First ever plaster

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28 Apr 2014
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Edinburgh
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United Kingdom
I need to patch up some walls in our house. The skim coat has come off in several areas: removing very old rawl plugs has pulled away some crumbling plaster, and in other areas the skim coat pulled away from the concrete wall when removing a built in wardrobe. I've uploaded some images:

//www.diynot.com/network/aredinburgh/albums/23580

I'd like to repair and plaster over the top. I've just bought some Artex easyfix ready mix plaster to fill the holes but wanted to try mixing a plaster over the top. I bought a small bag of Thistle Finishing Plaster for the wall but am not sure I can use it - it looks like I need Multi-Finish.

I'm planning on PVAing the holes / patches before doing anything, and then just giving it a go. Is this going to be a disaster?

Thanks for your help!
 
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First learn to remove plastic plugs without destroying the finish :

Drive a screw into the plug about half way, then using your fingers wiggle the screw and loosen the plug. Then gently prise the screw and plug up and out.
Sometimes, after setting the screw you might have to use your hammer claws to gently rock the screw and plug loose and prise it out.

Buy a small bag of repair mortar (S&C) from a plumber's supplies for filling any holes. But judging by that float coat, under the skim, its not been properly prepared for finish so it could be that all the skim has to come off.

Read up on recent posts ref PVA and skimming.

Dont ever prise fixtures off walls or up from floors - first remove all screws and fixings, cut the paint seal and lift the fixture away.
 
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As Gregers has said, driving them in a little deeper then filling over them is the best way. Quite often, you can do more damage trying to remove unwanted rawlplugs.
 
Thanks all. Yes I was a bit rough when removing the furniture - had been glued to the wall.. The undercoat plaster (bonding?) had crumbled towards surface around a few plugs. There's a couple more plugs I'll maybe just knock deeper.

Go a bag of easi-fill today so will plaster tomorrow. I'll still put a thinned coat of pva and plaster when it's tacky.

Thanks again. I'll update on how I get on.
 
Easi-fill is great! Repairs are looking grand - smooth and solid. Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
Great, i'm glad that its gone well for you. But how firmly stuck is the remaining finish plaster, did any extra skim have to come off?
 
Hey Ree, yeah, there was some definite loose plaster round the holes - I pulled the loose bits away. When cleaning the rest of the walls I removed the skim in a few other places.

When knocking the walls, there's a few places where the tone changes. It sounds more hollow - generally around hairline cracks. But it's not a tapping noise. There was one spot near the corner where the plaster was definitely free, so I pulled that off. In these other spaces the surface plaster seems intact.
 
Good point Micilin. With plastic rawl plugs, a sharp scraper will cut off the proud/head part of the plug. You can then push the remainder of the plug back in beyond the flush. With metal wall pugs, tap them back in a couple of mm. Trying to remove metal fixings from plasterboard can cause damage to the board.
 

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