As a result of a slammed door (the wind took it - honest!!) the plaster
and lime mortar render has come off all down the latch side of the door
frame.
I've taken off the architrave, chipped off all the loose stuff, soaked
the exposed blockwork in diluted PVA, nailed and screwed galvanised
expanded wire mesh into the gap and just put sand and cement render into
the holes and cut it back just below the original plaster level.

So far so good, it is all staying in place and the family have been
warned not to breathe within a 10 foot radius whilst it dries.

My question is: what is the best sort of plaster to skim the surface
with? Ideally I only want to buy a small amount and having no experience
with plastering at all, possibly need plenty of working time to get some
sort of decent finish on it.

Once the render has dried, should I use more pva on it to slow the
drying time of the plaster down or will this just make it hard for the
plaster to stick to the wall.

Recommendations and tips welcome.

I've got plenty of portland cement, would a cement & water mix be any
good?

TIA

Bob

"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
As a result of a slammed door (the wind took it - honest!!) the plaster
and lime mortar render has come off all down the latch side of the door
frame.
I've taken off the architrave, chipped off all the loose stuff, soaked
the exposed blockwork in diluted PVA, nailed and screwed galvanised
expanded wire mesh into the gap and just put sand and cement render into
the holes and cut it back just below the original plaster level.

So far so good, it is all staying in place and the family have been
warned not to breathe within a 10 foot radius whilst it dries.

My question is: what is the best sort of plaster to skim the surface
with? Ideally I only want to buy a small amount and having no experience
with plastering at all, possibly need plenty of working time to get some
sort of decent finish on it.

Once the render has dried, should I use more pva on it to slow the
drying time of the plaster down or will this just make it hard for the
plaster to stick to the wall.

Recommendations and tips welcome.

I've got plenty of portland cement, would a cement & water mix be any
good?

TIA

Bob


How big an area are you talking about? I assume it's maybe 2" wide all down
the door frame?

If so, don't mess about with plaster - use Polyfilla. Smooth it into place
with a 2" or 3" wide paint scraper. Leave it slightly high, and scrape
and/or sand it when set. Then mix up a bit more - slightly more runny than
the first lot - to go over any little indentations, and sand it again. This
should then be smooth enough to paint.

Roger

Roger Mills wrote:

"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
As a result of a slammed door (the wind took it - honest!!) the plaster
and lime mortar render has come off all down the latch side of the door
frame.
I've taken off the architrave, chipped off all the loose stuff, soaked
the exposed blockwork in diluted PVA, nailed and screwed galvanised
expanded wire mesh into the gap and just put sand and cement render into
the holes and cut it back just below the original plaster level.

So far so good, it is all staying in place and the family have been
warned not to breathe within a 10 foot radius whilst it dries.

My question is: what is the best sort of plaster to skim the surface
with? Ideally I only want to buy a small amount and having no experience
with plastering at all, possibly need plenty of working time to get some
sort of decent finish on it.

Once the render has dried, should I use more pva on it to slow the
drying time of the plaster down or will this just make it hard for the
plaster to stick to the wall.

Recommendations and tips welcome.

I've got plenty of portland cement, would a cement & water mix be any
good?

TIA

Bob


How big an area are you talking about? I assume it's maybe 2" wide all down
the door frame?

If so, don't mess about with plaster - use Polyfilla. Smooth it into place
with a 2" or 3" wide paint scraper. Leave it slightly high, and scrape
and/or sand it when set. Then mix up a bit more - slightly more runny than
the first lot - to go over any little indentations, and sand it again. This
should then be smooth enough to paint.

Roger

Thanks Roger,

I'm part way through your suggested approach and all is going well so far.I
like the idea of scraping rather than sanding to reduce the dust. I'll try that
once the first coat is dry.

Bob