Problems with Thistle bond-it not adhering

It is paramount that before ANY Plastering job takes place, Uni-bonding of walls and ceilings or any area being skimmed has been done. Whatever area im skimming ( plastering), i uni bond twice. In my experience this gets me my best results. Customer satisfaction is very important. Keeps up work load and reputation. Uni bonds helps plaster to adhere to surface, SEALS area and helps to prevent you playing " catch up" when plaster has already been applied to area. Not uni bonding an area properly can cause " crazing" and alternatively the plaster to " blow". Uni bonding is the second most important step for a perfect plastering finish. Wallpaper also can be an enemy. Sometimes wallpaper left " unseen" can result in plaster lifting. " bubbles". Always check area before skimming.. Check all bonding is done scraping off loose bits no pins ,nails etc on surface. No college taught me these things, just years of experience. JT PLASTERING

Usually any issue such as you have described is down to the PVA and watering it down to much. In my experience people make it to thin and watery and so it doesn't do its job. If you didn't use PVA then that would be your problem. If the PVA is to thin then as you are troweling off and also when putting the finish on you will be finding that the water in the mix is getting sucked back into the wall to quickly and the plaster cant act in the way it should. I have seen people do two or three coats of watery PVA before and it doesn't work you are better of doing one thick coat and letting it fully dry, resist the urge to go over it when its still tacky, let it dry even if that means waiting until the next day! Be it right or wrong mix your PVA until its like a single cream, no thinner and I think you will find that you will be fine from then on in. :) All the best

I am not even a plasterer and I know that Thistle bond it is a substitute for PVA so nice try to the guys above but.......oh dear. To JS_Plastering was the plaster in date? What was the surface you was priming?

After using it quite a few times I have come to the conclusion that I am not a fan of it. Its been very hit, miss and maybe. Keeping the tub well stirred has helped on some walls but not on others, my advice would be to stick to using pva, then you know exactly what the wall is doing just by touching it whether it needs an extra coat or whether one coat is fine and your skim is going to hang. The only time I use it now is to cover painted bricks inside which I am going to dryline the next day.

hi maybe use more pva plus it could be drying out to first some time I use a big dehumidifier from a hire shop size of a dishwasher in a large room it's OK but in a small one not. Alan's Bathrooms