Stopping cracks from re-appearing when skimming plaster
I am currently re-plastering my living room in c1920s house. Having
stripped the wallpaper the existing lime plaster has a huge number of
hairline cracks with a few larger cracks thrown in.
Having done some re-skim work in other parts of the house I have found
over time some of the hairlines have re-appeared and joins between
patches and existing plaster have opened up again. Although this has
happened over the period of a few years each winter a few more seem to
appear.
Option 1:
Hack the whole lot off and replaster with Hardwall and then
Multi-Finish. If the walls don't have any joins/patches this will
reduce potential weak points that are liable to crack. Hardwall on lime
mortar walls will crack to a certain extent over time due to the walls
being flexible and Hardwall not.
Option 2:
Tape the large cracks and skim the existing. Has anyone any experience
of fibre-bind which can be added to the 1st coat of the skim mix ? This
is supposed to help prevent cracking but I wonder if it works. I also
think it reduces the setting time marginally which could make the job
more difficult.
Option 3:
Re-plaster with sand/cement/lime (hydrated) but this will be hard work
and heavy. The lime will introduce some flex though but still probably
not as good as the original.
Should I just face it and accept that *all* plaster will crack over
time and just take the easiest option - 2 ?
TIA for any advice.
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