plaster cracks

dexterwolf

I have a wall in kitchen and there are small long cracks appearing that link and join in places. I presume that I may need this re plastered but does anyone know what cost it would be to replaster 3ms by 2ms?

Any advice appreciated as I have not got a clue with plastering.

Leif

Small cracks often appear in walls, and are usually superficial. I have some in my kitchen, and my bathroom. Very thin ones can be painted over, using a bursh, then a roller to blend, slightly larger ones can be opened out and filled with a powder filler, then sanded and painted.

sk240

Give the wall a tap at various points, if it sounds hollow the the plaster has started to come away from the wall

dexterwolf

Thanks for coming back to me. I have tapped a few places and it does sound hollow. So what do you suggest next?. Would it be ok to fill in the small cracks or will I need someone to come in to remove the plaster.

-taff

is it a solid wall or a stud wall?

Leif

A hollow sound is not uncommon, you do get areas where the plaster has blown, but you can still paint over. I had fresh plaster with blown areas. Same with tiles.

dexterwolf

It is a solid wall . I have only recently moved into the house. The cracks are small but long and as I put earlier they join in places. I think it has only been painted in the last few months. I just don't want to wake up one day and find the plaster has all dropped off .

-taff

It could be lots of reasons why it looks like that, but as already said, if it sounds hollow and it's a solid wall, it's probably blown.
Now you'll just have to find out why....was it new plaster, old plaster, an outside wall [might be damp]....might be the wall moving.It might just be that's it's really old...I just de-wallpapered someone elses house and the plaster was the old grey/blue kind, and it just popped when I put the steamer anywhere near it.

warmhands.coldheart

I've recently used a little trick I read somewhere online (Possibly on here, not sure)
Please bear with me, I hope this makes sense......
I have some old lime plaster that had that "Hollow" sound to it. I really didn't want to rip it off and re-plaster as I'd just decorated. Here's what I did and it worked a treat. Get an old 330ml plastic fizzy drink bottle and a drinking straw (the type with a bendy neck), Get a drill bit the same size as the straw and drill through the lid of the bottle. using glue (Super Glue), glue the straw just through the hole. wait till set hard. Cut bottom off bottle. Using a masonry bit, drilled a hole at a downwards slant just larger than the diameter of the straw through the plaster till you reach the wall behind (Don't drill into the wall, just the plaster). Put the end of the straw into the hole and seal around with blue tack as best you can (careful not to pinch the straw closed). Using duck tape or similar good sticky tape, tape bottle to wall (straw down into hole obviously). Mix up a solution of PVA and water (I used about 4 or 5 to 1) and pour into bottle. Leave over night to let gravity take it's course. Basically the Water/PVA mix seeps down in between blown plaster and wall and when dried glues the plaster back to the wall. Seriously, it worked for me....... maybe worth a try...

dexterwolf

Does anyone know the rough cost if I need it knocking off and re plastering?

Gra76

If the plaster isn't already coming off the wall I'd PVA bond and skim over it. A few hollow patches aren't much to worry about and are fairly common on solid walls, especially in older houses. As long as the plaster is bonded sufficiently to the walls around the blown areas it shouldn't cause a problem.

You said the walls looked like they'd been painted recently, but obviously the cracks still show. An option one step up from just emulsioning the walls is to crossline the wall and then emulsion the lining paper. This'll hide the cracks and is probably the cheapest way of guaranteeing the cracks are hidden (provided the wall plaster surface is level to start with of course).