Swedish cut

A Swedish cut or a trowel cut (also a separating cut ) is a movement or separating joint in the plaster , which is intended to prevent irregular cracks from forming later. With the plaster trowel , the relatively freshly applied and not yet set plaster is cut down to the substrate.

Shrinkage cracks tend to occur on the inside corners in the plastered surface, such as cutouts for door and window openings. If this is compatible with the intended facade and wall design, a vertical or horizontal trowel cut can be drawn from the corner. Today the formation of cracks is often prevented by reinforcing fabric that is inserted into the still damp plaster.

Trowel cuts are most often used to create connection joints in order to prevent the freshly applied plaster from sticking to adjacent components. Otherwise, the shrinkage of the plaster and the behavior of the components in the event of humidity and temperature fluctuations will almost inevitably result in an irregular tear-off edge. This is especially true if the plaster is in contact with wooden components that swell due to moisture absorption and shrink again when they dry. Alternatively, the plaster can be chamfered at the connection to other components at an angle of 45 °, for example . The resulting dull plaster edge is less prone to tearing. If the plaster surface is flush with the adjacent component, this results in a shadow gap . In the case of half-timbered buildings, the plastered surface often protrudes in front of the surface of the half-timbered beams and is then chamfered in order to align the two surfaces. This means that a joint can be completely avoided and the facade appears more three-dimensional.

Today, cracking at the transitions from the plaster to other components is often prevented by attaching plaster profiles or edge profiles to the shell wall and then embedding them in the plaster so that the edge of the profile lies between the plaster and the adjacent component and prevents direct contact. If the plaster rail is additionally glued to the adjacent component, a largely water and airtight plaster connection is created.

If necessary, the trowel cut can be sealed watertight and airtight with a permanently elastic compound after the plaster has dried .

Web links

Gerhard Holzmann: Small construction encyclopedia, under "Trennschnitt" ( Memento from May 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive )