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Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

Marble plaster is a unique wall decoration technique, using decorative chip fragments to create an elegant and eye-catching interior. Marble plaster can be applied to both walls and ceilings, and its surprisingly simple installation makes it a convenient choice for any interior. The advantages of marble plaster are numerous – it’s lightweight, highly durable and soundproofing, easy to clean, and can be painted over once it has been installed. Its distinctive texture and shimmering finish provide a stylish and captivating aesthetic, and its versatility allows for a variety of decorative chip shapes, sizes, and colors. Marble plaster will instantly transform any room, and its combination of sophistication and affordability make it a great choice for any home or building.

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Marble plaster is a versatile method that allows you to hide the imperfections of the walls of the building and give them a presentable look. It does not lose its relevance since ancient times, but if earlier only a select few owned the art of application – modern mixtures are adapted for use not only by professionals.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

Features and composition of marble plaster

As the name suggests, the main component of the composition is marble chips or flour. Depending on the planned final effect, the following are added to the mixture: pigment, lime, polymer resins and additives that give the coating resistance to fire, protection against fungus and various decorative properties.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

The first mixtures were made in Ancient Egypt, we can evaluate the results of their application even now, which once again proves the strength of the material. The modern solution is more decorative, since we can pick up pigments of different tones, and the composition itself is more convenient to apply to the surface of any shape, without having special skills.

What are the types of marble plaster

Conditionally, it can be divided into two types – mixtures from the crumb itself or from flour (Venetian plaster). Produced by the first method is grouped into fractions, it can be very small, like grains of sand, or quite large. Both types may differ in color and additional components.

Most often, the crumb has dimensions:

  • 0.5-0.8 mm;
  • 0.8-1 mm;
  • 1–1.2 mm;
  • 1.2-1.4 mm;
  • 1.4-2 mm;
  • 5 mm and above.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

The granules themselves differ in their spherical or faceted shape. Coloring is also divided into natural, depending on the color of the stone, and colored in various shades by adding pigments.

Mixture consumption per 1 m2 depends on the size of the fraction:

  • if crumb of 0.5–1 mm is used, it is necessary to make from 1 to 2.5 kg of the mixture;
  • from 1 to 2 mm – 2-3 kg of the mixture;
  • from 2 to 3 mm – 4–5 kg;
  • from 3 and more – 5-8 kg.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

Tool for applying marble plaster

For rooms with a large area, a mechanical application method is used using a hopper. In small rooms, the solution is applied with a trowel. In the first case, at least two participants are required, one will spray the mixture, and the second will smooth or correct it..

Tools for applying marble plaster to walls:

  • container for mixing the solution;
  • electric drill with a whisk for stirring;
  • Master OK;
  • spatulas of different sizes;
  • trowel;
  • metal graters;
  • flat brush;
  • primer roller;
  • ladder;
  • roulette.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

You will also need protective equipment, masking tape or oilcloth and an extension cord..

Wall preparation before application

Under the application of marble plaster based on crumbs, the surface may not be strongly leveled, if there are irregularities, they are removed with a trowel or putty. Walls must be well dried and primed, and metal parts must be free of rust. For the best effect, it is recommended to paint the surface to match the composition used. If solutions with drying oil or copper sulfate were previously applied to the wall, it should be covered with PF-115 enamel.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

There are also temperature restrictions. The plaster is applied to the surface at temperatures from +5 to +30 ° C. If finishing is done outdoors, avoid working in precipitation and under the scorching sun.

Types of ready-made mixtures for marble plaster

Modern ready-made mixtures are rarely made on the basis of lime, mainly acrylic polymers are used.

The most popular are:

  1. “Gold Mineral” and “Saftash” from “Bayramiks”.
  2. “Travertino” from “Oydos-Color”.
  3. “Paladio Arabascato” and “Marmorino” from “Monto”.
  4. Decorative plasters from “San Marco”.
  5. Beliton with “fur coat effect” from the Rostov LK plant.

Ready mixes will save you from mistakes in colors and mixing of components. As mentioned earlier, they differ in color, fraction and bonding materials..

Applying the mixture to the surface

The thickness of the layer depends on the size of the fraction of marble chips, usually it is applied in no more than two grains. Gathering a small amount of mortar on a spatula, distribute it along the edge of the trowel and apply a thin layer on the wall with chaotic strokes.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

This should be done as quickly as possible so that one wall is finished at a time, since even when using a mixture from the same bucket on different days, the joints will be visible. According to the manufacturers, this may be due to the evaporation of some of the moisture from the ready-made mixture..

If you work alone, first finish part of the wall and then proceed to leveling the surface, but this should happen no later than half an hour after application. With an assistant, he can follow you as soon as the surface is slightly ventilated. It cannot be smoothed immediately, so as not to peel off the applied coating..

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

The plaster is leveled with a steel trowel moistened with water. When the room is completely covered with plaster, you need to let it dry well and only then start applying varnish. If you do not stand the time, the lower layers will not dry out and the plaster will begin to come off. Ideally, this takes up to 6 weeks.

Wall decoration by applying plaster of different colors

The marble plaster does not need to be applied evenly or only in one color. You can also decorate the walls with 3D shapes or drawings. It is easiest to paint shapes with straight lines, but you can spend more time and apply whole pictures.

For simple shapes, we need a crumb of different colors, a sketch and masking tape. The principle of application, as with a monochromatic design, the difference is only in preparation and sequence. To begin with, we apply a drawing on the wall with a pencil or chalk, then we glue masking tape along the lines.

The plaster will be applied in stages:

  • we apply the first color to the desired part;
  • we wait at least half an hour;
  • remove the tape at the junction;
  • glue the tape to the edge of the first layer of plaster;
  • apply the second layer;
  • remove the tape from the first.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

Thus, we will get a drawing with clear edges. If you have multiple colors, you need to glue the tape where you want to keep the edge. If you want to apply more complex drawings, but do not know how to draw beautifully, order stencils from a self-adhesive film and apply plaster over them.

The step-by-step application of the pattern using marble plaster looks like this:

  • glue a picture on the wall;
  • apply the background color of the plaster;
  • wait half an hour and level the layer;
  • take a picture;
  • glue the rest of the part onto the background layer so that the edges of the stencil are around the picture;
  • apply marble chips of a different color to the place where the picture used to be;
  • wait for drying and remove the stencil.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

Bas-reliefs can be applied in the same way, but instead of a stencil from the oracle, you will have to take plastic or expanded polystyrene. It is necessary to glue it to the wall with special stencil glue..

Caring for the surface covered with marble plaster

Such plaster is a strong coating, but if the crumb is not protected with varnish, it will have to be looked after like marble. The stone is afraid of coloring liquids and scratching cleaning agents, therefore, upon contact, you must immediately wash off the dirt with soapy water.

If the surface is varnished, it does not require any maintenance; sometimes it is enough to remove the dust with a brush.

Old technology for applying exterior homemade marble plasters by washing

When there were not so many different branded compositions for marble plaster and putty, craftsmen made similar mixtures on their own. The process of applying such a coating consisted in the manufacture of the mass itself, breaking the wall for joining to apply the composition and then washing the applied layer. First, they took marble or granite chips and sorted them by color, and then by fraction, using sieves of various sizes.

Marble plaster: wall decoration with decorative chips

Then the selected fraction of the crumb was washed and mixed with white cement in the proportion of two parts of the crumb and one part of the cement. The wall, on which the mortar will be applied, was embroidered with a strip, with a cross section of one by one centimeter, creating the desired pattern or simply imitation of tiles. A solution of the desired color and fraction was applied to each such cell using a spatula or trowel, then carefully leveled and smoothed with a metal grater.

After the mortar had set (after about 4–6 hours), the top layer of cement was washed off with a spray gun. First with water with the addition of a small amount of hydrochloric acid, and then with pure water. The result was a wall covering consisting of tightly glued marble or granite stones. Considering the rich palette of various minerals, it was possible to create real masterpieces using this technology..

The main advantages of finishing with marble plaster

Marble plaster is not afraid of fungi and moisture. After a couple of months, it is gaining such strength that it is difficult to knock it down even with a hammer, so accidental blows while carrying furniture are not afraid of it. Natural stone will last for centuries and you won’t have to repair it over and over again, making it a cost-effective material.

Such a surface looks beautiful and does not require special care, and the variegated colors make dirt less noticeable.

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Comments: 1
  1. Lily Simmons

    What are the benefits of using marble plaster for wall decoration? Does it provide a more elegant and luxurious appearance compared to regular plaster? How durable is it, and does it require any special maintenance? Are there different types or colors of decorative chips available for customization?

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