Good morning folks, Kirk and Jason
here, with Kirk Giordano plastering, Today I'm going to show you one of the most useful
tools that are in the plastering industry we're getting ready to go to a job so I'm gonna grab
these floats now this about the most important thing in the plastering industry, I'll tell you why
besides these little two-dollar brushes, now right here I got a box of floats that I ordered a
while ago, generally as a contractor I will order like a hundred rolls of paper at a time, because
to go to the material yard west side in Oakland sometimes, we have to wait like about an hour, just
to get some tools, I know a lot of you contractors know that feeling anyway what I got here is again
I buy everything in bulk because we use all this stuff these are floats. They're sponge floats for
stucco, and what do they do is they bring this sand or aggregate out, so next to these guys right here
these $2 brushes, of course, your hawk and trowel are absolutely necessary, we're going to set
sail today for our job right here in my own hometown, and I'll show you why these guys are
so important and by the way in the link or the description of this video, I'll put where you
guys can buy these it's a fellow by the name of John grab tree he sells them and I'll tell
you what I could beat one of these up are the green ones I can beat one of these guys up these
yellow ones are three times as sturdy, so that's why I figured I'd show them to you guys because
they're kind of new they're called, killer bees floats. Why I don't know, but I'll show you how
we use them today because we're going to set sail, we're gonna throw these beasts right
here and that monster truck and get out of here, okay guys we are on the repair project
can you see this patch right here that is basically, Felton or Olimpia sand is a
different finish this is a - finished I wanna show you some because the fella here was, very, very
concerned with our ability to match finishes, he took me over here, he pointed to that he says well you see that Gable wall? I said, "yeah I see it," he sai, "you see three different finishes? I said yes, he says,
"can you do better than that" and I said of course I can that's what I do for a living that's
probably a homeowner did that, and then they tried on there they didn't match
the original finish, but not everybody knows we do video work, and we teach how to plaster in
fact very few people know, this finish here, if You want to fix something, guys. You got to know what's wrong with it? To begin with, not just finishing here it's old - how old, about 70 years old it
probably has about twenty maybe ten coats of paint with the primer, you see since I don't want
all this excess sand, see this excess sand? I said okay, man, I can do that over here. I mean, people do
patchwork all the time you see this little down low to our event is you can see that patch most
people don't even see patches, guys, but again he took me right here. I'm not gonna go around the
whole guy's house and show all the different patches he says, Kirk if you can't do better than
this, just don't accept the job because I want it done, I said if he says can you do better? I don't
want this excess sand, and I said Winnemucca, What the heck that's supposed to mean? I'll show
you guys, in a minute, Jason's gonna get some mud going and then we'll show you how to match
this finish with this killer bees float B E E Z . easy anyway, we're gonna get started in a minute
all right, guys, we're gonna begin, but before I want to explain something that is excess sand
and Winnemucca got to do with anything? I was telling the guy trust me I know what I'm doing
and I thought of this old song by Johnny Cash. this is cool guys, I felt like telling the guy,
man, I've been doing this so long there's nothing I haven't seen this card here is from the Union
when I first started Union in 1980 is 2020 now I mean 20-20 that's 40 years, plus I was working
non-union for a lot of years, so when I hear this the song he said I've been everywhere I told the guy
you name it, I've done it, man, because this song reminds me of what he was talking about excess
sand, I'm gonna put it in the description, guys anyway What we got is we got stiff mud. How cold is it
today? very cold, if I said how cold it was, people would call me from the UK and say, Kirk, you big
wuss, we go swimming in that kind of weather, why am I wearing glasses if I hit a wire, you know the
wire pokes in, and then it pokes the stuck out and How much sand if I got in my eyes? Oh man, a lot
here's what I'm what to do, guys. first thing doing your tops first why? if you do your top now that
key right here this will set, a lot of guys want to do the bottom first, and then think that'll
hold it, it will, now we are about put because it's been raining we had to use a lot of accelerators
so how much time do I got to work with this mud I got about 15 minutes. Can I do this patch in 15
minutes maybe, but now you see it was so cold and so rainy we didn't wet the board, in fact we didn't
wet the board and we put excess accelerators in here even the tape wasn't adhering, there's
window tape I got right here, came off about five-six times, and it might come off while
I'm on the while I'm doing this now you turn this guy off Jay? cool beans, all right, I' gonna finish what were showing you guys what we're doing, and again you see how stiff this mud is now ten
minutes ago it was watery, there was soup so we had to put a lot more accelerators in it in order
for it to harden in this winter weather, we had rain for the last few days, and actually, we've got a pleasant day today. I'll show you why that the floats work on something like this well, I actually
have a couple other tools there but I was going to explain those also because people always ask me
hey Kirk, well what do you think man, should I use this color float that color float I'll explain
him in a minute let me use up the rest of this mud here, you see how that push it in there push
this is the key, now, depending on where you're located some inspectors want you to caulk
that key, now see this got caulking around that window I'll places where the guys said Kirk I
want to see you caulk, this area - and I say yeah I know why because the paper is shot, and you want
to make sure it doesn't leak, but if I caulk that key I'm going to have excess cracking perimeter
cracking, that's why I put that blue stuff there that's just a bonding agent to eliminate any
excess cracking, that's how you can tell it's been raining guys we got a lot of rocks in the
stucco because no matter how well you cover 20 bags on a truck if it rains straight for four
days, you're gonna get some moisture, moisture and stucco it doesn't wait for any man, this right
here there definitely ain't waiting for me it's The setting, I like that because we were considering,
wow, it's so cold it's not gonna set, now that's setting guys, all right love these ladders - a
dual ladder go both sides, and because I filled that top first like right here in about an hour
well half-hour this could be ready to float, in a half hour if I didn't fill this top when I start
to float it this would sink right here we'd have a Hairline cracks there that once it loosens up, it's hard to fix it. I'm just using this trowel now as a Rod or a Darby or a straightedge in the UK, they call them straight edges. It's like a Darby it just makes sure that your grounds are filled out
because you want to be true and plumb, we don't want to be like that guy there the homeowners
would yell at me, all right, so that's that now this excess mud here now, these have a tendency
to want to drop out too, and if you notice we have this peel-and-stick here that peel-and-stick
does not absorb, this black paper two layers it absorbs the moisture out of here this doesn't
absorb, so I'm glad I got some stiff mud here, because that will absorb so what will happen is
I'll plaster the whole thing, and this will want to keep dropping, no problemo, we got it, okay, i'm a
finish this surround here, yeah ma Jay's going to mix me for mud look, when I said earlier how long have I
been doing this, this house here the guy says well it's got some weird backing and I said we're back
in what you mean, it's got wood panel back, there I said that wood paneling it's it's a wood lath
that was created in 1890, and they stopped using it about 1910 we still see houses with it in
1920 because all of the excess lath, they're not just gonna throw away they're gonna finish using
it, so he says oh I got wood lath back here, so no problem we lathed, I laugh this so, I accommodated
for that would lath, that again was in 1910 they stopped using that good wood lath, by 1950, they
started using Tie-wire they would it was called tie wire what they were doing between the studs
they put a wire wrap it around every six inches and that's how they would not lose so much stucco
between this studs, then of course we got paperback the wire, we got all kinds of stuff in fact when I
first started plastering, there was no shear wall Guys, it was studded. It was all stud, so we didn't
have the luxury of working with solid substrates like plywood, now everybody has plywood, so that was
cool when that came out, we're like yeah, we love it You don't waste so much stucco in the field. The
the field is you got a stud here you got a stud here this right here, they put the tie wire and pull it
lime wire, and that wouldn't waste so much stucco okay almost got just about the right amount for
this, all right, beautiful, I was telling Jay and guys, to people, watch what we do, they go, oh crap
I'm gonna do that. I can make it look, easy guys because Jason, who's on the camera right now, mixes
for me, I can't make it look easy if I have to mix my own mud ,no way can I make it look easy if
I have to mix my own mud, so, any of you guys Call us, as we make it look easy. That's a
two-man job it's like playing a football baseball basketball is a team sport no one guy
does all this by himself, anyway that's uh that's all the mud I need, and since we have enough mud
to finish that door over here, I'm gonna go ahead finish that because this mud is getting hard and
it's not waiting for me, okay guys, real quick for bricks it's for pushing in the grout for bricks
can you do the first stucco? Sure you can but you're not going to bring much aggregate out, green
flow same as the yellow the both high quality ones that killer Bee ones, in the description trowels,
Hawk and trowels the main things for plastering, floats, plastic float these are using the UK a lot
polyurethane floats, plastic polyurethane what these do is they compress the wall you compress it so
you're less likely to get cracks - Dash brush you make some soupy mud you put this in, and you fling it
remember the old saying - of salt in 1900 just a dash of salt well - the mud on that's what gives
you this if I were to -dash this, I'm not good enough To get this finish, I can't do it. I can get
close, but this guy got close isn't going to do it so now what we do is we're going to take
a float sponge float guys I know that you kid and boys keep calling me by the way UK some of
the better plasters there because they did lime plaster in ten thousand years ago those guys are
the best, love it when those guys call me and say Kirk, you're pretty good at what you do. This float
here I'll start it off mild kind of bend the edges I don't want it straight; I want it kind of bent
just a hair okay now you got to have your wall true and plumb you don't want it sticking out of
half-inch you want it true and plumb that's why I use my big Congo trowel because I can use it as a
darby or a rod, so to speak, here's how we do this guys we're gonna take this sponge float if I take
the plastic float or the polyurethane float it's just gonna flatten it it's not gonna bring the
aggregate out, this is aggregate, sand the same stuff now this patch right here this patch was done with
Felton or Oly sand I went to the material yard and I got some heavier sand I said just thought
ton on what I already got, because the sand that I normally buy from Westside is Oly or Felton sand, and it's
professional plaster sand, but it won't match this okay, so now that that's out of the way, I'm
gonna bring out the aggregate, and now I'm using the whole float sometimes I'll use just a little
bit and I kind of go in circles when it comes to the joint you need a lot of water guys, now this
the whole patch is gonna take me ten minutes guys if you got something better to do, you better do
it because I tend to ramble on just a occupy time now you see that joint that's called feathering
in the plaster, you feather it into the existing that's what determines how well your patch is
going to match if you can't feather in you're in trouble guys, now this is full of stucco if I
keep going I'm gonna drag the stucco there, so I got to take the stuck out, now I'm taking the stucco
out now what I'm doing guys is I'm going 1/2 here flipping it 1/2 here getting that sand out, if
I hit it here then I bend this float the wrong way I don't want it that way otherwise it'll drag
the stucco so now I'm doing the joint feathering in the joint it takes practice, but that's what
we're showing you for, to give you some practice, you Can learn this and about oh a few hours, maybe, some finishes don't matter. How long you try those are very difficult, and by the
way, that song I've been everywhere man let's say to my buddy Larry and Carolyn Dowes, I love you guys!
haven't seen you in years their truckers, and they always they tell me, man I've been
everywhere! They're 15-year truckers, nowhere you see and notice, I'm going upward. Guys, what happens if
I take it down that crack is going to come out? so the first thing I do is I'm pulling it upwards
upward over here I'm pushing it into the existing now I'm going to circles again and if I want this
to be as smooth as that patch over there I can do that if I want it to be rough as his I can do that
all with this float just takes practice guys the more you the more water, the heavier the finish
or the more aggregate that will come outright now I'm just got to take these off I'll see what
I can what I'm doing all right again same thing I'm taking out and creating a heavier sand look
while I'm doing it what I generally do is I'll clean the tape with both sides here and then
I'll bring out this aggregate now you see that's been painted so many times that you got a look
at what you're working with the sand I'm using here is it's probably a 16 20 what a 1620 sand
mean that's a heavier sand 20 30 is a medium sand and 30 30 is a finish sand-like, Santa Barbara
it's like talcum powder, so you've got to know Your sands and, by the way, guys are too plastered. How long does it take to learn the plaster? Some guys can get in five years some guys can get it less
some guys never get it because they can't stand Doing it to hate it me, I think are you kidding me? I love doing this stuff. They're paying me to do it what a country I can do this all day long
now again, I'm a clean the red tape because when I pull that I don't want to pull the rest of the work off, so I got a clean float. All it has is the stucco from the tape I'm going upward here I
want to pull that upward don't do this guy, yeah you see that crack now I got to push that back in
I'm just doing that to tell you guys don't do that you want to always go upwards pull it into the
existing how dry is this do it, oh yeah I can still do it with that I'm just trying to show you
guys that's perfect mud you let it get too stiff You can't bring the sand out with this. It'll
be like trying to bring the sand out with the concrete if it sets it's set and we're doing a 1
coat stucco that means you can't over mix it that means it's stronger than crap - I mean regular
stucco 1600 psi that's strength the stucco we're using close to 5,000 psi so if I get carried away
and start messing around and doing other goofy stuff like cleaning the truck, and I come back to try to do this. I won't be able to touch it I won't be able to hammer it, so if you start something
you got to finish it, depending on the material and there's there's a whole thing guys, plastering
yeah I hear guys they say man, I've been plaster in 10 years I'm better than you guys, who wants to
be the best? All that means is you're gonna work your ass off more, material knowledge that's the
thing, material knowledge, how do you get material knowledge to guarantee your work when I work for
other people 30 40 years ago I'd have to guarantee that I just had to do the best I could here, if it
fails for whatever reason it finished don't match I have to come back on my own time, my own dime and
fix it, so that's how you really learn materials . if you work for somebody else you've got an idea
about materials, but until you are responsible for everything you do, you don't really have a great,
great understanding of what the heck you're doing. Again I'm bringing this aggregate out and
I'm looking at this painted finish. I don't want to tell these guys, dude like he says he's already
painted just like ten times the guy who did that Tell me to keep painting it. I said, well, I could
look at that and see no matter how much paint you put on it they're not gonna match so what I'm
trying to do and guys nobody is perfect at this stuff you know our jobs I do that ain't perfect
but we do the best we can with what we have to work with otherwise, we're back on our own
time, but anyway when you have to guarantee all your work that's when you know, and you've been
doing it for 30 years, that's when you know about materials. I know when this is gonna sit set, I can
go right now, eat a sandwich, relax, go to Subway Kick back. I go to the pub to have a beer. I got that
much time even though this has accelerated in it. I know exactly how much time I got I can look at it
plus I spread it so that gives you the knowledge of how much time do you got to finish that that's
how you know time in time now you see I'm going across so that this lip under here is not when
you look at it's not all jagged and sideways just like here I take it here so we don't want a
jagged lip so here I'm going across now blending down into the joint a key thing to guys that's
all on the topic of stucco always clean this out with dust dirt on the bottom one top you
don't need to because gravity pulls that down And generally, we don't have a radio on, but
I wanted to play that song because I wanted to tell the guy who hired me, dude, I know
how to do this again. Not everybody knows we got like 900 videos about how to do this,
and I feel stupid trying to tell somebody, Hey man, look, man, I know how to do that.
I do video work to teach, then I feel kind. of awkward saying that, so I just said,
don't worry about how dude, I can fix it The guy says, well, if it doesn't match do, I have to pay you? I said, Easy big guns, That's an easy big Gun. If it doesn't match, I'll come back and redo it. So let's not get carried away. yeah, I'm getting all the aggregate out, now if
I don't get it out it's gonna uh it's gonna drag this right here and I'm hustling because, on that
the wall over there I got about a half-hour and I got patches around the corner, so I got about a half
hour over there and plus my patchwork again the material knowledge is everything guys and for guys
who say, hey Kirk how do we know it matches it's not painted, well guys, you don't because they don't
paint this until 28 days and if I were to come back every 28 days and show every job well that's
just not feasible, anyway there it is guys I'm gonna take my and anytime you pull this turn your
face so you will get a eyeball full of stucco, you just pull it off and blam, there it is anyway I'm
gonna clean up some of the little wood slobbers that's where the tape doesn't adhere, because it
rained all night, it's cold guys anyhow, my name are Kirk, Jason on the camera, without Jayson, I
I can't do the video work, and I can't do very much more, anyway we thank you for watching and as
usua,l we'll see you guys on the next one. By the way folks, my dad and I are now members of Amazon
affiliates, so if you're looking to buy any of the plastering or construction tools you've seen
in our videos and you want to support us in the process you can check the links below our video
or you can go to our website and get them there if you have any other questions that for tools
we don't have linked email us direct and we'll respond to you then once again, folks we thank
you for watching, and I really all your comments if you guys like this video, please click the like
button-down below and also if you enjoy what we do subscribe to our channel so we can keep making
these videos are for you my name is Kirk and Jason, We thank you for watching and from the entire
Giordano family, we'll see on the next one.
