The Night Tripper wrote:
Hi all
I'm doing a bout of wallpaper stripping & making good of plaster in the
hall/stairs at the moment, prior to repapering etc. I'm looking for
suggestions as to the best material to use for filling the gap between
plaster and wood.

This is at the bottom of the plastered walls, where they meet the wooden
sides of the stairs. Previously this gap was (badly) filled with polyfilla
or similar; I've raked this out so I now have a nice gap of 5 to 8mm or so
wide, and the thickness of the plaster deep.

In some places the wood that the plaster buts up to has a bit of a slight
flex to it (some boxing in of pipes, I think).

I am keen to make as good a job of filling this gap in as possible and am
unsure what the best material, or combination of materials, to use. In
order to minimise the effect of any flexing of the wood I'd like something
with some adhesion and flex between the plaster & wood; yet for the final
finish I want something plaster-like (I will be papering over the top
eventually).

I was wondering about using a caulk or adhesive sealant squirted into the
deep parts of the gap, to hold it all together, and then a plaster-based
filler for the surface. Would this work, and if so what thickness of
plaster filler would you suggest for best results? Are there any 'hi-tech'
plaster fillers with some intrinsic flexibility that I could use? ir is
there a bettr way entirely?

Thanks for your suggestions
J^n



Fill the main bulk with plaster, and use decorators caulk for the final
top level visible repair. Its paintable and slightly flexible.