Thistle multi-finish instead of Polyfilla for patching?

[AL_n]

I'm preparing the walls in my lounge for painting. Some of the surface skim of plaster was loose in places, so I chipped it away. I've now got various small areas that need patching and making flush, prior to painting (several square feet in total). All the areas to be patched are very shallow, like

1/8" or less. I have a bag of Thistle multi-finish. Could that be used for the patching, or is Polyfilla preferable? I know polyfilla is sandable - but maybe multi-finish is too, is it? Or perhaps sanding won't even be necessary if I apply the milt-finish plaster carefully. Has anyone done this? It's a question I have often wondered about but never tried it. I've plastered entire walls with multi0finish, but never tried using it for patching work like this.

TIA,

Al

[stuart noble]

I think you'll find filler is much finer and easier to fiddle with than multi finish. Gyproc joint filler is as good as any IME

[whisky-dave]

Well I've used the one coat version for small areas, seemed to do the job O K, but I was wallpapering then painting over it . A bit more difficult to g et smooth but that could have been my impatience. I added a few drops of PV A glue too which made it stick better but also made it harder to sand down.

[John Rumm]

If you give the wall a good wetting with PVA & water to stop it sucking all the water straight out of the plaster, then it will work. Probably a bit more difficult to use than filler in this circumstance.

[AL_n]

John Rumm wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks for the input. I will take your advice. After all, the bag of multi- finish I have was about 200 times cheaper than Polyfilla! (It was a broken bag that B&Q let me have for ?3.

Al

[Tim Watts]

IME One-Coat does not really polish well - and actually does not go very hard either (unless you add the PVA :)

[whisky-dave]

Yes for me that was the advantage, my plastering wasn;t very even so it's an advantage that I can hand sand it down with a bit of sandpaper. Trouble is I hate the sound and feel of doing it, it's like writing with a rusty nail on a chalkboard/blackboard. Adding the PVA made it much harder to sand down,had to use a sander, which was harder work and cover everything in fine dust.

[John Rumm]

Yup, its massively cheaper, but take note that the older plaster gets, the faster it sets! Sometimes this is handy when working small quantities - you spend less time waiting about.

Easiest thing to do is try a patch... mix PVA and water (say two parts water to one PVA) paint all over your patch. Mix up the multifinish to a soft whipped cream consistency. Trowel onto the patch, getting it all filled. Don't worry about making it look pretty to start with - you can't get a good finish on wet sloppy plaster. You then need to wait for a bit to allow it to start going off, that is when you get a chance to polish out the trowel marks. Then wait some more, and repeat. You can do a final pass with a few splashes of water flicked from a paint brush, to get your final finish. There are probably some youtube vids out there if you need to watch someone do it.

(you can buy board filler (designed for filling joints in plasterboard etc) for much lower prices than polyfiller etc - that will work like filler and is easier to sand if you need to)

[AL_n]

John Rumm wrote in news:9f- [e-mail]:

Very helpful - thank you, John.

Al