Blown plaster: replace or patch up?

[bruce_phipps]

1970s house. Was steaming off some emulsioned-over wallpaper in the kitchen last night. A tricky patch of wallpaper just refused to shift...so I gave it more steam.

Suddenly, the plaster bowed outwards and cracked. (Brown plaster on sand/cement render underneath.)

Question: The area in question (10 ins x 6 ins) is tucked away in a remote corner. Given that I intend to wallpaper over it, is it acceptable to slap some filler on the crack, ignore the bowing and hollow sound and just forget about it (until next time)? Or do I need to dig out and replace the entire patch. If so, is it acceptable to use filler/polyfilla stuff? I haven't done any plastering before. It all sounds a bit technical! Bruce

[Rob Morley]

On a small patch like this it's easy - just slap some patching plaster in the hole, drag a straight edge over it to level up, and smooth it once it's started to firm. The main thing is to get the edges flush with the remaining original plaster. Any minor imperfections can be filled as long as they are low spots, high spots should be avoided :-)