Do I need fibreglass tape for fixing cracks in walls?

fcmisc

Hello,

I have some cracks in the plaster in my walls.

The wall is a brick wall between my property and my neighbour's property.

On youtube, some tutorials say I just need to widen the crack with a knife, and then fill with polyfiller.

Other tutorials say I need to use fibreglass tape.

Which method should I use? If I use the tape, won't it be noticeable afterwards?

Leif

There's lots of info on this site. Very fine cracks can be filled with emulsion paint. Use a brush to apply paint along the crack, then use a mini roller to blend in, assuming the wall was rollered. For larger cracks, use a scraper to create a V shape to the crack then fill with a powdered filler such as Easi-fill. ready mixed fillers are carp. Polyfilla is carp in my view.

andycrichton

I use a superfine cotton scrim bedded in paint! It is how the French professional decorators do it, and believe me, they have perfected the art of preparation.

You literally brush on a generous amount of vinyl matt emulsion along the crack, an inch or so wider than the scrim, then bed the scrim in the paint. You can press the scrim nice and flat with a filling knife or even a paint brush. The paint oozes through the fabric, and the repair is therefore not much thicker than a good layer of paint.

When dry, the scrim really isn't going anywhere! For good measure I skim over with a thin layer of good quality filler (not polyfilla then!) feathering out the edges. Because the filler is so thin, it dries quickly, sands super smooth. 2 coats of finish paint and the crack is done and forgotten.

Kiran

I would always use paper tape on a repair over the fibreglass scrim. Just be careyfull not to leave any air traoped underneath as this will cause issues when painting. I've never used superfine cotton scrim as suggested above but it sounds like a good option and one that I may look into next time.