How To Patch Damaged Plaster Walls

By Author: Patrick McMurray
Total Articles: 5
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As property maintenance specialists we have performed many hundreds of patch and paint projects, small and large, mainly for Real Estate agents vacate maintenance. So we have gone through the process of trial and error. We follow pretty much the same process and always ensure we lay down drop clothes to protect floor coverings.

Step One
Clean the damaged area of any loose or flacking material and finely sand around the area. With an atomiser pray the exposed area with clean water a number of times. This improves adhesion of new plaster.

Step Two
Forget using Spac fillers and the products off the shelf that boast all kinds of features. Most are softer that the original plaster that you will be patching. The best product to use in rapid set plaster specially made for patching. Simply add the plaster to water and mix thoroughly into a workable paste, add a small amount of PVA glue, this will make the material more workable and achieve b greater adhesion to the back ground.

Step Three
Apply the plaster with a steel trowel leaving the patched area slightly proud of the original surface and allow ...
... time to dry. You can use a heat gun to reduce drying time, but be very careful not to hold the heat gun too close and blister the paint.

Step Four
Lightly sand the plaster patched area and prime. If you need to match the paint colour then scrape a section of paint of the wall and take it to Bunnings, their paint department will match the colour for you. If you have trouble scraping a decent sample then use a heat gun to soften the paint, this works every time and you will get a decent size sample.

Step Five
Apply 2 coats of the paint using a small roller and you’re done. It is best to use a roller to achieve a similar texture as the original coat of paint, because chances are a roller was used. Using a brush will leave brush marks and not achieve the same textural finish.

ALWAYS, use a drop cloth especially over carpet. Take extra time to get properly set up. Time spent at the front end will save you time at the back end trying to remove paint from carpet because you did not lay a drop cloth. Always have a bucket of clean water handy.

These useful tips and advice will help you maintain your valuable property assets. There is no such thing as maintenance free! Performing small repairs around the house can be fun and you get to see the results of your handy work.

DIY will save you time and money: Consider how much time you will waste trying to locate quality trades people, and the concern of having strangers in your home and inconvenience of having to be present while they perform the work. By the time you find a suitable tradesman you could have completed many DIY projects in the same time.

A little common sense, a bit of research, trial and error is all you need to tackle most maintenance tasks around the home. Now days it is much easier to research thanks to Google. There are thousands of blogs and HOW TOO platforms, many with videos. So the learning process is quick and easy

Have you ever heard the term time poor? We have robotic vacuum cleaners, automatic washing machines, time saving devices. Artificial lawns, no mowing, no weeding, and yet I still hear this term, time poor. Ask yourself this, how much time do you spend on Instagram, face book, and twitter chatting?

People become totally absorbed in these devices to the point they are unaware of their surroundings. And, that artificial lawn is not maintenance free, it needs to be kept clean and free of debris. I have even seen people using vacuum cleaner to suck up all the leaves.

We are sucked into to maintenance free mentality and sales people use this as their driving pitch.

It used to be people took great pride in cultivating a beautiful lawn, it’s natural and cool, artificial turf is course upon touch, there’s nothing natural about it. Devoting 2 hours a week will be sufficient to maintain a healthy lawn.

Performing these tasks is part of creating a homely environment. It keeps you grounded and you can sit on your front porch, smell that freshly cut lawn and feel a great sense of satisfaction arise.

We hope this article will help you get started on your next DIY maintenance project. If there is anything in particular you seek advice then please let us know, we are happy to oblige.

So get back to basics and DIY and stayed tuned. www.thehandyman.net.au

We provide essential property maintenance and repair services and blogs to commercial and residential real estate agents, landlords, strata managers and home owners in Perth and metro areas. Our purpose is to maintain and enhance your valuable rental property assets. We continue to deliver with our leading team of handyman/trades and deliver high standards of service to a diverse client base. We specialise in vacate maintenance. Our motto is, “If a job is worth doing it’s worth doing well” “do it once do it right”