Easy sand wall filler
I have a Posterous blog where I have regularly posted information about decorating products and works in progress. Some things improve, the more you use them, others don’t deliver as at first thought.
When asked some time ago about the easiest filler for sanding, I suggested Polyfilla / Polycell powder wall filler, or Halls Beeline filler if you wanted economical and OK filler. I strongly advised on avoiding home brand rubbish at the DIY stores – unless you want to risk it.
This all still holds true, however I have since converted over completely to Toupret fillers. This was certainly not based on price, as they tend to be quite expensive per kilo. The reason was performance guaranteed for every filling occasion. The French are fanatical about preparation, and this is reflected in Toupret fillers from the finest surface fillers to spray on skim coats.
Toupret all-purpose filler is TX110
The “stuff in the black bag” as a colleague used to call it. If you allow time for it to stiffen up between fills, you can pad it out to any depth in theory. An inch is the deepest so far, and no issues with crazing.
(I was told it is as strong as Polycell Deep Hole, a 2-pack filler that really does work filling over nail heads that pop normal plaster right off. I haven’t bothered trying to prove this fairly outrageous Toupret claim. Maybe on my own home!)
After 3 hours dryng, Toupret TX110 sands like a dream.
On the downside, dusty isn’t the half of it, and Toupret filler is a definite candidate for vacuum extraction kit. It’s all that marble dust, see 🙂
This leads me on to Abranet which I also referred to in the same breath as Polyfilla.
Easy and sand – not necessarily two words that go together easily for most DIY decorators. However, there is a simple sanding solution for any keen DIY-ers and serious trade professionals alike – the Abranet starter kit.
Unlike my abandonment of Polyfilla, I stick by Abranet, nearly 3 years on. It is astounding the number of decorators now catching on to this sanding system.
I did come across a few flaws in Abranet and extractor pads under really heavy use, but between a few heads, we came up with a solution – punching extra holes in the paper to reduce clogging. The Mirka guys didnt like the sound of this, as it goes against all their marketing bumf. But hey, it works for us and we are still buying it by the bucket load from Abranet suppliers Trade Decorating Supplies.
Sanding standards are definitely on the up with Mirka kit, and with super pro craftsmen like Wayne de Wet behind Toupret fillers, one day maybe decorating preparation work will be respectable right across the board!
If you are tradesman using toupret fillers or Abranet abrasives regularly, leave a comment with a link back to your site. Customers need to know about firms like you.
Please share it on Twitter, Facebook, or print it out for reference. Thanks.
|
|
5 comments to “Easy sand wall filler”
Hi Andy,
You are spot on about Toupret and Abranet.
I have a selection of powder fillers on the van – alabastine, easifil, Toupret Le Reboucher and Toupret TX10.
As time goes on I don’t bother with the others and go for the Toupret time and time again.
Having just changed the bag in the Mirka Ceros 915 extractor it really hits home the importance of dust extracted sanding, a 30ltr bag of dust, weighing kilos, which previously would have been in the atmosphere on the job is safely contained.
I don’t know how people can work without this kit!
Thanks for that input Laurie, always refreshing to hear others’ positive experiences of two major game-changing products. As you say, how did we ever get by before vacuum extraction.
I remember years ago we skimmed an emptied room completely with easifil or some such filler, and taped up the smoke alarms ahead of sanding down the “normal” way. Half way through, the alarm went off from the dust, and 20 minutes later we hear these heavy footsteps and the door burst open, a crew of firemen stood in the doorway. We could hardly see them, it was mental really how dusty everything was.
Last job here, I skimmed everything in a room with Toupret TX130 and sanded it with the Mirka CEROS, not even a tell tale dusting around my eyes from sanding ceilings or walls. No dust to speak of at all. We will live a lot longer methinks.
Whilst not strictly speaking a decorating company we’re frequently asked to continue our repair / refurbishment work beyond the original remit and decorate it to the same standards that we work too.
As an ex “easyfill” user we’ve also gone over to Toupret TX110 and TX130 which plays a huge part in the sort of finish our customers require combined with Abranet abrasives.
For almost complete dust free working (A must these days) we have had a lot of success with the Nilfisk multi 30 dust extractors. Wet/dry and barely getting warm after 8 hours of sanding and in daily use cleaning the site before hometime.
Next is a Mirka Deros before we really do kill the current Ceros.
Will have to look into that extractor unit. Did you have trouble with other models before changing to the Nilfisk?
Previously we had numatic products, the typical Henry for cleaning and the twin motor for extraction. I knew of nilfisk through industrial drilling work and when the twin motor was having yet another motor fitted I just picked up the nearest Nilfisk wet/dry model on offer. I don’t mind spending money on tools, but they aren’t even expensive, I’m a definite convert.