Proportions of alabaster dilution. Construction alabaster, application

Soft white, sometimes with a grayish tint, plaster of paris- alabaster - used in various areas of construction. How to dilute alabaster correctly so that the resulting consistency is as useful as possible?

Before purchasing this material, make sure it is of good quality and free from dirt. This is especially true if it is needed for walls as an equalizer for different cavities. We advise you to take it with a note on the packaging "Purified mixture". This means that the mixture will mix easily, fill gaps perfectly and hold for a long time.

Nuances of the process

It is best to breed alabaster in a soft rubber container. A small ball cut in half would work well. Alabaster will be easily removed from such a container without leaving any dried marks on the walls. There is a possibility that if you dilute alabaster in a tough, for example, plastic container, it will deteriorate and become useless for anything. If getting the ball is not possible, prepare a pot or bucket. Before diluting the alabaster, place a plastic bag in this bucket, which can be thrown away after use and the container will remain clean. It is better to fix this package to the edges of the bucket with clerical clips or a tight hose.

Note! Building alabaster grasps quickly. It cannot be re-diluted with water.

Proportions

The process of mixing alabaster is similar to the procedure for making putty, paste and other mixtures. For effective work with this building material, it is necessary to choose the right proportions. Building codes spell out a rule indicating that 1 kg of dry alabaster will require 0.5–0.65 liters of water. Lime mortar can be used instead of water.

After mixing, you need to wait half a minute for the components to react. Then get to work immediately. Basically, on the finished site where the work was carried out, alabaster dries up in 3 hours. But much depends on the thickness of the layer, as well as the humidity and temperature of the room.

The building mixture must be added to a container with water, and not pour water into a container with a mixture. Stir best with a drill with a mixer attachment. If the container is small, a small spatula will work. Lumps are not allowed!

Video

Below you can see how to breed alabaster in order to "freeze" the socket:

Soft white, sometimes with a grayish tinge, plaster of paris - alabaster - is used in various areas of construction. How to dilute alabaster correctly so that the resulting consistency is as useful as possible?

To begin with, let's take a closer look at the material itself. Alabaster is based on a natural mineral, which gives confidence in environmental friendliness and safety of use. In addition, alabaster has unique waterproof and soundproofing qualities.
Before purchasing this material, make sure it is of good quality and free from dirt. This is especially true if it is needed for walls as an equalizer for different cavities. We advise you to take it with a note on the packaging "Purified mixture". This means that the mixture will mix easily, fill gaps perfectly and hold for a long time.
Nuances of the process
What to breed
It is best to breed alabaster in a soft rubber container. A small ball cut in half would work well. Alabaster will be easily removed from such a container without leaving any dried marks on the walls. There is a possibility that if you dilute alabaster in a tough, for example, plastic container, it will deteriorate and become useless for anything. If getting the ball is not possible, prepare a pot or bucket. Before diluting the alabaster, place a plastic bag in this bucket, which can be thrown away after use and the container will remain clean. It is better to fix this package to the edges of the bucket with clerical clips or a tight hose.
Better to use a plastic bag
Note! Building alabaster grasps quickly. It cannot be re-diluted with water.
Proportions
How much to pour
The process of mixing alabaster is similar to the procedure for making putty, paste and other mixtures. To work effectively with this building material, it is necessary to choose the right proportions. Building codes spell out a rule indicating that 1 kg of dry alabaster will require 0.5–0.65 liters of water. Lime mortar can be used instead of water.
After mixing, you need to wait half a minute for the components to react. Then get to work immediately. Basically, on the finished site where the work was carried out, alabaster dries up in 3 hours. But much depends on the thickness of the layer, as well as the humidity and temperature of the room.
The building mixture must be added to a container with water, and not pour water into a container with a mixture. Stir best with a drill with a mixer attachment. If the container is small, a small spatula will work. Lumps are not allowed!

Often, when making various crafts, the instructions in the instructions are not entirely complete. For example, when making wood from beads, it is recommended to use alabaster for the base, earth, and trunk of a tree. And how alabaster is bred is not said in the instructions for the master class.

In order to correct this injustice, we will create a separate instruction describing this process.

What is alabaster and how does it differ from alabaster

Don't feel like a mistake has crept in here. Indeed, there are two materials, with completely different properties, called the same word - "alabaster". There is a mineral, calcium carbonate, from which vases, burial vessels, and sculptures were made in antiquity. He can be different colors- from white to black, - and has some transparency for light, which, however, was quite enough to make filling window openings in churches during the Middle Ages.

The translucent material is also called alabaster onyx. Today, calcite alabaster is also used to make various decorative items... This material is relatively hard (3 on the mineralogical scale of hardness) and is processed with tools - cut, polished. Naturally, there is no question of diluting calcite alabaster with water.

More common and habitually associated with the word "alabaster" is another material - gypsum alabaster, or simply gypsum. He is well known to those who, in one way or another, faced repairs or broke some limb. The material from which the surgeon makes a splint to immobilize a limb or part of the trunk in case of fractures, sprains or other types of injuries, and the electrician uses to fix the cable in the strobe, is all alabaster. Both the one and the other choose this material because of the property of the gypsum solution to harden in an extremely short time - from 2 to 20 minutes, with the final set of strength within an hour.

Gypsum is made from gypsum stone (alabaster) - a mineral from the sulfate class. Natural raw materials are fired and crushed to produce a material called β-gypsum. The coarser fraction is used as a binder in building mortars, and has the common name alabaster or stucco. A finer grind material is used for making impressions and casting, for example, in the manufacture of gypsum stucco it is a molding plaster. Raw materials of high purity and fine grinding are used to make material for the needs of medicine. With additional processing of ground gypsum stone, α-gypsum is obtained, which has a higher strength in comparison with β-gypsum.

Which is better: stucco or stucco

From the above, it is clear that alabaster and gypsum are one and the same, and do not get fooled by "experienced advice" that explain to you the advantages of gypsum over alabaster or vice versa, and also prove that alabaster hardens more slowly than gypsum. Lifetime gypsum solution depends on the additives added by the manufacturer to the dry mixture. And the manufacturer does it in accordance with GOST 125-79, which describes technical conditions production of gypsum binders. According to the named GOST, gypsum mixtures can be of various brands - depending on the strength and three degrees of hardening:

A - fast-hardening, mortar life time from 2 to 15 minutes;
B - normally hardening (6-30 minutes);
B - slow-hardening (the beginning of hardening - from 20 minutes, the end is not standardized).

Manufacturers can write on the packaging and "plaster" and "alabaster", and sometimes even both terms at the same time. Therefore, choose material for your tasks, not by name, but by technical qualities marked with markings. If you need to quickly fix something, for example, plaster beacons or a cable in a gutter, quick-hardening gypsum is suitable for you, and if you want to tinker with something, then better fit normally hardening mixture. Casting plaster is more expensive, but if your casting has small parts, then it will be preferable to construction, which has a large grain. Medical is also more expensive than construction, but, apart from the price and the inscription, there are no other differences on the packaging for making crafts from molding.

How to dilute alabaster

Well, finally, having figured out the nuances of the differences between alabaster and gypsum, let's move on to the procedure for mixing the solution. Actually, if you are planning to make something out of plaster and have already bought a bag of dry mix, then this instruction you do not need anything: any manufacturer indicates on the packaging how and in what proportions the solution is made. In general, this instruction advises to make a solution by taking one part of water and two parts of alabaster.

Do not forget that gypsum hardens in a few minutes, and the basic rule when diluting is to make as much mortar as you can work out during the lower hardening time limit, characteristic of the brand of gypsum that you bought. That is, if the package says "from 6 to 30 minutes", then you need to count on six minutes.

That is why you should not try to plaster or putty with alabaster, they can only be filled slight irregularities or chips. In addition to gypsum, prefabricated gypsum putties and plasters contain additives that slow down the setting process, making the work comfortable.

There are several secrets when working with plaster:

usage warm water for mortar, accelerates the curing time;
attempts to add water to the hardening solution will not lead to anything good;
at home, an additive that slows down the hardening of gypsum can be wallpaper glue;

Alabaster is a building plaster, a material without which it is impossible to imagine today Finishing work or renovation of premises. The word alabaster is of ancient Egyptian origin. Already in those days, it was used in construction and architecture. Many objects made of alabaster are found in Egyptian pyramids and other places of worship.

Features of alabaster:

If alabaster is cut into thin sheets, then at a certain temperature it is transparent. In the Middle Ages, in this form, it was used for windows, instead of glass. Even today large sheets alabaster is used for church windows. So, in 2002, the Los Angeles Cathedral was consecrated, in the windows of which large thin sheets of alabaster were inserted. To make it transparent, the windows of the cathedral are equipped with a special cooling system.

Usually white alabaster, but there is a unique deposit of green alabaster in Mexico. In addition to green alabaster, three deposits of black alabaster have been found in nature in Italy, China and the United States.

Artificial building alabaster is obtained from natural gypsum in special apparatus when heated. A coarser powder with impurities is alabaster, or plaster of paris. The finely ground pure powder is called gypsum plaster.

Building alabaster is used as a binder for plastering walls and ceilings, making partition panels, as well as gypsum and gypsum fiber boards. As finishing material alabaster is unmatched among the many analogs that populate today construction market... With the help of alabaster, any problem areas on the walls and ceiling.

They are made of construction alabaster ventilation ducts and dry plaster sheets. Lightweight, fireproof ventilation ducts and dropped ceilings from alabaster make up an important, irreplaceable in quality, technical stuffing of multi-storey buildings.

A solution of alabaster in water hardens very quickly. Indispensable for alabaster electrical work, they overwrite the grooves and fix the socket outlets in the electrical boxes.

For interior decoration in the form of stucco molding, alabaster is irreplaceable. Various parts and elements of rather heavy weight are made from it; nothing can fix them better than alabaster. Beautiful cornices are made of alabaster, which decorate any interior. Moldings are made from this material. This is the name of the stucco molding in the form of a convex strip. Moldings are used in expensive, unusual interiors... Pilasters and columns are made of alabaster - details of an exquisite interior.

The role of alabaster in restoration work is great. Refurbish vintage interiors quality is possible only when using natural materials. Therefore, a huge amount of alabaster is used in the restoration of architectural structures, temples, palaces with precious stucco moldings.

Alabaster has been irreplaceable in art, since the times Ancient Greece sculptures are made of alabaster. When restoring sculptures, a solution of alabaster is used, prepared according to old methods. It is easy to apply patterns on polished alabaster, just a drop of water on it.

Alabaster is a fire-resistant building material, it prevents combustion. Alabaster is the ideal sustainable building material. Since alabaster has no chemical additives, it is not capable of harming health. Alabaster has an amazing ability to breathe. It absorbs water from humid air and releases it back when the room gets very dry.

The disadvantage of alabaster is its exactingness to storage conditions, it damp easily. Store it in dry rooms high above the floor. The shelf life is short.

Alabaster solution is made by adding water to alabaster, the amount depends on the construction task, for example, for electrical works you need to make a thick solution. Since the alabaster solution hardens very quickly, it is always made in small quantities. The old masters of decoration have a building trick that prolongs liquid state alabaster solution. They add wallpaper glue to the solution and tightly close the container with polyethylene.

Plasterboard is made of alabaster, which is used for suspended ceilings and prefabricated structures. Drywall is a layer of gypsum between cardboard surfaces. It was built from such material in ancient Rome.

Drywall replaces many Construction Materials and is easy to assemble. Decorates various pipes and electrical wiring well. Arches are built from drywall. The main disadvantage of drywall is its fragility.

Alabaster is widely used in construction as a part of dry mixes. In our time, self-leveling floors are fashionable, they are also made using alabaster.

The range of application of alabaster in construction, interior decoration, interior decoration is unusually wide. The methods of application have not changed since antiquity. All artificial building materials invented during this time cannot replace natural alabaster.

Alabaster application video:

Or for making small sculptures. The solution preparation technology is quite simple. The main thing is to know in what ratio the components are mixed. It should be noted that gypsum is the main material for making crafts.

What is gypsum

Before answering the question of how to properly dilute gypsum for crafts, it is worth figuring out what kind of material it is. First of all, it is very flexible. Gypsum can be applied to almost any type of surface. The material is easy to process and hardens quickly. Gypsum is used in many industries: as a fertilizer, as one of the components of paper and pulp production, as a component of enamels and paints. The material is also used for the manufacture of internal decorative elements... Often, gypsum is used as a binder in construction.

Material disadvantages

Since it is not a difficult process to breed gypsum for crafts, it is worth considering certain disadvantages of the material. This will make it much easier to work with him. First of all, gypsum has low levels of hygroscopicity and strength. Therefore, use decorative elements made of this material in rooms with high humidity Not recommended. In such situations, it is required additional processing... For reliability, finished crafts should be covered with a coating that protects against moisture.

Before starting work, you should take into account the hygroscopicity of gypsum products. They absorb well any coating. Therefore, it is recommended to apply a layer of primer to the surface of the product. Only then can a moisture-proof coating be used.

How to breed plaster for crafts: proportions

There are several main methods for making gypsum mortar for making crafts. The easiest method is to dilute the powder with water. In this case, it is important to observe all proportions. 7 parts of gypsum requires at least 10 parts of water. It is worth noting that it is worth preparing the solution with extreme caution so that there are no lumps. It is recommended to add gypsum to the water, not vice versa. This method also eliminates the formation of dust.

This solution is easy to use. It can be used to make products of almost any shape. However, it is worth considering that the crafts are not very strong. They break and crumble easily. So how to breed gypsum for crafts?

Method two

So, how to breed gypsum for crafts. This method of preparing a solution is a little more complicated than the previous one. However, the mixture allows the production of stronger and more reliable products that retain their appearance for many years.

To prepare the solution, you need: 6 parts of gypsum, 10 parts of water, 1 part The components are gently mixed until a homogeneous mass is formed.

Making colored plaster

How to dilute gypsum for crafts of different colors? This will require:

Gypsum.
Gouache.
Ordinary water.
Jar with a lid.
Dishes for solution preparation.
Spoon, scapula, or stick.

Kneading process

So, how to dilute gypsum for crafts from a multi-colored solution? The process is actually quite simple. To begin with, it is worth pouring gouache into the jar and the amount of water required to prepare the solution. To completely dissolve the paint, it is recommended to close the jar with a lid and shake slightly.

Colored water should be poured into the dishes where the solution will be prepared. Here, observing all the proportions, it is necessary to gradually add gypsum. It is worth pouring the powder into the liquid in a thin stream, constantly mixing the components. This will help to achieve a uniform consistency of the solution. The mixture should resemble thick sour cream. Stir the solution thoroughly during preparation so that there are no lumps and air bubbles. Otherwise, in finished product holes are formed.

How many crafts dry

Now you know how to breed plaster of paris for crafts. How long do the products dry? The gypsum solution is grabbed and gradually solidifies 4 minutes after its manufacture. So work with finished material should be done quickly and accurately. Complete hardening of the gypsum occurs in half an hour. In order for the mortar to set more slowly, a little water-soluble animal-based glue should be added to the solution.

How can plaster be replaced

On the this moment many creative kits are on sale. How to dilute plaster for Lori crafts, and the material from other kits for creating figurines, as a rule, is always indicated in the instructions. It is worth examining it before starting work, as the solution dries quickly. It should be noted that in some kits for creativity, analogs of gypsum are used. The most common of these is alabaster.

This powder has a grayish tint and a fine structure. The material is obtained as a result of heat treatment of gypsum dihydrate. Thereby ready solution received completely different characteristics. It should be noted that outwardly alabaster and gypsum are very similar.

How does alabaster differ from gypsum

Among the main differences between these substances, it is worth highlighting:

How many alabaster crafts dry

You can determine the solidification time of the material by examining specifications mixtures. In general, the setting of the alabaster solution is observed 6 minutes after the substance is diluted. Partial solidification occurs after 30 minutes. It is worth noting that a hardened and dried solution is able to withstand a load of 5 MPa. Alabaster dries completely within 1-2 days. Despite the fact that products made of this material are stronger, it is not recommended to use the solution for working with children, as it is not entirely safe for health. Gypsum is preferable in this case.