Repairing damaged plaster coving

[Stuh80]

Hi
We have a 1930s house which has the original plaster coving. The previous owners painted it with some sort of stipple effect paint, most of which was falling off. I have managed to remove this to reveal the original plaster, however it's also revealed a lot of damage to the original plaster.

I'm struggling to replicate a smooth finish after filling cracks and dents and sanding. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get back to a smooth finish? Is it possible to completely re-skim in some way keeping the curved effect?

Thanks,
Stu

 

[stevethespreader]

Show some pics

 

[Stuh80]

Hi
Please see some examples of the damaged coving. As you can see some of it looks like someone has attempted a bodged repair (grey).
Thanks

 

[roy c]

You would be better off buying a length of the same coving and rip the old stuff down and fix the new stuff up...

 

[Stuh80]

The coving seems to be solid plaster rather than the standard coving you can buy...so not too keen on hacking it off.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

It looks like someone has tried to use bonding plaster or some sh1t, instead of plaster of Paris, and they made no attempt to smooth the profile while wet. It's no use slapping plaster on and then hoping to sand the craggy mess off later.
Removing the coving shouldn't be a problem, and you can buy new plaster coving very easily. It's not hard to install if there's two of you, particularly a small profile like that one. In fact it's such a plain, generic profile that you could alternatively replace with poly/gyproc and no one would tell the difference. It's not like it's an ornate profile that is worth saving.

 

[roy c]

As above,,,,