cracking up

[tania]

hi, I've just taken some artex off around my french doors in dining room from around the recess off the doors which comes out about 200mm,I've discovered a 2mm wide crack that goes all the way through which is a about 800mm long with other fine cracks on the side off the recess, the french doors had replaced some wooden frame windows about 14 years ago before i brought the house.,the house was built in the late 60's ,basically what can i do about this problem ,please bear in mind when you answer my question that I'm just Miss Joe just having a go! LOL Thank you in advance

[Phil Anthropist]

Treatment depends on whether the plaster in that area is sound or not. Removal of the old wooden frame and installation of the new frame may have loosened the plaster - caused it to come away from the underlying brickwork. In that case, filling the cracks with interior filler and painting over will not last long because slight movement of the plaster due to movement of the frame around the French doors will cause cracks to reappear. If the plaster is lose then it needs hacking off and re-plastering. But if the plaster is sound then filling and painting should be fine, assuming that the door frame is fixed firmly to the brickwork in the opening. The way to tell whether the plaster is lose is to tap it with the handle end of a screwdriver. Firm plaster sounds like a dull tap, but lose plaster sounds hollow. Try tapping an area of good plaster to get the sound of what sound plaster sounds like.

[Phil Anthropist]

Another method of dealing with lose plaster is to drill several holes in the lose area, through to the bricks, then squirt PVA adhesive into the gap between the plaster and bricks. This is meant to glue the plaster to the bricks. Then fill the holes and cracks. I haven't tried this myself but it might be worth trying.

[Mike]

I've used dilute PVA (50/50) to effect a repair to lathe & plaster that had become loose. I just brushed/rolled it on in a couple of applicastion. A plasterer freind of mine recomended it, sying it should be OK for a few years, that was a couple of years ago and it's still good. I was going to re-board the whole wall but this saved me a job when I had a lot on.

Mike

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Its loose not lose.

[Phil Anthropist]

Why don't you fix it?