Plaster skim possible?

[Geo]

My daughter has taken down a dado rail from her living room. It was glued to the plasterboard so naturally there are some areas of damage to the surface paper layer.

She wants a flat surface with matt finish. A painter has said he could fill and sand but there would be visible marks remaining. The walls have been painted by the previous owner in a fairly glossy finish - maybe eggshell. I think that a plaster skim would not adhere to this but have no experience.

Any views to pass on? (apart from should have left the thing in place...)

[SteveW]

Pre-mixed plasterboard joint filler. Fill. Sand if necessary and paint. From experience on repairing plasterwork in my house, it'll be totally invisible. It's an easy DIY job.

SteveW

[Martin Brown]

That would be my instinct too provided that you have a fairly steady hand and rough up the adjacent paintwork to provide a key. It feathers surprisingly well. I used dry mix your own as I am a cheapskate.

[Andrew Gabriel]

With regards to plastering, you can plaster a sheet of glass, providing you PVA it first. Plastering over paint will work fine as long as the paint is firmly attached and will stay so whilst wetted by the plaster.

[stuart noble]

I have a feeling you could plaster a sheet of glass without pva because the substrate won't be absorbing water from the mix. I'm not about to try it mind