Expectations on Plasterboard and Blemish Free Surfaces
The impact of lighting on a plasterboard finish, either glancing or artificial, is still one of the least understood issues that we face with the presentation of today’s internal linings.
When it comes down to lighting, home owners are largely uneducated on the impact of lighting on a surface finish. The effects of natural or artificial glancing light can be damaging, and often home owners are oblivious to the effects until it is too late.There is often little or no consideration given to glancing light during the design phase. Home owners are unaware that skylights, swimming pools, full length windows, fluorescent lights, down lights and adjacent buildings can all cast glancing light onto their plasterboard finish, creating a surface which appears very blemished.
There is plenty of published literature from manufacturers and the well known information appearing in the CSIRO book on “The Illumination of Flat Surfaces” that incidentally is still relevant today, forty years later. Bring awareness to the public about the effects of glancing light on the finished plasterboard product obviously remains a work in progress.
Rightly or wrongly, expectations have changed and consumers are demanding blemish free surfaces – an unrealistic expectation.
In today’s competitive market and the time of the educated consumer, there is a growing expectation that a plasterboard finish will be blemish free. Matching these expectations with what can be realistically achieved is one of the biggest challenges we face on a daily basis.
Builders and self-appointed “experts” who arm themselves with a high powered torch, a marking pencil and hundreds of red dots fuel the expectation of home owners with no regard for agreed industry standards in the inspection of finished surfaces. Standing closely to a wall and shining a spotlight onto a surface to detect blemishes is not indicative of a good quality plastering job.
There are so many variables influencing the final plasterboard finish. The reality is plasterers have no magic wand and as industry professionals we are faced with a constant challenge to give a better understanding to designers and architects so that they can indicate to the end user the standard that can reasonably be expected from the choice of materials and design within the given budget.
Effects of glancing light from a fluorescent light
The same wall with no additional lighting
