So I mix up the plaster, go to clean the mixer, come back in 3m and it’s set.

The plaster is old…is that why?

Yes, that’s what happens when it’s been open a while

old plaster

Well whaddya know…there’s a use by date on the sack 😳

does it have a date on the bag?
could have been moisture too.

only good for a couple of months once open as well 🙁

Sorry to hijack Al’s thread (well I’m not really sorry as it’s the perfect opportunity to ask this question tbh as knowledgeable types will be looking at this thread hopefully), but I’ve got a small hole in a bit of plasterboard in’t kitchen, and was wondering how best to fix it. There’s a void behind, so no good just bunging filler in there as it’ll just fall into the void. I’ve used damp newspaper on doors, then binged filler over that once it’s dried out a bit; will that work?

Hole is about 1.5″ diameter. The same diameter as a handlebar grip actually. 😳

That’s a horrible size of hole. I’ve seen folks use wet newspaper on that size of hole before and it seems to work. These days I would be tempted to make the hole a bit bigger so I could get a small piece of wood screwed in behind it and plaster over that

Either Leffeboy’s suggestion or a bit of expanding foam in the hole, once its gone off, saw it flush then skim.

As above – angle a small bit of ply (I mean you might not be the sort of person that has bits of plywood kicking about, but something tells me you are) through the hole. You might even want to enlarge the hole to do it – with a screw sticking out the middle so you’ve got something to hang onto – then screw through to hold it in place.

Or if the void isn’t too deep behind the hole dampen the surface behind, squirt in some expanding foam, cut it back when its set to just behind the existing plaster, then plaster over that.

EDIT Mr Saddles beat me to it

I might actually have a small piece of ply hanging around, funnily enough! 😆

It’s right thin flimsy stuff. I accidentally let go of my bike one time when coming in, and it fell and the bar end went straight through. It’s only about 1cm thick.

I shall try some newspaper and see how that works…

I shall try some newspaper and see how that works…

Just fill it with papier mache – worked for portmerion 😀

Be careful using ply or any other types of wood cos plaster doesn’t stick to it properly as I found out after filling holes in my ceiling where old lights had come out.

Best is a small piece of plaster board with some plaster cement on it, fed it through with a small screw in the middle to pull it hard to the back of the damaged board. Unscrew the screw when it’s set and just skim over it. Job done.

Well my new nag of plaster mixed a treat. Still made a shoite job f it though 😛

Fred – what they said but glue is fine. You don’t need to cover the whole hole, just enough to stuff some paper in or a base-layer of plaster.

Elfin;As an ex plasterer,get a wee bit of plasterboard slightly bigger than the hole.Put two holes in it,piece of string through the holes,filler all over the bit of board.Put the board at an angle through the hole so it fits.pull it tight using the string. let it set and fill.As the above,but string is easier than a screw.Ply “flexes” different to ply,they won’t stay stuck for well.

Plaster is know as being “winded” once it is gone.Was the the bottom of the bag not lumpy?

I didn’t use a whole bag…in fact on using the good plaster I prob used 1/3 of a bag and only used 1/3 of that before it set 😳

This was doing ceiling joins tho…and I made it too thick.