Rawl plugs and plaster

osaddict

Hello everyone,

I'm repainting a wall which has three small rawl plugs and screws in it. We don't need these so I'm looking to make them invisible. I know that filling them with polyfiller and sanding will be the solution, however, what I can't decide upon is:

1. Should I tap the rawl plug further into the wall and fill, or
2. Should I remove the rawl plug.

There seems to be two schools of thought when searching on the internet, with the logic for the first being that pulling it out can mean a clump of plaster comes out with it.

Lastly, does anyone have any tips for actually filling such a hole, like how do you push filler into it, I guess just using a nozzle on a tube or something?

Many thanks!

love_lifer

tap them in and fill. the filler should catch enough of the surface, you wont need to push filler very far in. if they wont push in and stand proud of the wall , remove and fill. use a scraper or filling knife to apply filler.


you cant go far wrong with a job like this

Chunks

Not sure there's a right or wrong way of doing this. Personally I always try and pull redundant fixings out of the wall. Use a screw and screw it in to get a 'bite' on to the fixing and give the screw head a pull with pliers. Usually works on my walls (plaster over block). If you do remove a lump of plaster in the process, easy to repair with a flexible filing knife (push the filler in). Done right there's no need to sand it down (might just need a wipe with a damp cloth to smooth over).

osaddict

In the past I think I've pulled the plug out, but that would have been years ago, under my dad's instruction as a child, I don't fully remember!

Is just some premixed polyfiller in a tube the best medium to use? - Or the oldskool powdered stuff?

benjus

I pull them out unless they are really stuck. You'll only get a clump of plaster if the wall is in pretty bad shape. Although as Chunks says, it doesn't really matter.

osaddict

Okay, they look pretty small, I'll go for the pull out, there's three of them, if a pullout goes bad I'll tap the others in!

Chunks

Go for it. Personal choice but I use the powder and mix what I need (water then add powder and mix). With a nice flexible filling knife, even if you get some of the surrounding plaster off in the process, you can use the firm plaster surrounding the defect as a guide to smooth to a perfect level finish.

Good luck.

richy999

Having recently moved home, I have started to deal with the hundreds of rawl plugs left by the previous owners.

I did initially go with the pull out the rawl plug method but it was making a right mess of the walls. So if I can't pull them out by hand, I attempt to punch them further in the wall.
Before filling, I chamfered the edge of the hole to give the filler something to grip too at the surface.

Using a filling knife and fingers, fill up the hole but be prepared for it to shrink back. Once it’s gone off, do a final fill, slightly proud of the surface with the intention of sanding it back flush once dry.

I am using the pre-mixed tubs of filler.

osaddict

Pulling out didn't work, on the 5 that I tried, so I cut some of the proud parts and then used a bolt as a punch and hammered them into the wall. Going back tonight for a light sand. Fingers crossed. I used the oddskool powder.

casper_g

richy999 wrote: »

Using a filling knife and fingers, fill up the hole but be prepared for it to shrink back. Once it’s gone off, do a final fill, slightly proud of the surface with the intention of sanding it back flush once dry.

I used to do the above, then I bought some Polycell One Fill and found it to be much better than the stuff I had been using. It genuinely allowed me to fill holes in one go and, once I got the knack of using a filling knife, it didn't need any sanding either.

osaddict

Doesn't it dry out though, even with the cap on? That's what I'd read. I don't think I have much to do, and conveniently my Dad had a new box of the powder he gave me