It's refreshing to see viewers that have actually left some really nice and polite feedback regarding the work overall, and the use of skrim tape. Usually on instructional vids, especially of the DIY sort, all you get are "know-it-alls", who think their way is the only way, but seriously, it's nice to see. Good job by the way :)

Thanks for the video. I'm just about to undertake this very job in my Fathers house and I like the calm way you go about things. Cheers

Thoroughly enjoyable and helpful video as always, Des

I’ve just come across your page, you’ve given me the confidence to fill my chasers, thanks so much 🖤

Fantastic 2 Videos mate. Just going to do a similar job in my mother in laws house. My brother God Rest him was a plasterer and i watched him many times but needed a refresher course. Both videos I really enjoyed and let me tell you I have worked on many sites in the past (I was a painter) where so called professional plasterers didnt leave it half as well done. 2 Things. I agree with an earlier comment from a sparky (Mark Nicholls) about removing the switches and sockets. The tape is always a good option where there is a risk of plaster shrinkage. Well done.... Really impressed me...

Thank you Dez keep the videos coming mate cheers pal 👍🇬🇧🇬🇧

Thank you for the great instructions! Me and my partner have been living with these channels for months and have been too nervous to attempt filling them. Feeling much more confident now.

Glad you got your wiggle back, another good job done 👍💪

Excellent job Des. I actually have some chases to fill on my renovation project so this is very handy indeed.

1 coat of magic mix... job done!

Following both videos. Awesome work man. 👍🏻Helped me right out. 🤜🏻

Found both the videos very useful. About to do the same during lockdown.

When I bought my first house I had to get it rewired leaving me completely skint. I could only afford to poly filler, sand and paint the chasing, it didnt look great! Fast forward 15 years I'm in my new house with a lot more DIY skills and a little more money. Watching these videos gives me the confidence to give a go. Great job BTW

Thanks for the video - very easy to follow and you make no assumptions about the viewer's plastering ability (mine is zero!). Thank you.

Nice job , great easy to follow advice and nice fella 👍👍👍

Your a pure gentleman to watch work and explain in every detail of what stages when u are explaining them spot of me ole friend im from dublin.ireland..and trust me i will be telling about ur site thanks pal look forward to more of your videos...all the best ...gerry 😊😊😂😂

Personally I wouldn't have bothered with the skrim tape unless I was re skimming the whole wall, that easy fill stuff is brilliant for what your using it for .It smooths and sands very easily . Excellent job 👌

Love easifill 60 such good stuff

Perfect timing for these videos mate as it's exactly what I'm about to start doing tomorrow! Wasn't sure what to use for the first fill so I'll pick up a bag of bonding in the morning. Cheers!

If you use a plaziflex with the bonding you can get a slightly concave finish for your finish coat.

Never in my life seen anyone use Skrim tape for that purpose, but I do enjoy your videos thanks 😜

Thanks for the super informative video, very helpful!

Thank you for this beautiful video.

Just the videos I a looking for. Thank you.

Thanks for taking the time to make a video and sharing. We've just had all our electrics done and so the chasing needs plastering up, but alas we can not find a plaster at this time to do it. I could read my DIY books but most of those are in the lockup because we have emptied the house to have the electrics done. D'oh. However, it is much better to actually see a guy do the job. You have inspired me to have a go. Thanks again.

Hi Des, awesome job. I defo think the scrim tape is the way to go to avoid cracking. I'm doing some repairs atm with it. The Easifill is awesome isn't it, I'm not keen on mist coating it though as it dissolves pretty easily. Gaz

One thing you put my mind at ease with - I left my bonding coat to fully dry which I was then told was a terrible idea. Looks like it didn't cause you a problem though! So thank you :)

Hi, I personally wouldn’t of used scrim tape in this situation as it’s mainly used to reinforce joints in plasterboards. Also I would maybe consider using multi finish for patch work although that said easy fill is a great product to use on certain jobs. Good to see someone have a go! Merry Christmas!

Thank you for uploading video

By the way, thank you for doing these videos. I'm going to have to have a go now.

Omg didn't know you could smooth it out this way. 😲 Could of saved myself so much time sanding. 😐 Least my arms got a workout. 😁

good video as always

The tape may or may not be necessary but looking at it from a belt and bracess point of view help to stop cracking in future use it

Well explained, make it look too easy haha wait until I try later today!!

Really helpful Des and thank you from all us DIYers! I saw you mentioned on another comment that you would advise sanding back if planning to paint on directly. In your experience is that ok to do after one coat of the easi fill or would you go for two? Just thought it might become a bit raised after a second coat.

Wouldn’t bother with the tape it’s for plasterboard joints. As a sparks I’d strongly recommend removing the sockets, all that movement is unnecessary stress on the cable and you don’t want plaster in the working parts (second fix), good vid and plastering 👍

I wouldn't personally add fibre tape and would have used multi finish but only because i've never used easy fill before, may have try it in future.

Nice job mate , as others have said you don't need the tape unless your doing the skimming on plasterboards.....

YES tape is beneficial on vertical and horizontal edges and cracks. Question: Does anyone know what is the equivalent of that bonding/backing coat plaster in the States? Durabond perhaps?

Been watching your videos since I decided to buy a 1960s property (completed on it today!) Love every single one of them! I see the general consensus was that there is no need for the tape. If you were to do this again would you use the tape? I'm worried about being able to get everything flush. I too am a amateur plasterer!

Hi when your using scrim tape you don't really need it In that area but for precaution to prevent hairline cracks its good idea, ive use it when I have been skimming walls and ceilings. Ty

I've got cuts in the plaster board but not through to the brick work so do I need PVA and would skim coat on its own do ?? Please answer soon as you can ps I worked in England for 32 years been home in Ireland now for eighteen months loved hearing your accent again reminds me of all the fine English men I worked Drank and had the craic with miss you guys take brother and regardless if you answer thanks for the vid

Thanks for posting the video , I need to do,that job but never heard of easyfill, I’ve used bonding coat and finish but I assume the easyfill gives a longer working time on the finish I used to spray it with water towards the end stages this looks like that stage not required ?

Thanks

HI Caveman. I am about to do exactly what you are doing in this video using easi-fill 60 to a new light switch and aluminium profiles for some led lights. Can you tell me what the working time of this stuff is please? would you recommend going over again after 60 minutes rather than the 30 minutes as you tried in the video? Basically is it best to put it on feather the best you can and then after 60 minutes go over with the trowel again?

You really do have a video for everything! I recently turned a single socket into a double. The wires come up from floor to the socket, whilst wrestling with the wires, the plaster beneath the socket crumbled a bit, the wires seem to be in the plaster with no protection tunnel/brackets! Is it safe to plaster over the wires again or should I dig it out and fit one of those things in the chase then plaster it? Great video as always!

Thanks for the video =)

Thanks for the great video. In terms of a finished wall would you now just paint over this when dry or would you have to do anything else to get a nice smooth surface as I note there’s some old paint on the wall which might show up? I guess maybe lining paper?

Good video. Personally i wouldve had the plastering done before the sparkys did the second fix (put the sockets on)

You've used easifill instead of multi finish. Which is better for the job please?

To all saying no need for tape... Well, "my builder" did not bother with tape and now I have cracks everywhere. My honest opinion - he should have used tape (paper or mesh) as you have two dissimilar materials, an old render and new plaster. They have slightly different expansion factors, thus resulting in shrinkage (when room cold) and expansion (when room hot) in different rates. Perfectly shows in my house, where you have a mixture of old lime render and patches made of plasterboard... accompanied by loads of hair cracks where the joints used to be :/

Taping will avoid any cracks later on I always use it

Hi, great video as usual. Are you going to paint these walls or wallpaper them? If painting how do you get rid of the old paint patches?

As others have commented, the scrim mesh is only really used on drywall plasterboard installations, but if it works for you, crack on. A neat finish achieved 👏🏻

Hi again mate. Doing a good job. You dont really need to use scrim tape on each side of the chase. You only really need to scrim joints that are very thin which will hair line crack in the future such as joins between plasterboard sheets, joints between wall and ceiling, and wall corners. That easi fill is just a nicer quality polyfilla. Its main purpose is for drylining using tapered edge plasterboards to save skimming with wet plaster. Or as a fine surface filler for example if paint has flaked off and you want to use a fine surface filler to blend the hard edges out so you dont see it. Also filling screw holes etc. Its not designed to be trowelled up as its a filler, not a plaster. You probably noticed it wasnt actually trowelling up as it was setting up. If you want to fill chases using easi fill, you do as you did in your first video, pva all the chases and conduit if theres any fitted, then force bonding into the chase pack it tightly and scrape back about 2/3mm from the surface of wall either side. Then do 2 coats of easi fill, apply first coat to bring the chase flush with wall and let it fully cure (it shrinks). Then you apply a second coat flush to the wall again (first coat would have shrunk back slightly). With the 2nd coat of easi fill, you get a perfectly hidden chase by leaving it slightly proud of the wall by a couple of mm, then once fully cured, you use a wide sanding block with some sandpaper to sand it smooth and flush. Its designed to be sanded not trowelled. Or you can use some multi finish plaster, fill the chase flush, and then instead of sanding it like the easi fill, you can do as you did in the video and trowel it once it starts setting up. With multi finish, the more you trowel it, the flatter and more polished it becomes. Spritz a mist of water over it as your trowelling it and you will notice the fat of the plaster on your trowel which helps to fill in any small defects in the wall. You use the fat thats brought to the surface to help you fill with proper plaster like multi finish. So basically, you sand back easi fill once you slightly over apply it. And trowel up multi. Dont sand multi, or trowel up easifill lol. Will save you tons of work in the future and your chases will be perfect. Skimming the wall over is honestly not difficult at all though. You have the tools already, and if you do 1 wall at a time, you can keep troweling it till its perfect. Will give you a much nicer finish compared to filling chases and being done with it. Once you knock one wall out so its dead flat your be well away. Plastering looks like a black art but honestly is a piece of cake. I self taught myself in a day and the next week, skimmed a entire 3 story house up im refurbishing. Absolute doddle, and you have the patience to do a pukka job mate.

Great couple of videos, thank you. I do have a question...I was chatting with a painter and he said he uses Toupret TX110. If I remember correctly he said that you can use this stuff to fill deep holes and chased out walls. He said it was quick to dry and can be rubbed down in one visit. No two coats needed! Is this correct? I am a good DIYer and like the sound of this product but I can't see how a gap of say, over 20mm deep, drying quickly enough to sand down after an hour or so. Be great to hear yours or anyone comments on this. Thanks

Great vid, thanks. I just wanted to know if the bonding is past its expiry date, does it actually have a detrimental effect in practice, or doesn't it really matter?

I don't understand the difference between multi finish skim and this easifill? I have patch repaired with multi finish with no problems at all. I use a fine brush to blend in and lightly sand.

Great work. How long did it take to fill all the chased wall.

Hi thank for the video, How long would you wait between the bonding and easifinish coats?

Great video. I have electrical chases to do and also some larger area that need repairing. Just wondering for what reason you didn’t you multifinish after the bond coat? Would you suggest if it a larger area to use or can you get away with the easyfill for larger areas also? Thanks for any advice

Mate scrim tape is awesome if u think it will crack, crack tape on that's what I say 👍

did you have to use a easy fill for a top coat enjoy the video and the finished looks great

Doesntt hurt just extra wee bit of time to put tape on just make sure where ever u are putting it, it can be covered completely 👍

I am currently undertaking a similar project, with regards to the rest of the walls where paint has peeled and plaster board is visible is it suitable just to sand the existing paint work down and paint without seeing and marks? Cheers!

It is always a good idea to create those scratch lines to create more surface area so that the top coat would stick better. You can't argue the fact that top coat will stick much better to scratched surface than a smooth surface, for sure. I am not an expret but why do you use PVA? Don't seal the pores by applying PVA? If the pores are sealed than would the plaster still stick to the wall? Thank you.

Why not use multi finish? Interested to know why you went for the filler option? I didn't know you could trowel up that easy fill like you did, looks well

Hi, Do you have to wet/dampen the float before the final skim? Thanks.

Nice vids, and lots of polite comments, refreshing to see! I have a question regarding the trunking you’ve used. I’m about to do similar with some wall lights, and have bought some PVC trunking, mainly because it wasn’t as wide as the metal stuff, so less to chase out and then fill. However, I’m aware that metal trucking would offer significantly more protection from errant nails / screws in the future - but is it overkill? Should I do the right thing and go metal?!

I my view tape is not needed - I would only use tape on stud walls when you will experience greater thermal expansion and contraction - don’t think it doing anything on solid masonry

Once finished with the easifil do you then sand it all down or should it be flat smooth from the trowel?

Hey Des, new subscriber to your channel, I really like the way you go about your DIY it's more relaxed than me! I have been filling in a chase and around a socket, and my issue is that despite all the faff with the trowel and smoothing it out, I can't seem to get a completely blended look with the rest of the wall. It always seems to look slightly "wavey" where you can tell the plaster is ever so slightly proud of the rest of the wall. It's difficult to sand back because it's such a shallow and broad ridge effect. Did you ever get this problem before and if so how do I do my filling differently to stop this happening?

My housing made a cock up when installing my kitchen unit the top unit overhung the tiles and bottom unit so I moved the unit to the left by 1 inch in doing so I had to move a blank plate electric socket so I dug out a recess for the back plate to fit now my ? is do I fill around the backplate with foam or filler or plaster?

Hi mate. Good video. Personally any backing coat should always be scratched..so it’s nice to see you do it. Good work with the easy filler. But why did you not skim the patches or the Walls?

How long between applying 2nd coat of plaster?

Skrim not necessary,use just on cracks.

Would u need to wait for the pva to dry

Where can I park my bike

Is it a low ceiling or are you very tall 😀😀😀

Better than me me I’d pay you to do my house

personnaly i wouldny use the tape, only on joints but thanks for the video.

Are u a DIY man or a professional

I'm not a plasterer so I don't mean to sound stupid, but why do you use a top coat of plaster? Couldn't you just bring the bottom layer of plaster level with the wall and call it done with? Or wouldn't that work?

Bob the builder

Hi des, the process was perfect right up to trying to trowel up easyfill. Easyfill is a sandable product. I'm a jointer so easyfill and products like it have been my trade for 20+ years The bonding, the scoring, the scrim is definitely something I would do and looks like a tidy job my only difference would be, I would two coat the easyfill, the first would be put on tight and left for a good few hours if not over night second coat would be done to a mil or two proud and wider then the first coat with feathered edges which would then be sanded in flat. ☺️😁 Looks good though. Failing all that I would have liked to skim the whole wall 😁 (multifinish)

Don`t bother taping its for plasterboard joints ps take a look at this wallingtonfilming the candle man all about the filler

excellent job but you have chased the socket side ways, should be to the bottom, all lights to the top and sockets to the bottom,

Those 3 sockets are hideously out of line with each other and will look awful. When I have to chase in and fill I drill up my socket boxes and plug them thehalf fill with bonding (using a smaller trowel), feed the cable(s) through the grommet and push the box into the bonding, taking away excess as I go. Then when it stiffens a bit just cut plaster out with the trowel or filling knife. THEN you 2nd fix....or as I do sometimes is to put those sprung connectors over wire ends(or choc block) so there is a ring if needed then decorate. Preferably then Id socket up.

Just use easifill, so much easier to work with and designed for shallow infill.

Scoring is always better quality job. Lazy people who don't care sell the 'unnecessary' yarn.

nice vid but who ever did the wiring shouldn't have run the power cables horizontal, it's against all the wiring regs in the UK.

Easy fill is not a plaster - it's a fast setting joint filler and not ment to be use for this kind of jobs!

No need over gypsom, useless

Not got a clue wats he’s doing 😂😂😂

are you going to paper wall or Multi Finish