Plaster blown while stripping - advice please

[Harry]

Stripping wallpaper today and a few areas of plaster have blown up and lifted off the walls ( "a few" as in three largish spots around a foot diameter or so). Either down to me "leaning" on the steamer while scraping the wet bits or just cruddy plaster. Probably me. Anyway, I've never been much good at getting a smooth finish, you could always see where I'd been on car bodywork, so is there a recommended product other than plaster which might be a bit accomodating or should I just give it a go? We're not re-papering by the way, paint only from now on so I've been told. Many thanks for any advice, including the forthcoming, "clean off the damaged bits with an angle grinder".

[Lee Nowell]

This is the stuff I used. Bit like an easy to use plaster...

[Kaptain Kremin]

Right there ^^^ that's your problem, you're not supposed to use plaster on cars! ;)

KK

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Use one coat plaster and follow the instructions on the bag. You'll need a half decent float - but they're not expensive. With such a small area you should be able to get a decent repair - even if it needs slight sanding down afterwards. Give the hole a good soak with diluted PVA first and leave to dry. However, *any* repair is likely to show through paint - as the surface will have a different texture. The way round this is to line the wall then paint.

[Stuart Noble]

Filler, or Artex powder, is easier to use IMO. Doesn't go off as quickly as plaster, and will feather an edge far better.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

'Filler' is likely to take forever to go off if it's thick. 'One coat' gives you plenty time to get a level surface - you then let it go off and then reactivate to polish the surface. Even I can manage a reasonable finish with this stuff.

[Harry]

Sounds good enough for me, although the reactivate it bit is a little vague. Would that be done by wetting it again? And I KNOW where I went wrong with the car, forgot to PVA it first ;-p

[Harry]

Whoops, sorry, thank you to all responders, much appreciated.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yus. It's also a fraction of the price of proprietary fillers.

;-). The trick with car body fillers is to have the correct tools to shape the filler after filling proud. Sandpaper is likely to produce ripples.

[Harry]

Ripples? Dunno about ripples, it was more like the surface of the moon on a really bad day. Ripples I'd have been happy with.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Sounds like it was full of air bubbles. But you'd normally use another filler on top of the body filler once it's shaped properly to give a perfect surface. If it's not too bad several coats of primer/filler can do the same thing.

[Stuart Noble]

The trick is to only mix up what you can apply in a minute. That leaves you 4 minutes to sculpt the stuff with a blade and clean it off your tools.