Vicrorian wall corner repair

[robbie77]

The wife has booked a painter to come at weekend but there is a bit of a mess in the corner of the room that needs fixing and I can't get anyone to help before weekend.

So the plan is to remove the old wood corner bead at the top. Chuck some bonding coat on and then fasten the corner bead on and finish with multi? Or do I pack the corner bead out get it square first and fasten first ?
I have only done small areas and never done a corner repair but it can't look much worse.
So I'll have a go at heaving the plaster on the wall before the painter wiggles his brush while drinking tea....

 

[tell80]

What floor are you on - is that a chimney breast corner?

You will need to remove the short piece of skirting and the round wood corner bead.
You will need a length of angle bead cut in two pieces - one from below the worktop or mantle piece almost to the floor and one from the worktop/mantle piece to the ceiling.

drop plumb lines beyond any damage on both sides of the corner and hack off all the plaster that remains in between the plumb lines.

Fix and set the two corner angle beads using dabs of whatever plaster your using.
Set the bead for a 90* corner
You'll need a level and a couple of straight edges.
Now Leave the bead alone until the dabs set firm - then take up suction and begin filling in.
Be careful not to disturb the bead.

See youtube for lots of helpful plastering vids.

 

[tell80]

Theres what looks like damaged plaster lower down and further back on the left hand wall - without pics i cant tell what kind of damage it is.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

chop it all off , stick a nicely cut plasterboard directly to the brickwork and fill the corner out and sand it back.

 

[robbie77]

Thanks. It's ground floor and yes it's corner of a chimney stack. I hadn't thought about adding plasterboard but that will be much easier to get a level finish i imagine. I might well do that.
I have a couple of levels I was going use. I don't have anything to drop a plumb line from or would you just put a screw in the ceiling and drop it from that?

 

[tell80]

The damaged plaster on the chimney breast side wall and the back wall would most likely be hygroscopic chemicals that have come through the brickwork from the soot in the dirty flue - its possible that on the other side of the chimney breast the alcove is in a similar condition?
Why not closely examine the walls in the room at skirting level

The modern practice seems to be knock off all the plaster to one metre high or, in your case, to take off all the plasteron the chimney breast side, floor to ceiling and then render with saand and NH lime - do the back wall to 1m high.
For a number of good reasons dont use plaster board eg. if the chemicals can come through bricks and mortar then they can tear through plaster board.

None of this will help you solve your original question by week-end but it is what it is. Your choice?

BTW plumbing down is typicaly done by using a level and a pencil - no plumb bob's needed. Its suggested to give you a clean line to work with.

 

[robbie77]

The damaged plaster on the chimney breast side wall and the back wall would most likely be hygroscopic chemicals that have come through the brickwork from the soot in the dirty flue - its possible that on the other side of the chimney breast the alcove is in a similar condition?
Why not closely examine the walls in the room at skirting level

The modern practice seems to be knock off all the plaster to one metre high or, in your case, to take off all the plasteron the chimney breast side, floor to ceiling and then render with saand and NH lime - do the back wall to 1m high.
For a number of good reasons dont use plaster board eg. if the chemicals can come through bricks and mortar then they can tear through plaster board.

None of this will help you solve your original question by week-end but it is what it is. Your choice?

BTW plumbing down is typicaly done by using a level and a pencil - no plumb bob's needed. Its suggested to give you a clean line to work with.

The other side is fine. The failing plaster i am pretty sure is due to a poor repair job from an electrical cable that was almost buried in the plaster . The cable has been removed causing the gaps. No evidence of contamination or anything. I'll have a think. I have some board and dab already so might just try it and if that fails get a pro in to sort it out!

 

[tell80]

you misunderstand me. i'm not talking about the corner damage but the contamination damage that can clearly be seen further back and lower down on the side wall and on the back wall.
Perhaps you dont realise it but you have been given pro advice!

 

[Deleted member 292770]

use plasterboard. stick it with gripfill.
that’s professional advice.

 

[tell80]

For professionals, its common knowledge that Hygroscopic chemicals bleed through gripfill or plaster board adhesive dabs - the chemicals then bleed through the plaster board.

 

[RandomGrinch]

Hi,

To play devils advocate, you have two choices!

Plasterboard has its uses, it is a quick, simple and cheap solution that will give a decent finish; for now....

Although, it could be seen as a bodge that is not solving, but masking the underlying issues.

The solution you go with will depend entirely on your priorities (...and I've done both in my time )

If this is likely to be your forever home, do it right, or accept that it will probably fail sometime in the future!

Good luck

...it could also be said that there is no place for gypsum based products in a Victorian home any way!

 

[Deleted member 292770]

For professionals, its common knowledge that Hygroscopic chemicals bleed through gripfill or plaster board adhesive dabs - the chemicals then bleed through the plaster board.

unlikely if he hacks it off first.
that’s why I said hack it off first.
so hopefully he’ll listen to a professional and hack it off first.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

Hi,

To play devils advocate, you have two choices!

Plasterboard has its uses, it is a quick, simple and cheap solution that will give a decent finish; for now....

Although, it could be seen as a bodge that is not solving, but masking the underlying issues.

The solution you go with will depend entirely on your priorities (...and I've done both in my time )

If this is likely to be your forever home, do it right, or accept that it will probably fail sometime in the future!

Good luck

...it could also be said that there is no place for gypsum based products in a Victorian home any way!

gypsum and gypsum based products have been used for hundreds of years.
do some google research and stop talking nonsense.

 

[RandomGrinch]

gypsum and gypsum based products have been used for hundreds of years.
do some google research and stop talking nonsense.

A seemingly balanced viewpoint here:

https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/gypsum/gypsum_plaster.htm

Yes, gypsum has been used for centuries, but not predominantly in domestic buildings, not in the same context and not applied in the same method as it is used today

 

[Deleted member 292770]

Hi,

To play devils advocate, you have two choices!

Plasterboard has its uses, it is a quick, simple and cheap solution that will give a decent finish; for now....

Although, it could be seen as a bodge that is not solving, but masking the underlying issues.

The solution you go with will depend entirely on your priorities (...and I've done both in my time )

If this is likely to be your forever home, do it right, or accept that it will probably fail sometime in the future!

Good luck

...it could also be said that there is no place for gypsum based products in a Victorian home any way!

so, you want him to do it right.
Go for it. starting at the begining.