repainting living room & cracks in plaster!

[george07]

am repainting the living room ivory cream crown matt emulsion...can you pros advice me on all the prep work before applying top coats ? do i need a mist coat still as its not new plaster..also there are several cracks in the plaster mainly around the area where the old dining room door has been boarded up! what is the best way to repair cracked plaster/board etc as ive tried to fill then sand them when did the bedrooms but the cracks keep reappearing! very frustrating tbh cheers again

 

[ajrobb]

Maybe a typical way to close up a door is to nail battens inside the door frame and put the plasterboard on these battens. Unfortunately, the battens move relative to the door frame, taking the new plasterboard with it and the filler cracks.

You could try taping the joint with paper or webbing jointing tape and smooth the joint over with Easi-fill feathered in with a plastic spreader and rubbed down over 300mm either side of the joint.

If you tell us more about the wall and door construction, I'm sure that people with much more experience than me can put you straight.

Scrape out cracks to remove loose plaster and seal with diluted PVA before filling and sanding. For reasonably fine cracks, I've found a touch of PVA over the crack helps the emulsion bridge the gap. A roller applies much more paint than a brush and leaves a stipple finish that helps hide variations in surface texture.