How To Repair Crack In Plaster

You lot just gotta dearest plaster. That rock-hard substance, which was applied to the walls and ceilings of virtually every house in this country until the 1950s, gives us surfaces that are seamless, mold resistant, burn down resistant, and noise deadening. But what to do when plaster cracks, buckles, and pops loose? It's a perplexing question for many of our readers, including Tim Thorp, whose house in Providence, Rhode Isle, is filled with badly blemished plaster.

"How do I patch 100 years of gouges, cracks, and screw holes then the walls look flat and make clean when painted?" he asks united states of america in an e-mail. Here, Tom Silva shows how to repair plaster walls to brand them look every bit good every bit new.

Plaster Crack Repair: An Overview

Photograph past David Carmack

The fundamental to whatsoever prepare is to reunite the plaster with the strips of forest board underneath. Otherwise the cracks come dorsum, no matter how many times y'all patch over them. That'due south why This Old Firm general contractor Tom Silva usually reattaches board with screws and metal washers before attempting a repair.

Recently, though, he tried Large Wally'due south Plaster Magic, a homeowner-friendly adhesive that uses glue instead of screws. While it costs more the spiral-and-washer method—a half-dozen-tube kit runs $120, versus $twenty for 120 metal washers—the final finishing is easier and looks better because at that place aren't any washers to embrace. Plus, a glued bond lasts longer than a screwed connectedness.

How to Repair Plaster Walls

1. Drill Into the Plaster

Photo by David Carmack

• Using a 3/16-inch masonry flake, drill a hole in the plaster almost 2 inches from the fissure. When you lot hitting lath, stop—the fleck won't go through wood—pull out the fleck, and drill another hole about three inches from the first and about 2 inches from the crack. Endeavor to hit a strip of board with every hole you drill. If you miss, the bit will sink in right to the chuck.
• Mark such holes with a pencil as a reminder not to inject them with primer or adhesive in the adjacent steps; try drilling once more almost one-half an inch upward or down.
• Go along until there is a serial of holes about iv inches apart on both sides of the cleft. Vacuum the plaster crumbs out of all the holes.

2. Prime and seal

Photo by David Carmack

• Put on safe goggles and disposable gloves, then spray-pump a stream of the acrylic conditioner into each of the holes (just non into any yous've marked). One or 2 squeezes should be plenty.
• Spray the edges of the crack, too, and clean up drips with a wet sponge. Wait x minutes for the milk-thin conditioner to soak into the plaster and wood.

3. Inject the adhesive

Photograph past David Carmack

• Place the adhesive tube's nozzle in ane of the primed holes. Gently clasp the caulking-gun trigger until the creamy glue fills the hole and a little backs out around the nozzle.
• Do the same for all unmarked holes. Scrape off the excess and wipe the wall clean with a wet sponge.

four. Clench the wall

Photo by David Carmack

• Slip a ii-inch plastic washer over a 1 v/8-inch drywall screw, and drive it into the lath through one of the adhesive-filled holes. The spiral pulls the lath confronting the plaster's back side while the washer gives the screwhead a wide clamping surface.
• Plant washers most 8 to 12 inches apart on both sides of the fissure.

5. Wipe and wait

Photograph past David Carmack

• Wipe away whatsoever excess adhesive with a wet sponge.
• Look a day or two for it to cure, and then dorsum out the screws and scrape off the washers. (Relieve them for another plaster-repair project.) Also, scrape off any stale adhesive poking out of the holes.

6. Make full the fissure

Photo past David Carmack

• Mix upwardly a small batch of setting-blazon joint compound and use it to fill up the fissure and all the holes. Smooth the wet compound with a trowel; then, every bit it begins to harden, wet it and shine information technology again.
• Later on the chemical compound sets, sand the area lightly, and so prime and paint.

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Tools

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/walls/21016734/how-to-fix-damaged-plaster

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