Small plaster repairs - beginner

[battenburg]

I'm going to give the hallway of my Victorian terrace a bit of a refresh - mainly just a fresh coat of paint. There are lots of imperfections in the wall and its obvious that there have been attempts at repairs in the past which now aren't necessarily in the best condition. This is my first attempt at decorating so I'm not going to try and repair everything (in reality it would probably be better to strip some of the plaster off these walls altogether and start afresh, but thats for the long term).

A wall had a small bit of plaster that was loose which I have now removed - it just wasn't adhered to the wall. Its a couple of mms thick and there looks to be a smooth plastboard type material underneath.

What product/method would be best to skim over this small section? My main concern is that if the wider plaster isn't well adhered either - but hasn't actually come away like this section - then I could end up with a damaging or pulling away a larger area (i.e if the 'weight' of the filler pulls more away at the edges).

The simpler the better would be great!

 

[Tigercubrider]

Tap the area and see if there are hollow sounding areas. Remove any areas that are loose.
Use easifill to fill in the gaps. Spray the plasterboard with a splash of water first- Use a straight edge to ensure that you don't have a bulge. Don't be afraid to do a coat, allow to dry and another coat. Depressions are easier than bulges.

Probably a cardinal sin to proper plasterers- with small hollow patches where a skim was loose, I have managed to drill a small hole and inject some PVA into the back, then used a piece of wood against the opposite wall as a jack to force it back. It worked and is still there 4 years later.

 

[battenburg]

Thanks! I think this is some kind of stud wall - the main bedroom takes up the whole front of the house and this wall is part of the corridor, separating the living and hallway below, so it must be about about one metre or so 'into' the bedroom. Which I hope is why the whole thing sounds quite hollow anyway. Its therefore a bit difficult to tell where the plaster has blown, but the area surrounding this particular patch seems more firmly attached.

 

[StephenStephen]

Are you sure that's plasterboard behind? - it looks like painted (possibly lime) plaster that's been gypsum skimmed over, from the photo.