Beginner, trying to renovate plaster a brick wall

[Tobbe St]

Hello.
I have a section of brick wall here that is starting to look a bit aged, and I'm thinking of sprucing it up. The challenge is that I've never done it before. I have the following:

• Plaster mortar C
• Mixer
• Bucket for mixing
• Trowel
• Plaster float
• Mason's hammer

I made a first attempt, placing a lot of emphasis on guessing the proportions when mixing the mortar powder (It's called premixed, I think? "dry mortar consisting of cement, lime, and natural sand in the proportions 50/50/650") and water.

...and that's probably where it goes wrong too, I don't know what "consistency" I should aim for. I read about taking premixed mortar on the trowel and "throwing" it onto the vertical wall. When I did this, it didn't want to stick very well at all, well over half of it didn't stick at all and fell off immediately. Is it because I've added too little water? (Since I assume it can't be much less, when I dragged the float over the mortar that did stick to the wall, it often "clumped" and fell off). Where's the line between just right wet and too wet?

It complicates things a bit extra since the old layers, brick, plaster, and paint have cracked, flaked, and fallen off in places. It's possible that it's considered too dusty (Porous? Dry? "Broken"?) for the new mortar to have a chance to adhere when I try to "throw" it on. I guess it's quite obvious that prep work is required? What's good then? Mason's hammer? Steel brush? Should I remove everything down to the brick? I assume it would be easier to get an even result afterward, if we look at it positively?

 

[Tobbe St]

Here is also a picture of the wall:

 

[Carl Johansson]

Here comes a picture of the wall as well:

Hi.
I have a section of brick wall here that is starting to look a bit aged, and I thought I'd try to spruce it up. The challenge with this is that I've never done it before. I have this:

• C plaster cement
• Mixer
• Bucket to mix in
• Trowel
• Plastering float
• Masonry hammer

I've made a first attempt, with a strong emphasis on eyeballing the proportions when mixing the cement powder (Is it called ready-mixed, I think? "dry mix consisting of cement, lime, and natural sand in the proportions 50/50/650") and water.

..and that's probably where it goes wrong too, I don't know what "consistency" I should aim for. I read that you take ready-mixed plaster on the trowel and "slam" it onto the vertical wall. When I did that, it didn't want to stick very much at all, well over half didn't stick at all but fell down immediately. Is it because I've used too little water? (Because I assume it can't be much less, when I dragged the float over the plaster that was still on the wall it often "clumped" and fell down). Where is the line between just wet enough and too wet?

It complicates things a bit extra since the old layers, brick, plaster, and paint have cracked, flaked, and fallen off here and there. It's possible that it's considered too dusty (Porous? Dry? "Broken"?) for the new plaster to have a chance to adhere when I try to "slam" it on. I assume it's pretty obvious that some prep work is needed? What's a good approach then? Masonry hammer? Steel brush? Should I chip everything off, down to the brick? I assume it will be easier to get an even result then, if we look at it positively?

[/QUOT]

the surface must be dust-free before you start. If you have access to a high-pressure washer with a rotating nozzle, you can try to blow off all the loose and flaking paint. You haven't forgotten to moisten the surface before applying plaster, have you? You might try smoothing the plaster on instead of slamming.

 

[Galten]

How did it go?

How you should do it depends a bit on the look you want. Do you want a completely even surface or for the stones to be visible?