Repairing Plasterboard

[antgel]

Ok, kitchen electrics are nearly done, and I'm giving thought to making good. I note two main methods for patching plasterboard.

1. Cut a piece of board larger than hole in one direction. Screw a screw in the middle. Apply adhesive to larger ends, put through hole, pull towards self with screw, allow to dry, fill in gap with plaster.

1. Screw battens to either side of hole. Cut a piece of board roughly hole size. Screw said piece to battens. Make good round the edges with plaster.

Any pros / cons to these two methods? I can see that 1 means more plaster needed to cover, and 2 is more of a pain. Will finish look the same either way?

What's the smallest hole that can be filled with plaster without patching the board?

Antony

[Set Square]

Why not use a combination? Start with method 1 and when stuck, remove the screw and stick another hole-sized piece of plasterboard on top of the first piece. This will then only need to be skimmed.

How small do you want - 1mm? Or do you mean "what is the *largest* . . "?

I wouldn't want to try to fill anything bigger than about 1/2" without putting something behind it. But, using your Method 1, you *could* (say) fill a hole left by removing an electrical socket. Even then, I would try to fill the hole with a piece of board to cut down on the amount of plaster or filler required.

[zaax]

If there is a junction behind. It's worth making a cover that can be easily removed.

[fred]

In article , antgel writes

I've just done a number 2 and found it to be far more secure, it was where something substantial was to be fixed so that was quite important. It's really easy to get a matching hole & patch it you cut the patch first then overlay this to the board and mark/cut around it.

[Rob Morley]

You can actually cut it a bit larger in both directions as long as there's room to slide it in on the diagonal. Then stick another bit on top and fill the gaps.

[antgel]

Antony

[<me9]

Whgy not fill the gap by glueing another piece of plasterboard over the peice behind and then make good as in 2

[help!! i'm rubbish]

Hiya, this is my first post and a feeling that it wont be my last.

Here's my problem; I have just started doing my very first DIY job o just simply stripping the walls and painting them, easy right? well no when i'm doing it. I bought a wallpaper stripper and everything wa going fine until I started to strip the paper off of the plasterboar that I had no idea was there, so I now have an uneven surface, it's no really bad as I noticed straight away but It will show if I do no repair it before I can paint it. This is probaby a really easy proble to fix but as I have no knowledge what-so-ever and I have no idea how t fix it. The plasterboard is grey side out meaning that it has a pape covering. The biggest problem I have is that as I want to paint th wall I want the wall to be smooth not with paper. Can I get plasterer to plaster over the plasterboard? should I pull off th plasterboard and replace it with one that I can just simply paint over if that exists?

I'm sorry for being so rubbish but I guess that everyone has to lear through experience. I hope that you can help. Ni

-- help!! i'm rubbish

[Cordless Crazy]

Sounds like all you need is a plasterer to come in a give it a ski over with some 'Multi-finish' plaster. He will probably need to PV prime the wall before hand as he will be skimming over ol paint/past/plaster etc etc and will need to make sure it sticks/stay there.

There is no need to rip down the plasterboard and replace as that wil need skimming anyway! Therefore costing you twice as much!

Hope this helps

-- Cordless Crazy

[Chris Bacon]

How bad is the damage? Is it a few jags in the paper, or has the surface of the plasterboard come right off, or what? It's quite possible to fix the surface up before you paint it - but how damaged is it?

[Guy King]

The message from help!! i'm rubbish contains these words:

That's actually quite hard to do without plastering the surface first. If you're really neat you can do very well with lining paper - well butt joined can look very flat indeed.

[John Rumm]

If you are talking lots of lumps missing, then a skim will be best. If it is only minor damage then I would give it a coat of dilute emulsion and let that dry, then touch in with a light weight filler or artex (very cheap filler! and sands easily) before painting for real.

[help!! i'm rubbish]

Hi thanks for trying to help me guys. The damage isn't bad at all jus a few jags in the paper in one of the corners and a few little bit missing along the rest of the wall where I have taken off the top laye of wallpaper, the plasterboard itself hasn't been touched. I reall dont want all the mess of a plasterer if I can help it as i've just ha my lounge and kitchen ceilings skimmed and the mess was a nightmare an I have a toddler too which makes it twice as bad. I just wish I kne about the wall before Mr Plasterer came and went as I could of just go him to do both jobs then I wouldn't have this problem.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to help me. Ni

-- help!! i'm rubbish

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just use lightweight filler, and then why not use a plain wallpaper - lining paper - to paper over any cracks :-) and paint THAT.