cracked plaster

[joe.s-b]

How can cracked plaster be repaired?

[theshedman]

Hi joe, need a bit more information if you want an answer to this one.

[joe.s-b]

Hi Shedman. My garage walls are plastered and cracked with fairly thin cracks. Ive looked on the internet and seen many solutions but would like to find one that has ben tried. I was advised to prime with pva solution, then use a coat of tetrion pushed in with a rubber squegee and then sanded smooth before painting. This sounds good but the chap who advised it hasn't tried it so I am left wondering. I'd rather do something that I know has beed used and works. Any ideas welcome

[theshedman]

Hi joe, people seem to think PVA is the answer to everything these days. If it was me I think I would rake out the cracks that are noticeable, then fill them with tetrion or polyfiller and sand smooth. The ones that are really small just put a bit of filler on with wide filling knife and scrape excess off and sand smooth. After this give it a watered down coat of emulsion first to seal the walls then 2 good coats of emulsion. If you put PVA on to the walls there is a good chance that the paint finish will go bobbly and look terrible. It's ok to use it as a sealer if say you were going reskim the walls but not if you want to paint them.

[joe.s-b]

Thanks Shedman. I have been in doubt about the versatility of pva so I will try it without. The watered down emulsion seems like a good idea and presumable I could use a good quality exterior wall paint as I have quite a lot left from my outside refurbishing. I'll give it a try