sand/cement or hardwall???

[Dhuper]

Hi there, I'm having the lower half of my house re-plastered, all the walls stripped to the brick work the builder told rather then using sand/cement, there's a new thing called HARD WALL, he said it's strong as cement, he said he'll do one coat of hard wall and then skimming on top of it, I've never heard of hard wall, I thought it was always like cement first followed by skimming, he did say it's your decision and also i will be hanging a 50inch plasma on one of the wall's, all you guys what are your views on this.

 

[Richard C]

Hardwall is a modern base plaster, easy to use but can be a little pricey in comparison to sand/cement/lime render which is the traditional base coat but does require skill to apply successfully. I sometime use Hardwall on new block work but much prefer render. He’s “snowing” you a bit with “as strong as cement” as that’s actually the last thing you want as a base on an older property; it’s less tolerant to movement & so more liable to cracking than a sand/cement/lime render base. Without sitting in judgment, he probably wants to use Hardwall because it’s more convenient for him (but more expensive for you) to pour it out of a bag straight into a mixing bucket than order & mess around mixing 3 separate ingredients + it’s much easier to work than conventional render. He's almost certainly priced for render base but hoping you will go with Hardwall.
Whatever you choose, it will make no difference to mounting your plasma.