Shingles or how to plaster a wooden surface with your own hands: preparation for plastering

Shingling is a wooden sheathing made of thin slats, which is used for interior wall decoration. This material is light in weight, easy to install and completely safe for health. But in order to get a smooth surface, it is very important to properly plaster the shingles. You can actually do this yourself - the process is described step by step in the presented material.

What is shingles

Understanding what shingles are is quite simple. Essentially, this is a structure made of wooden slats of small width (usually 15-20 mm) and minimal thickness (3-5 mm), which is used to finish the wall. There is also shingles for roof installation. It is also made of wood, but is not a lattice, but rectangular elements of certain sections.

Wall shingles have 2 layers:

• bottom row (flat shingles) - it is mounted at an angle of 45 degrees to the floor surface;
• the top row (exit shingles) - mounted perpendicular to the bottom, also at an angle of 45 degrees to the floor surface.

The result is a diagonal lattice consisting of numerous squares (diamonds) of the same size.

To put it simply, we can say about shingles that it is a finishing material that looks like wall sheathing. It is always made of wood and has many advantages:

• environmentally friendly composition;
• resistant to sunlight;
• absorbs noise;
• allows moisture to pass through well and does not require vapor barrier;
• has low weight due to low density;
• easy to install.

Although there are also disadvantages. First of all, they are due to the fact that wood is susceptible to rotting due to high humidity and high temperature. In terms of price, this is also not the most affordable material. In addition, it has to be pre-treated with an antiseptic composition. Nevertheless, such finishing is often used in country houses. Therefore, it is important to understand how to plaster a wooden surface.

How to plaster on shingles

Considering shingles and what they are, we can recommend gypsum plaster as a finishing material. The fact is that cement or cement-lime mixtures must adhere well to the surface and go to depth. In the case of shingles, this is impossible, because the material is non-monolithic and loose in structure.

In addition, gypsum mixtures do not shrink, unlike cement ones. They evenly fill all the voids, dry out and stand upright. Thanks to this, the plaster does not fall out and the surface becomes monolithic. This is especially important for homemade materials. It’s not difficult to figure out how to make shingles with your own hands; the main condition is to plaster it correctly.

To work, along with the plaster itself, you will need the following tools and materials:

• primer;
• bucket;
• set of spatulas;
• drill with mixing attachment;
• lighthouses;
• self-tapping screws 70 mm;
• nails 25-40 mm;
• chisels;
• roulette;
• hammer;
• wide brush;
• roulette;
• rule;
• metal mesh for reinforcement.

The instructions on how to plaster shingles on a wall are as follows:

1. First, prepare the surface - remove all the old pieces that fall out, as a result, cavities are formed, which will then be filled with a new composition. Remove dust using a vacuum cleaner.
2. Preparation of wooden surfaces for plastering includes mandatory priming. But they do not use an ordinary solution, but diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio.
3. If there are large damages, they are repaired with a special wood putty.
4. New shingles are placed on top of the old covering. To make the surface durable, it is advisable to install a metal mesh.
5. Only after this the beacons are placed and the solution is mixed. First, the deepest places are finished, after which they proceed to the main area. The work is quite simple, and it needs to be done quickly - preferably within an hour, because the solution will soon harden.
6. Immediately after applying the plaster, the surface is leveled using the rule.

After hardening, you can begin finishing. To do this, use standard methods, for example, painting or wallpapering. Thus, you can dismantle the old shingles and install new ones yourself. Thanks to gypsum plaster, the surface will be smooth and harden in a matter of hours.