Mr Kissyfur wrote:
Plastering and rendering are fucking devil's work, which is presumably why the tradesmen charge so bloody much. I may go on a course over the summer.
I tried to find a local course but gave up, spent a long time on forums asking questions and picking up tips (PVA the walls, buy an expensive trowel & a feather edge...) .In the end I just went for it and used one wall to practice on.
There's def a a knack to it, but its not the witchcraft its made out to be.
Main thing is to work fast and get the whole wall covered, worse thing is to spend ages getting one corner perfect...by which time the plaster will have gone off and you'll not be able to get the rest of it covered.
Second coat can fix the minor defects.