s one we like: www.thediyschool.co.uk/plastering-courses-essentials.

You could even take an online course, but we can’t vouch for the veracity of these as we haven’t tried them ourselves. Head to a college and do it with your own two hands – practical learning is the best kind.

Look Online

If you feel like you can learn via a written tutorial rather than by watching or doing, there are loads of resources online which you could benefit from. One of our favorites is www.ehow.co.uk, as the information given there tends to be highly detailed so you can’t go wrong, but if you’d rather watch a video of someone explaining plastering you should try www.videojug.com.

Also, forums are another great place to learn – remember those? There are many different forums out there, lots of which specify in a particular subject. Do a quick web search for “DIY forums” and choose one you like. Become a member of the forum and you can start posting away: professionals and experienced amateurs will be more than happy to help you with your problems!