water leak through plaster wall

[iffy100]

Hi, just need a bit of advice on an issue in my house. I had an external leak come through to my internal kitchen wall. It is now completely dry (happened three months ago). I have since been researching online on what to do to fix the problem and it appears I should only remove the crumbling paint, put some sort of stain block over the damage, prime and then paint. Can members please approve of this method or advice otherwise?



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[roughcaster]

Providing the the source of the damp has been fixed, and there is no damage to the plaster itself, give the area a sand down to remove any flaky surface bits, then seal it in. If ever i'm working on a wall with a similar problem, i use a drop of "oil based undercoat", it does the job just as good as those expensive stain blockers. Once you have sealed in the old damp stain with the oil based undercoat and it has dried, you can use a drop of ready mix filler to touch up any blemishes on the plaster surface. Let it dry, give it a light sand over, then you're ready to paint the wall.

 

[iffy100]

Thanks for the advice buddy. Can you advise on what grit paper I should be using? Thanks.

 

[roughcaster]

Nothing too rough, i'd go for around the 150 grit. That gives you good enough abrasion to clean/sand off any flaky paint bits, without being too rough on the plaster. It's also perfect for sanding down any blemishes that you fill up with the filler. To re-cap what i said earlier,,, sand down the affected area/s, seal with an oil based undercoat, fill any blemishes with filler, sand down again, then paint your wall. It should leave a more or less invisible repair.