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Dealing with Cracked Plaster

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Published: 09Jul2008
Word count: 405
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If you have plaster walls in your home, you may get a crack from time to time. Or, even if you are a professional, a crack may appear in your work. But, what causes these cracks to appear and what can you do when they happen?

Causes of Cracks in Plaster

There are a number of different reasons that cracks can appear in plaster. Some of these reasons include:

- Settling of the building or home
- Using inferior materials to plaster the wall or having too little sand in proportion to other materials
- Poor workmanship when plastering the wall
- Plaster drying too fast, which can occur from excessive heat or by the moisture being sucked from the plaster from the dry wall
- Uneven contraction

The reality is that identifying the cause of cracked plaster can be difficult. Therefore, it is more important to know how to take care of the crack than it is to understand why it happened in the first place.

Repairing Cracked Plaster

Repairing cracked plaster can be a difficult task. Many homeowners attempt to fix these cracks with a spackling compound after chiselling the crack into a V shape. Unfortunately, this will only look good until the house moves again and the crack reappears. In order to make a long-lasting repair, you need to bridge the crack with material capable of handling the movement. To learn how to do this properly, it is helpful to take a plastering course that will provide you with hands on experience in crack repair.

Whether you are a homeowner looking to make some repairs in your plaster or a professional that needs to learn more about plaster repair, taking a plastering course is a good way to learn more about how to repair cracks and to prevent them from occurring again in the future.

Repairing these cracks, which move on a regular basis, is somewhat difficult. You must tape over these cracks with a paper or mesh tape. Simply filling the crack with patching plaster will not work. As long as the cracks move even a small amount, the paper tape in most cases will hide the movement of the crack. The useage of specialist flexible fillers can also be suitable in many cases where there is only hairline cracking and the repair is mainly for asthetic reasons. Your local builders merchant will be able to advice on the most suitable product for your needs.

Able Skills provide a wide range of plastering courses

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