I am currently re-plastering my living room in c1920s house. Having stripped the wallpaper the existing lime plaster has a huge number of hairline cracks with a few larger cracks thrown in.
Having done some re-skim work in other parts of the house I have found over time some of the hairlines have re-appeared and joins between patches and existing plaster have opened up again. Although this has happened over the period of a few years each winter a few more seem to appear.
Option 1:
Hack the whole lot off and replaster with Hardwall and then Multi-Finish. If the walls don't have any joins/patches this will reduce potential weak points that are liable to crack. Hardwall on lime mortar walls will crack to a certain extent over time due to the walls being flexible and Hardwall not.
Option 2:
Tape the large cracks and skim the existing. Has anyone any experience of fibre-bind which can be added to the 1st coat of the skim mix ? This is supposed to help prevent cracking but I wonder if it works. I also think it reduces the setting time marginally which could make the job more difficult.
Option 3:
Re-plaster with sand/cement/lime (hydrated) but this will be hard work and heavy. The lime will introduce some flex though but still probably not as good as the original.
Should I just face it and accept that *all* plaster will crack over time and just take the easiest option - 2 ?
TIA for any advice.