Plaster cracking

[CortinaV8]

In my kitchen I have a wall that is only half brick width, there is a UPVC door in this. The plaster finish was excellent, however as the door has been slammed shut over a few weeks I guess the slight flex has caused the plaster to hairline crack, the plaster isn't blown and sounds solid when tapped, the brickwork is in good condition with no cracks showing on the outside.

I'm considering plasterboarding with 12.5mm board as this should cope with the slight bit of flex, if I went this way would it be advisable to dot and dab onto the exisitng finish or strip it back to the brickwork?

Unless anyone has any other ideas?

 

[joe-90]

It might just be shrinkage. Fill it with paint.

 

[Richard C]

If the extra paint don't work, overboading what you have isn’t going to help much either if it’s all flexing; plaster doesn’t give much at all & it will still crack if you don’t beef it up & folks continue to slam the bloody door. D&D will be vulnerable with the “heard” unless it’s very well supported around stress points. I’d go for a strip back & a proper base/ finish job; but then I am biased.

 

[CortinaV8]

I think you have it on one Richard, I am able to close the door in a normal fashion, my girlfriend seems to need to slam it with 10 times the force needed to close it.

The current finish is a strong cement render base with a multifinish top coat, how would you improve on this?

 

[Richard C]

The current finish is a strong cement render base

You don’t say what “strong” is but that may be your problem; the stronger the mix the more susceptible to cracking. Use a weaker mix & shove an equal amount of lime into it 4:1:1 for the scratch coat, 5/6:1:1 for the top coat & give each mix a dose of plasticiser. Leave top coat 2/3 days before finishing.

 

[marshman]

Might take a while but
distract girlfriend when she is slamming the door, once she's slammed it on her fingers it will get closed more carefully.

 

[roughcaster]

Might take a while but
distract girlfriend when she is slamming the door, once she's slammed it on her fingers it will get closed more carefully.

 

[roy c]

Is it an area where you could get away with dot and dabbing a piece of board on without having to skim it? If so you could do that on top of the existing plaster and paint it.. Just a thought...