I am going to be doing some electrical work in a room with plaster walls, and although I have patched a ton of drywall, I have never worked with plaster. I plan on patching the holes with drywall and drywall mud. Does anybody have any advice on this, or will drywall mud work OK? Thanks.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Few people understand it. Nobody agrees what it is, how to learn about it, or who's responsible for it. It has never been more important
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
That'll work fine, although I'll sometimes use Gypsolite for plaster repairs ( as the brown coat ), and then use one of the setting type compounds for the top coat.
Hello Shep.
Next time try a ball of newspapers.(wet) and plaster of paris.
Then fibergllas tape and Joint compound. or D-mix.
Done that, too ( except for the D-mix, thats next)
Its kinda a matter of what I have around, and how much running around I want to do to pick up materials
You know what the roads can be like around here
stop over in 53 National road. Edison. (our new home.)
Now we have the room to shoot some videos and the first EZone School for the EZ tricks of the trade.
Next week. And you can be my star. (I need someone who speaks the native ....English.)
I make the first coat Durabond regular. Sets harder Bonds well to both the surface of and innerds of, plaster wall. On occasion will use Plaster Weld b/4 taping and mudding.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I have had good luck with EasySand (I use the fastest setting stuff). It sticks to plaster or drywalland it doesn't shrink. Although it's not nearly as easy to sand as pre-mixed joint compound, if you happen to apply too much, it can be sanded.
-Don
I would add to the priors to make sure you use some sort of backer if you remove or heavily damage the lath. I'm not sure about newspapers. One thing I did recently with some spots where I removed old boxes was to get some of the gutter guard material at the big box. It serves as a metal lath. What I liked about it was I could cut it in about any shape and then bend it in to place with a friction fit against the existing lath. Then I laid in a heavy coat of hot mud pushing it through the screening to create keys.
A variation of this is to tie the lath (or hardware cloth) to a stick pressed tightly against the plaster. When the patch sets, you can cut the string.
No one has stated the obvious -- that the technique used depends largely on the size of the hole. After having patched numerous holes in our century old house, I've concluded that it's as easy to patch a big hole as a small one, so sometimes enlarging the hole, screwing on strapping backers, etc. is no more work in the long run than stuffing in newspaper, etc.
I concur.