Live Plaster General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[Biffer]

I have a small area of live plaster which doesn't appear to have any cracks anywhere near it. I have scraped out the plaster and filled the hole with external polyfilla, as I thought this would be stronger than internal filler. The area is again live. Any ideas how I should proceed?

[stoneyboy]

Biffer,
You will have to expain what you are talking about if you want any replies. Is the plaster electrically live? Are you referring to a damp patch?
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[Biffer]

I guess I mean a damp patch. The plaster bubbles and sounds slightly hollow when touched. I can't see any problems on the exterior side of the wall

[stoneyboy]

Biffer,
Is there a pipe buried in the wall or cable passing through the wall? you could remove the plaster layer and dig into the wall below in the area of the damp patch - this may establish the problem.
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[Biffer]

Nothing in the wall at all! I am happy to dig out a largre area than appears to be affected, but what is the best diy product to use?

[TheDoctor5]

Last year 64% of the questions asked in our forum were answered within our DIY project pages at www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects.htm The project pages are now separated alphabetically and your answers are accompanied by diagrams and the ability to see, and buy, the tools and/or required to complete your project. Use our search box to look for your answer and save a great deal of time and money!

[stoneyboy]

Biffer,
If you have cavity walls then the most likely cause is mortar dropped on a wall tie which will create a bridge for damp.
If you have solid walls and they are rendered/painted look for hairline cracks in the surface.
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[thedoctor]

As you know stoneyboy, there is very very rarely only one answer to a problem and to point to the 2, 3 or 4 projects involved in answering some of the questions could take forever for the thousands of posts we get. There is a seacrh box at the side of the page which will link to any number of pages containing the relevant key words. We would love to have the time to show every user where to look on the site as it would give them access to 50 times the info they come looking for and where there is only one answer, we often do link to the exact page but with over 85,000 users every week and 1300 pages, it gets a bit tricky., Doc