Filling Old Wallplug Holes

[Rod]

Rethinking various apsects of house. Involves removal of lots of battens and shelves (and suchlike), which obviously results in holes where the wall plugs have been removed.

I want to fill them ready for decorating but it is a tedious process. I haven't found a good technique for getting the filler to the bottom of the holes. So far I have been pushing some filler in, then tamping it down, adding some more, tamping it down... I don't mind the doing of it as such, but it slows everything down so much.

Just ordinary light-ish-weight block walls - the odd brick or whatever.

Any suggestions?

[The Medway Handyman]

- does what it says on the tin.

[John Rumm]

Any particular reason why you need to fill the full depth of the hole? I normally find that filling it level with an appropriate filler (even of that leaves 3/4 of the hole depth unfilled) is more than adequate for cosmetic purposes.

[Bob Eager]

I was tempted to use a tube of pre-mixed filler for this. Bad idea.

That stuff seems to work properly only in thin layers, or it doesn't set. I waited a day or two for one lot, then gave up. Used standard powder mix stuff and it set almost straight away.

I know this doesn't answer the question, but...

[Rod]

It just feels the right thing to do! I want to be able to drill new holes anywhere without coming across voids. Also, I have found it very easy to underfill a hole when just smearing a thin-ish layer on. Taking care to entirely fill it avoids that.

Maybe I am getting hung up on something that doesn't matter that much?

[Rod]

I want to use a mastic gun and cartridge of filler - no idea if that is a good idea or not, but I couldn't find any. I dare say the various Gripfills and similar would be usable - but would probably shrink and stink and go the same way that yours did.

[Dave Liquorice]

That's a bit excessive IMHO. Why do you feel the need to fill the hole completely? I remove the old plugs, make a nice thick filler mix and using a small trowel spread a small dollop of the filler over the hole. A fair bit goes down the hole and a "spread" or two more is all that is required. Leave a bit proud but before it fully hardens treat like plaster, wet and smooth over with a small float or the flat of the filling trowel. I've not had any of these fillings fall out or crack around. Part of the trick is a stiff filler mix so if you trap a pocket of air and it can't get out it doesn't push a dome onto the surface of the filler. A stiff mix doesn't slump out of the hole either.

Is that nice and smooth or a bit gritty? Bought a tube of ready mixed polyfilla, on the basis that it would always be ready and easier than mixing up a tiny amount of powdered filler. But it was terrible stuff, not smooth at all but full of tiny gritty bits.

[Owain]

And if you've got a big batch to do, and don't want to pay more for filler in cartridges, a Tesco Value cake-decorating set can be useful for piping the squidge into the holes.

Owain

[The Medway Handyman]

Very smooth, not at all gritty - you can smooth it off so well it doesn't need sanding most of the time. See also

the best one IMO

[John Rumm]

I would suggest fixing that problem should it happen (which is relatively unlikely)

Personally I think so, but then each to his own! ;-)

[Dave Liquorice]

But the filler will be so soft compared to brick, block or mortar that the drill shoot off into it anyway and give you a "problem hole". Stop worrying about it and deal with the "problem hole" *if* you ever end up with one.

[John Rumm]

If you want to go this route, then filling most of the depth with a solvent gripfill product, letting that go off, and then finishing with a surface filler would probably work. That way you can fill the depth with something that will go off fast enough but shrink a bit, and then using something non shrinking for the last bit that gives a good cosmetic finish.

[The Medway Handyman]

As a matter of interest, a letting agency once paid me to remove all the plugs & fill the holes in a (vacated) rented three bedroom flat. Fairly new place.

There were so many I counted them - 83 in total :-)

[<me9]

I recently wanted to fill around a number of back boxes for new sockets. I filled an old cartridge with a suitable mix (one coat plaster IIRC, it is what I happened to have left over from a previous job) and used it /quickly./ It worked quite well, and well filled the crevices.

[TheScullster]

"Rod" wrote

If the holes that are left are very sandy/crumbly, start by squirting in some dilute PVA. This will take a few minutes onlyt for all the holes and help stabilise the area/avoid pulling all the moisture out of the filler. Again this is far end of the proverbial stuff, but hey-ho

Phil

[Paul Matthews]

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Rod writes

Why take the plugs out?

Tap them gently below the surface with a suitably sized punch and fill the shallow hole with decorators mate etc..

regards

[Rod]

I really don't know why, but that severely disturbs my sense of how things should be. :-)

[boltmail]

OCD? Autism? :-p

[Rod]

Probably. Pardon while I wash my hands... :-)