How to repair these damaged walls?

[AdrianB]

I’m looking for a bit of advice. I removed the old skirting boards in our lounge in preparation for plastering and a few bits of the wall have come off too! Any idea what I should use to repair this before it gets a skim with multi finish plaster, it will be covered with new skirting boards again but I don’t really want to leave these big holes.



(Below) This part is the bay window and looks like plasterboard with insulation behind it:



Thanks!

 

[Darkrob_DIY]

Just give the walls a bit of a drink of water then apply Thistle Hardwall or browning to exposed brickwork.
Give it a scratch will a devil float (Plastic trowel with nails pointing out of ends) and then shud be ready for skim.

Hope this helps

 

[joe-90]

i would leave any kind of plaster alone if you can't plaster.

Not only that, there is supposed to be a gap in the plaster to stop the DPC being bridged.

Just bang a few blobs of Pollyfilla on if you must or a timber batten..


joe

 

[JohnD]

in the first picture I see a thick mortar joint, I wonder if it contains a dpc like a double slate bed?

I wouldn't plaster behind the skirting, I'd prefer two horizontal timber battens (pre-treated with Cuprinol Green) screwed to plastic plugs in the brickwork. You then only need small screws to fix the skirting to the battens, and if you like, you easily can take the skirtings off to paint.

Don't drill into the dpc.

You can use filler or plaster to smooth the joint from old plaster to the upper batten. Use a batten as close to the plaster thickness as possible.

 

[AdrianB]

Thanks for the advise, very helpful but a bit confusing. I dont understand how I can leave a gap in the plaster and still repair this. We have had some damp problems on this wall but suspect faulty rendering and a problem gutter. This room is on the 2nd floor by the way.

When we removed the old wall paper it looks like someone has drilled into this wall at some point in the past:



Not sure what to do now but I'm holding off the overall wall plastering till this is sorted.

 

[JohnD]

I was thinking, there's no point in plastering behind the skirting, because you won't see it. You want to provide something to fix the skirting to, and a batten is better for this than plaster.

So I would start by standing the skirting on the floor against the wall, and penciling a line at the top of the skirting onto the old plaster. as the old plaster is damaged not required I would then hack it all off below the line.

If you put the upper batten at the height of the top of the skirting, you can then use filer or plaster to smooth off any gap between the plaster and the batten.


Alternatively, if you aren't keen on the battens, you could screw the skirting back onto the wall, through the plaster and into the bricks, then patch up any gaps that show.

the gaps are quite small, I'd use a small bag of finish plaster and a real plasterers trowel, it helps you get a flatter surface than a filling knife as you can push it against the levels of the existing plaster beside it, and also use it as a scraper to pull off any bumps.

 

[noseall]

as you're on the second floor, plastering all the way to the floor boards wouldn't normally be a problem, as there is no dpc to worry about.
what is alarming is the abundance of moisture within the masonry.
if you were to fix timber battens, thus creating a void, with a prevalence of damp, there is always a risk of a rot fungus setting in. a solid infill of render is the answer.
firstly you need to fix that leaky guttering or whatever is causing the damp.
get a 5 litre bottle of s.b.r solution and follow the application instructions, using a sand and cement render.
skim up then fix the skirtings.
i have noticed a header brick in the photograph indicating solid 9 inch brickwork.
these header bricks are notorious for wicking water in from the outside.
particularly if the outer face of the brick has perished or failed.

 

[AdrianB]

Very helpful thanks! This property is a converted Victorian house, we have the top floor and loft conversion and the ground floor is another flat. Unfortunately this means its leasehold and the maintenance company are stalling over and over on repairing this wall.

Last time they said the damp was caused by inadequate ventilation and they would come back in 10 weeks to take another reading which is about now but again they are stalling on sending someone round. If it was freehold I would have just paid for it to be fixed by now without the hassle.

The survey when we bought the place said there were signs of defective and porous rendering on this wall, also the nails that were holding the skirting in place on this wall were rusted. I’ll update this thread when something happens.