I recently moved into an older home and I'm planning to do some minor renovations. The plaster walls have several cracks and textures I'm not fond of, so I want to skim coat them for a smoother finish before I repaint. What techniques or products can I use to ensure that the joint compound adheres properly to the plaster?
3 Answers
If you're skipping the actual repair of the cracks and just skimming over them, be aware that they might reappear after a year or so. It’s important to know whether your walls are lath & plaster or rocklath & plaster. This can impact how you approach the repair.
To get the joint compound to stick well, start by sanding the area with some rough grit sandpaper. After sanding, wipe it down with a damp cloth to remove any dust, then let it dry completely before applying the joint compound. This process really helps with adhesion and I've done it myself recently, so you can expect that it might still show some texture under specific lighting, but it should look good overall.
There's some back and forth about the cracks; if they’re from thermal expansion or house settling, using tape or wire mesh should work just fine. Because you mentioned the house is older and a fixer-upper, it's likely those cracks are just from settling and weren’t properly dealt with before.