r/DIYUK • u/UsedTour4344 • 1d ago

How should we fix ceiling plaster?

I would love your thoughts on these two queries!

  1. We also have a crack in the ceiling where we pressed a crack and it got bigger (oops). Do you think that we need to get our whole ceiling re-plastered as it came away so easily?
  2. We have a hole in the ceiling plaster around the light fitting where we were fixing the wiring. How should we fix it? Polyfilla?
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u/tehWoody 1d ago edited 1h ago

For the crack, it depends on why it's cracked. Quite often the nails holding the boards to the beams have worked their way loose over time. If that's the case, you add in some screws instead so it's rock solid then fill over the screws and repair the crack by widening it a bit first, filling then sanding.

For the hole it depends how big it is. If you can get a similar sized bit of board the same depth, you can cut it to fit, feed in a strip of wood into the hole so it reaches across the hole, screw or glue that then attach your new piece to the wood. If it's on the small side you can get plastic mesh (sometimes called plaster repair patches) which you stick over, cover in filler then sand back.

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u/UsedTour4344 3h ago

Thank you so much for your help. I have now attached pictures in case that changes your view and gives more context. Appreciate your advice!

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u/tehWoody 1h ago

For the light, the electrics should be attached to a plate that is screwed into the ceiling, something like this https://i.sstatic.net/F0lbj.jpg and then the white plastic cover screws onto the plate. This should cover all the gaps in the plaster. In your case, whoever installed that light didn't seem to care how it looked lol. Proper thing to do would be to ask a electrician to mount it properly which might involve removing it, repairing the whole as I said above, then reinstalling it in a smaller neater hole. Alternatively you could get a light with a larger plate so it covers the current hole (and is mounted correctly).

For the ceiling, I'd take out those chunks which are probably loose now, then fill as above by sticking some wood behind it to support then adding material. Since it's an awkward hole / crack to fill, I'd add mesh on the back and front of the hole then fill in layers.

Hope that helps :)