After 4 months of procrastination we decided it was time to kick back into some inside work. Summer now seems well and truly over, so we find ourselves looking at the inner walls with a higher level of scrutiny.
Darren sanded the skirting and doorframes with our newly acquired Ryobi detail sander - an absolutely fantastic purchase. They’re only about $70 from Bunnings so I fully recommend just buying one. It’s not worth sanding by hand.
We got a couple of quotes from plasterers (decided that the hassle of both the last plasterer and the guy who plastered our toilet was not worth it!. Since the hallway would be a bit of a crappy small job in itself we decided to get a quote for the study as well. Out of the quotes, we decided to go with a Scotsman called Tommy Dorrian. We’d seen his sign over on Sandringham Road and he was quick to pop over and give us a quote.
Tommy Dorrian’s plasterer Alan was great - he also came round to look at the job personally and advise us on the preparation we needed to complete before he could start. They use what is apparently the English technique of plastering: slather the plaster onto the surface and then polish, rather than sanding.
Darren sanded back the walls and primed them as well (with valuable help from his mum, Irene). This probably took 2 days.
The plastering job took 2 days and we were very impressed with the polishing and how smooth the walls were. Unfortunately there were still quite a few imperfections and we had to go round with a pencil and make quite a few circles on the wall. Alan was happy to come back and sort these out though and I think it only took him another 1/2 day to do so.
Now we need to go over the surface again with ‘flour paper’ (super fine sandpaper) and make sure it is all ready to seal. Once sealed we’ll check the surface again and then paint! Every time we do this I’m reminded about how what a little aspect of the project the actual painting is but it will be SO worth it.