thought it would be easy to replace a faceplace for a plug
socket....but when taking the old one off, most of the surrounding
paint/plaster has come away. now im left with a sandy/crumbly area
around the back box.

how can i repair this?? the hole now is a lot bigger than the
faceplace. should i get plasterer to do it or can i use filler? will i
need to put pva on the sandy area to seal it ?

benpost wrote:
thought it would be easy to replace a faceplace for a plug
socket....but when taking the old one off, most of the surrounding
paint/plaster has come away. now im left with a sandy/crumbly area
around the back box.

how can i repair this?? the hole now is a lot bigger than the
faceplace. should i get plasterer to do it or can i use filler? will i
need to put pva on the sandy area to seal it ?

How big is 'a lot bigger'? Inches, feet? How deep?

I'd start by using a slightly dilute PVA mix (2 water, 1 pva) to
seal and glue up the sandy crumbly area. Then build up with filler
in several layers if necessary followed by decoration.

Guy

On 29 Jul, 19:48, benpost wrote:
thought it would be easy to replace a faceplace for a plug
socket....but when taking the old one off, most of the surrounding
paint/plaster has come away. now im left with a sandy/crumbly area
around the back box.

how can i repair this?? the hole now is a lot bigger than the
faceplace. should i get plasterer to do it or can i use filler? will i
need to put pva on the sandy area to seal it ?

Definitely PVA. Bonding plaster is excellent for filling big holes
quickly in one go, and it will hold the metal patress box in place too
without the need for any screws. Then finish off with a thin layer of
filler, or if it's a big area better to use finishing plaster - it's
not as difficult as you think for an area of just a square foot or
two.

Cheers!

Martin

this is what it looks like now, as you can see i brushed on 50/50 pva.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=31434ba&s=4

the back box sits deeper than the level of the wall surface, which
might make it harder to fill around it?

i've got a plasterer skimming a ceiling later he uses thistle multi
purpose stuff. should i ask him to tidy it up or have a go myself with
standard filler?

how do you mean the bonding plaster holds the back box? i need to
sort that out too, because it had a single nail in the centre but it
wont hold any more.

cheers

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:35:13 -0700 (PDT), benpost wrote:

this is what it looks like now, as you can see i brushed on 50/50 pva.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=31434ba&s=4

the back box sits deeper than the level of the wall surface, which
might make it harder to fill around it?

i've got a plasterer skimming a ceiling later he uses thistle multi
purpose stuff. should i ask him to tidy it up or have a go myself with
standard filler?


I've you've got a plasterer in already, I'd ask him to do it - much less
effort in return for, presumably, beer tokens.

how do you mean the bonding plaster holds the back box? i need to
sort that out too, because it had a single nail in the centre but it
wont hold any more.


The plaster usually comes around the edges of the box "holding" it in.
However, I would make the nail hole a bit bigger, put a plug in it, and
then screw the box in place. (I would never use a nail to hold a back box
in place but it's just not secure enough.)

This doesn't help you now, but whenever I'm taking off a socket, if it
looks like anything is stuck to it (for example paint from the wall), I
always score around the socket with a stanley knife - to ensure I don't
pull anything away. It might be that in your case there was a good deal
more stuck to the socket than that, or that your wall was just itching from
the chance to crumble away.

Martin Pentreath wrote:
On 29 Jul, 19:48, benpost wrote:
thought it would be easy to replace a faceplace for a plug
socket....but when taking the old one off, most of the surrounding
paint/plaster has come away. now im left with a sandy/crumbly area
around the back box.

how can i repair this?? the hole now is a lot bigger than the
faceplace. should i get plasterer to do it or can i use filler? will i
need to put pva on the sandy area to seal it ?

Definitely PVA. Bonding plaster is excellent for filling big holes
quickly in one go, and it will hold the metal patress box in place too
without the need for any screws. Then finish off with a thin layer of
filler, or if it's a big area better to use finishing plaster - it's
not as difficult as you think for an area of just a square foot or
two.

Cheers!

Martin
...and if you cant plaster to save your life, use an orbital sander to
get it all nice.

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:31:46 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

...and if you cant plaster to save your life, use an orbital sander to
get it all nice.

But be aware of the dust it's get everywhere.

Coming in late, I'd drill out the nail hole to take a plug and refit the
box with a screw and grommits in the cable holes. Then mix up some filler
to a fairly stiff mix and fill around the box and roughly below the main
surface. Don't worry too much about getting filler into the box, wait
untill it's partialy hardened then cut/carve it out. Leave to more or less
fully set then fill to the top surface. Again don't worry about getting
filler in the box but this time use a wet float to level and polish the
surface before it sets. Wait again then trim out the filler from the box.
The main trick is a stiff mix for the filler, "soft butter" rather than a
"dropping" mix in cooking terms. That it is stays where you put it and
doesn't flow/slump under it's own weight.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Try some "Sticks Like Sh*t".

On 30 Jul, 11:32, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

Coming in late, I'd drill out the nail hole to take a plug and refit the
box with a screw and grommits in the cable holes. Then mix up some filler
to a fairly stiff mix and fill around the box and roughly below the main
surface. Don't worry too much about getting filler into the box, wait
untill it's partialy hardened then cut/carve it out. Leave to more or less
fully set then fill to the top surface. Again don't worry about getting
filler in the box but this time use a wet float to level and polish the
surface before it sets. Wait again then trim out the filler from the box.
The main trick is a stiff mix for the filler, "soft butter" rather than a
"dropping" mix in cooking terms. That it is stays where you put it and
doesn't flow/slump under it's own weight.

Sounds right to me. My earlier bonding plaster suggestion was assuming
you had a bigger, deeper hole to fill, no need for it in this case.

all done now, sealed the crumbling with dilute pva, fitted the backbox
in with 2 screws/plugs. then the plastered just went over the whole
area, and before it dried too much removed the plaster in the way of
the box. once its completely dry i'll fit the front and paint around
it. cheers guys.