Should I repair this wall myself or get in a plasterer?

[rankamateur1]

Hello all, brand newbie here and I'm debating whether I should try to repair this wall myself prior to painting or getting someone in who knows what they are doing!  Pics are attached, it's a 1920s double brick bungalow and the plaster has really come away a lot from the wall.  It's not rising or falling damp (we had that checked).  Funny thing is the other side of the wall is a lounge room and it is perfectly fine.

This all started by removing a built-in wardrobe from an adjoining wall, we had a handyman do that and the plaster was so bad that the wall needed patching by a renderer and re-plastering.  They also did a little bit of this wall (you can see the line on the right hand side of the photo).  We were going to do the painting ourselves and in doing the prep work I've realised this wall is in worse shape than I thought. My questions are:

1) does it need to be rendered or just plastered?

2) what products should I use to do the work?  

All advice would be gratefully received.  I've done a fair bit of painting in my time and minor repairs to walls with spakfilla etc but this is just a bit bigger than anything I've tackled before.

.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @rankamateur1. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about repairing a plaster wall.

Regarding getting someone who knows what they're doing, I'd suggest that it will come down to how deteriorated the wall is. If the plaster continues falling off the wall by itself, you should consider having a professional remove what's there and re-plaster the whole wall. If this damage was caused by something and the rest of the wall is sound, I'd encourage you to fix this yourself.

Take a flathead screwdriver and try and chip away at the surrounding edge of that damage. If you can easily flake away more chips from the wall, the plaster has delaminated from it. You can also take a hammer and lightly tap it all over the wall, being careful not to leave dents. If it sounds hollow or you create cracks, this issue is likely more extensive than the apparent damage.

You can use Gyprock Topping Compound to repair this area, and I'd suggest picking up a wide plasterer's trowel. Unlike the smaller repairs that you've done, you need something with a large surface area to apply the compound. This prevents a wavy surface and will be much easier to use than a spatula. You'll also need a hand sanding float and abrasive paper.

The repair method will be similar to patching a smaller hole: How to patch a plaster wall. However, since this is a larger area, you must spend time looking along the wall to ensure you're not building up a massive lump of plaster. You want to keep your coating only slightly proud of the thickness of the existing plaster.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[rankamateur1]

Thanks very much for replying so quickly Mitchell.  I'll have another look at the wall, there are some bits a little higher up that also look to be coming away, although the paint hasn't cracked.  If that's the case and there's more damage I'll get a plasterer in.

[w0421981516]

Seems like it is something a Gyprock topping can fix, however, I would suggest to prime these areas before you patch them up, might be worthy to use oil-based primer. 

When doing the patchings, thin and multiple layers would be a better idea for home DIYers, topping is generally easy to be sanded, I would suggest using a foam/sponge sanding block, it normally works better than sanding papers.

[Jason]

Many thanks for joining in the discussion @w0421981516. I'm sure @rankamateur1 really appreciates the advice. 

Let me also extend a very warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It sounds like you have plenty of knowledge and experience to share with other members, so we are looking forward to reading more of your posts soon. Please feel free to post anytime you have something to add to a discussion. We'd also love to see what projects you are working on and trust that you'll get plenty of helpful advice and inspiration in return. 

Jason