Repairing damaged walls / skirting removal

[SensibleDev]

Hi!

Long story short I have a little one on the way and am sorting out nursery. The house itself is well over 100yrs old. The room in question was pretty ugly, the skirting board looked like ugly planks of wood attached to the wall. I've basically gutted the room, however when removing the skirting I realised the plaster wasn't all the way down to the floor boards. There is a gap of around 5 inches from bottom of plaster to the floor boards. The skirting was fixed to these wooden chock things which had shirt vertical battens attacjed to them, which were in the wall at varying intervals replacing a brick. Due to the nails being old etc the chock bits pulled lumps of plaster off the wall whilst getting the skirting away.

My question is, what's the best way to finish this?

I am left with a five inch gap all the way round which goes up to around a foot gap in the places where there was a wooden chock thing.

I'm not a bad diyer but have no plastering experience. My current plan is to:

- Pva exposed brick
- use base plaster coat to fill out gap
- finish coat of plaster
- sand
- paint

However, should I plaster down to the boards? Or leave a gap? Any tips great fully appreciated. Pic to follow!!!!

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• SensibleDev
• 14 Jan 2013
• 1

 

[keyplayer]

Are you planning on doing without skirt altogether? That would make the wall vulnerable to damage from eg vacuum cleaner use. I would do it as your list, minus the sanding, leave a smaller gap to the floor and fit a shorter skirt. Or dot and dab strips of PB into the gap level with existing finish and glue on a new skirt of the same height as the original. Or higher.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

My current plan is to:

- Pva exposed brick
- use base plaster coat to fill out gap
- finish coat of plaster
- sand
- paint

A fair plan no need to sand the plaster down though, just make sure you leave 2-3mm for skim after base coating, the blend it in.

However, should I plaster down to the boards? Or leave a gap? Any tips great fully appreciated.

Leave about 20mm between finished wall and floor.

 

[SensibleDev]

Thanks for the fast replies!!!!

Just to clarify, yes I do intend to fit a skirting board, I've done it before so will be screwing it in

Just regarding sanding. If I don't sand the area where the new plaster meets the old wont it look a bit odd?

Cheers.

 

[Alastairreid]

Fit your new skirtings then then use easi-fill to do the repairs as this is designed to be sanded and will blend in easier.
Gypsum plaster wont sand as well.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Just regarding sanding. If I don't sand the area where the new plaster meets the old wont it look a bit odd?

Plaster is not a material that is best sanded, you could go down the easi-fill route though as suggested by alastairreid.
Base coat, apply easi-fill and sand. You may repair more then one application of easifill though and sand-down after each application.
Use 150-180 grit sandpaper.

 

[SensibleDev]

Thanks guys!!! I think I will go that route. Any suggestions on which product to use. Cheers.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Any suggestions on which product to use. Cheers.

http://www.british-gypsum.com/produ...ries/gyproc_accessories/gyproc_easi-fill.aspx

 

[SensibleDev]

Awesome, that looks perfect. With regards to the base coat, which one would be best suited to being applied directly onto brick? I notice the browning undercoat states not to use any sort of bonding agent. Is it still ok to Pva the brick? Cheers.

Oh, also, i know I should probably replace the bits off wood with brick, but as they were initially plastered over I was going to plaster straight over them. Would this cause a major problem?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

The surface is solid brick, so browning basecoat will do, as regards preparing wall. Remove loose debris, dust, dirt etc. The area does not need PVA bonding but it can be. The spec will say apply to reasonably dry walls, I find it handy just to dampen walls down slightly prior to applying base coat.

If any major holes, could be worth filling in prior to applying the base coat.
This can do done with the basecoat plaster, leave to stiffen up or it may start to fall out, wouldn't be over concerned with the odd bit of timber being left in behind skirting. If you record where they are, would be a good fixing point, if they are still secure.

 

[Lower]

Plastering to just above floor level makes it easier to fit new skirting as you don't have to pack the gap behind it. But you don't have to do it all along the length.

Dabs of browning where you plan to drill though the skirting board would be fine.

 

[1john]

You could of course just dub out the gap with browning and fit a 6" skirting and use a bit of easy fill over any little holes that may be left.

 

[SensibleDev]

Thought I'd share the finished article! Pretty pleased overall. Thanks for all the suggestions. In the end I went with base coat of browning, then topped with multi finish. Once sanded and painted it looks pretty good.

Untitled

• SensibleDev
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

Untitled

• SensibleDev
• 30 Mar 2013
• 1

 

[Pigeon85]

Looks like a fine job there and them floor boards come up well lol

 

[joe-90]

Those floorboards look great, but how did you get them to run with the joists?