Wall Repair Before Skimming

[leevis]

Hi All
I am considering a skim coat in a room i am decorating at the moment. I have plastered before with someone at it looked ok in the end.
A couple of questions though.
1. There are quite a few holes in the wall from rawlplugs etc, how much will plaster be able to cope with? Should these be filled? I would say that some are approx 10mm deep by about 5mm diameter (dont ask), my feel is that these should be filled beforehand.
2. There is a light socket which is completely knackered around the edge which needs to be repaired somehow. If you look at a normal light switch you can normally see just the front plate, on mine there are gaps all over the place. How can i make this square? I would say use that scrim tape to make a kind of square shape and then plaster over that. Is that correct?
3. For safety, should i PVA 3to1 before i start? Not sure if it needs it but i dont want to run the risk of the plaster falling off. How long after PVA can you skim?
4. At some point i will need to do the ceiling in there, currently there is a kind of artex finish (not pointy). Hows does PVA 2to1 sound on there?
Leee

 

[roy c]

What I would do would mix a bit of plaster put a bit of unibond around your holes and around the light switch.Then put some scrim tape over the holes and around the light and a bit more plaster over the scrim. This will firm up for when you skim it, Mix the unibond up 2 or 3 to 1 I would not water it down more than that (diffrent brands different strengths.) let the plaster pick up where you have filled your scrim tapes them give the wall a good rollering of unibond. When you have finished have a cup of tea ,a smoke or something else that takes about 15 mins!! then roller it again. Leave it over night or longer and when you are going to skim it roller it again with unibond (Same mix ratio) then let it go tacky then skim it. If the ceiling isn't too bumpy like you say you might get away with unibond again leave it (same time as the wall ) then another coat leave to get tacky then skim as normal. If the "bumps" are too proud you could put a coat of bonding on it first to level it out a bit then skim over when bonding "picks" up. Good luck.....

 

[roughcaster]

Great reply Roy, as always!! This is what the Forum is all about.

 

[roy c]

Great reply Roy, as always!! This is what the Forum is all about.

Thanks mucka

 

[leevis]

Thanks, appreciate your time and reply, you da man!

 

[kjacko]

Whilst not wanting to add confusion can i ask,
roy and rough, would you consider any other method of achieving the OP's aims as a bodge?
In my limited experience, i would have mixed up either a small bit of bonding or even board adhesive and filled all the holes with that. It's worked for me in the past.
Then i'd pva it, with one or 2 coats, then skim when tacky. I wouldn't have left it overnight and pva'd again the next day. Again, its worked for me in the past.
I would have 'maybe' used scrim tape over the light socket edges if i thought it needed it.
Would you think the way i'd do it as a 'quick fix' or an alternative way once you'd surveyed the job?

Always keen to learn better/proper nethods from the pro's, so thanks for any input and although a slight hijack may well help the OP too.