Old houses have been built using bricks and then they are then plastered over, if you have had flood or fire damage it is most important to remove the plaster, usually you are most likely to remove the plaster at the level of 1 m above the ground, to do so you could use the slow tiresome method of a chisel and hammer or you could use a kango electric tool to speed up you plastering diy project, these can be expensive but you can also hire them.

The kango basically is like a vibrating chisel, it is extremely powerful and can even smash through solid concrete with ease, if you choose to use the kango please also be aware you may need to use a chisel for certain areas of the room for example near plugs and pipes as this tool may rip through them and if live may electrocute you.

When removing the old plaster, make sure you do so all the way to the bricks or breeze blocks and make it as smooth as you can do so, a good method when using the kango is to get a Stanley knife and draw a rough line along at a certain level and then point the kango downwards until you reach the bottom then moving to the side and pressing further down so you can get as much plaster off as you can.

Once all the plaster has been removed you will be ready to plaster the walls, unless you have had damage such as flooding in which case you will need to dry out the house and seek advice from authorities to if it is ready to be plastered.

The most commonly used plaster is the gypsum plaster and this plaster is used in two layers, the first layer will be around about 10mm thick and the second layer will be around about 3mm thick. The first thing you need to do is to mix up the plaster ready for use, the best plaster to use is Do it yourself plaster as this will not set as quickly as the usual professional plaster products, if the diy project is large it is best to get the large bags instead of the ready made tubs as you will be using a large amount.

With the bags you will just need to mix in water with the plaster following the manufactures instructions. Once you have mixed your diy plaster you will need to scoop it onto your trowel, and then onto the plaster trowel and then apply it to the wall, once this has been done make scratches in the plaster so that the top layer of plaster can easily attach the plaster underneath.

Once this has been done apply the finish plaster on top of the repair layer, this layer needs to remain smooth so use a spare piece of wood to scrap off excess plaster on your walls.

An easier option than plastering is using plaster board, but this will not give the same feel of satisfaction as doing the plastering yourself.