al wrote:
"doozer" wrote in message
news:g8ednTjp1M-

If the bit that's fallen off is fairly small (few square feet) I suggest
you skim it and leave just a tiny bit extra plaster / filler where old
meets new and then gently sand that back. I have done this is a couple of
places and you can't see the join. If more has fallen off then either
practice plastering or get a plaster in. I have become quite good at
plastering now :-)


It's about a 10cm circular area, so not too big. Should I just try gently
knocking it out with a chisel then and using Pollyfilla to build up the
missing plaster? It seems like a thin layer from the flexibility of it - I
would guess about 5mm or so thick. Sounds like this would be the final skim
layer from your and others descriptions.

I found that if the bubble looked like it was about 10cm when I had
taken off all the loose plaster the hole had normally grown to about
30cm (in one case it was much bigger than that though). Even so that's
still pretty easy to fill yourself with a little patience.

You shouldn't need a chisel as it will come away easily and in the
interests of doing as little unnecessary work as possible you don't want
to damage the underlying plaster as that is probably good enough to work
with. I used a old wall paper stripper - dig the edge into the bubble
and gently lift away then scrape off the rest of the loose skim like you
a lifting wall paper. Be careful you don't get carried away and scrape
the whole wall off! The material should come away really easily and is
probably currently being held together by a layer of paint at a guess.
If the base plaster is very sandy and dry you might want to paint it
with PVA first.

The final skim thickness will vary from place to place around the house.
Some places it will be as little as 1mm others around 5 or 6mm. I found
the thicker bits easier to fix. Just mix up some nice smooth filler and
slap it in the hole. Smooth it with a filling knife (or float if the
hole is big enough to warrant it) leaving just a little extra at the edges.

Leave it to dry thoroughly and then sand the edges (120 grit should do
it) smooth with the original wall, if you need to sand the middle bulk
section do that as well. Run the palm of your hand over the filled
section to check for bumps and steps between old and new. You shouldn't
be able to feel a ridge. If you do feel a ridge try and guess whether
your new filler is to high (in which case sand a little more) or to low
(in which case fill a little more and repeat sanding). You can get a
finish that is easily good enough to paint.

Graham



Before you steam the walls just go round the room and tap the walls with
your fingers. If anywhere sounds hollow you can be pretty certain that it
will fall off when you steam it as it has already partially come away
anyway. We found that just doing those bit by hand saved quite a bit of
re-plastering.


There's a few places like that all right ... looks like I'll have fun!




a