It is widely believed that in order to obtain a high-quality plastered surface, it is necessary to use beacons that determine the position of the vertical plane. However, this opinion is erroneous, since in some cases it is possible to completely dispense with the installation of guide profiles and thereby greatly simplify the process of performing work by doing the plastering of the walls with your own hands without beacons.
Possible cases for refusing to use beacons
You can refuse to install guides when plastering walls, when high demands are not placed on the quality of the surface finish of the walls and applying a plaster layer is necessary only for subsequent decorative painting or whitewashing. Similar situations can be seen during the repair of the garage, workshop, household and auxiliary premises.
When checking and obtaining results on the presence of very small deviations of the brickwork from the position of the vertical plane, the installation of beacons is also not required. In addition, the installation of guide guides is not needed:
- before laying ceramic tiles or other similar materials on the walls;
- in the case of plasterboard wall cladding, when the surface is already smooth;
- if the quality of the masonry has ensured a smooth surface and the main purpose of plastering is to grout the joints and get a base for painting or gluing the wallpaper.
If we consider the total volume of construction, we can see that these cases make up at least a quarter, or even a third of all the plastering work. This means that it is not at all necessary to complicate the construction and go to unjustified additional costs.
Work order
The process of applying the plaster mortar consists of several successive stages, which include:
- calculation of the amount of necessary materials and their purchase;
- preparation of tools and equipment;
- surface pretreatment;
- applying plaster with leveling.
Additional measurements, installation of beacons and verification of the obtained direction of the plane during these works are not carried out.
The composition of the necessary materials
Before you align the walls without beacons, for the preparation and application of plaster mortar you need to purchase:
- cement grade M400;
- slaked lime;
- river or washed sand;
- deeply penetrating soil, especially for the material of which the wall is made;
- pre-made liquid detergent or plasticizer;
- fiber from a polymeric material for reinforcing the layer;
- clean water.
Primers of the type Ceresit 16, Condor or Alpina will provide the best level of adhesion of the stucco mortar to the brick surface of the wall. The use of plasticizers facilitates leveling and slows down the process of cement hydration, while maintaining the working qualities of the cement mixture until the work is completed.
Determination of the required amount
Initially, you might think that knowing the composition of the solution components and their ratio, you can easily calculate the volume of the necessary materials. However, when plastering walls without beacons, it is difficult to determine the exact thickness of the applied layer. Therefore, a simple multiplication of the wall area by coating with a regulatory amendment of 10% will not work.
Therefore, knowledgeable masters solve this issue quite simply. Using the building level and rail, measure several verticals and determine the deviation from the desired plane. The result is divided by 2 and add the estimated thickness of the plaster layer 4-5 mm.
This method allows you to calculate the future consumption of materials with an accuracy of 90-95%, which will already provide the ability to perform work and will not require the purchase of excess.
Work Tool and Inventory
To perform plastering, you must have in stock and prepare:
- a trough or other similar container capable of holding 5 or more buckets of mortar;
- a garden chopper, which is more convenient to stir the mixture than a shovel;
- stepladder or small portable scaffolds;
- brush, roller and ditch for working with soil;
- a flat board or a solid rail with a length of at least 2 meters;
- a set of plasterer, including a trowel, a falcon, a grater, a trowel and a pair of spatulas;
- hammer and chisel;
- plumb bob and bubble building level.
Mixing of the plaster is usually done manually. The use of a concrete mixer when performing work at home is simply impractical, since you will not have time to work out the amount of the prepared mixture.
Preparatory stage
Before plastering without beacons, the walls of the room should be prepared. To do this:
- remove wallpaper, whitewash, paint, tile or old plaster from the surface, if any;
- to inspect the wall and grind up noticeable cracks, chips, wide masonry seams with a mortar and cut individual protrusions with a chisel;
- on a smooth concrete wall with a chisel, apply shallow notches for better adhesion of the plaster mortar to the surface;
- clean the wall of dust by brushing it with a soft brush;
- to apply, with a break for drying, two layers of deeply penetrating soil.
The final result, the appearance of the plastered wall and the durability of the coating largely depend on the quality of the preparatory work.
Preparation of plaster mix
As already mentioned, a cement mortar for plastering without beacons at home is usually done manually. If you do not use a ready-made dry mixture that can be bought at a store, then pour 5 parts of sand in volume into 2 parts of cement in a trough and mix them well in a dry state. For mixing, it is convenient to use a regular garden chopper.
After that, dilute slaked lime in water in an amount equal to half the volume of the filled cement. Pour the lime water into the trough and mix the mixture. If the solution is too thick, just pour extra clean water. A plasticizer or liquid soap, as well as fiber fibers, are added to the already mixed cement-lime mixture.
When performing external plastering, slaked lime is not used. The solution is prepared from cement and sand in a ratio of 1: 4 or 1: 5. It will be more difficult to work with such a mixture, but it is more durable under adverse environmental influences and temperature extremes.
Solution technology
Stucco walls without lighthouses consists of two stages. On the first, which is called a spray, a liquid fluid solution literally watered the wall. This layer serves to ensure reliable adhesion of the plaster with a stone or concrete surface.
On a professional level, to quickly perform work at this stage, the masters use special hoppers working on compressed air from the compressor. In the absence of a special tool, the grout can be applied with a grater, putty knife or even a wide paint brush with hard bristles.
The solution layer should be the smallest possible thickness and not have gaps.
After the spray has dried a little, you should proceed to the second stage - applying the main layer. In this case, it is very important not to overdry the primer coating, since then the normal fixing of the layers on the wall will not be ensured.
It is most convenient to throw the solution onto the wall with a bucket spatula, and level the surface with a trowel. The process must be controlled with a flat rail and a long building level.
Speaking about orientation methods during wall plastering without beacons, experienced plasterers call 3 different options. At the same time, everyone believes that his technology is the simplest and provides the best quality.
The device of reference landmarks. The peculiarity of this method is to lay out immediately after spraying three horizontal mortar strips, the height and position of which is checked with the help of a staff and spirit level.
In fact, these are the same beacons, but arranged at a greater distance from the solution. The landmarks will not provide particularly high accuracy, but the execution time is significantly reduced and the output result is slightly higher than satisfactory.
Stretching the strings. With this method of leveling the walls with plaster without beacons with your own hands, holes are drilled near the corners and screws are screwed on the dowels. After that, a strong fishing line is pulled on them and the spatial position of the strings is checked, which should coincide with the vertical plane. Installation of such guidelines is done immediately after spraying.
Good eye. This is the simplest and cheapest method, but does not guarantee improved surface quality in the presence of noticeable surface drops. You can work “by eye” only on even walls, provided that a thin plaster layer is applied.
Final work
After the upper layer of the plaster mortar grabs the surface a little, it is necessary to wipe in a circular motion. To do this, use a grater or grater. At the final stage, the alignment of the walls without beacons is performed by the rule, conducting it with wide movements on the surface. This allows you to remove all remaining minor errors.
If holes are found, they are thrown with a liquid solution and rubbed. In the corners, near the floor and under the ceiling, it is convenient to work with a wide spatula.
This process can be seen in detail and clearly in the video below.