Plaster or PolyFiller Plus Sorting Joints Between Walls

[chuckalicious]

Hello all.

Looking for some advice.

I am in the process of decorating a room in my house (circa 1900). This room has been neglected by what I can only assume has been the last 3 or 4 owners and so is in dire need of work.

I have stripped the woodchip wall paper to reveal some rather badly damaged plaster work.

At some point in the past there has been some movement in the building, which has badly cracked the plasterwork, running up through the cornice, ceiling and into the adjoining room.

The image below shows a section of said damaged plaster. It's not a great image and the stripper puts it out of proportion, that section is actually maybe forearm length.

Untitled

• chuckalicious
• 12 Mar 2009
• 1

I have pulled off all the blown bits so I'm now left with a rather big hole, which needs to be filled before we line with lining paper and then paper on top.

What should I fill this with? Plaster, PollyFiller?

Also, there are gaps in some places where each wall joins and the walls seem springy at those points (ie they move when you press them). I would have thought it'd be a good idea to deal with that before I paper over it.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

 

[GSInot]

You definately need to make good the springy bits before papering.
How big is the room?
What your describing is pretty common for houses of that age & from my experience you can spend a lot more time & effort trying to make good the blown bits, patching, sanding, papering.....

If you want to go this route you need to fill the bigger/deeper patches with "Bonding Coat" Leave it a little shy of the surface then use "multifinish" to skim the patch to the existing finished wall. You can float the multifinish with a wet trowel after 20 mins or so for a flat finish or you can sand it flat later.

A much better option espescially if any re-wiring etc going on or the more you prod & poke the more plaster falls off (which is usually the case!) would be to knock the lot off back to bare brick & dryline it.
This is what I always do in refurbs.

 

[chuckalicious]

Thanks for the reply. No work needs done behind the walls, so I don't think I'll take the route of taking all the plaster off!!

This is essentially a redecoration job, with me fixing the issues behind the scenes, so to speak.

I will do as you suggest though re filling in the big bits.

Thanks again