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Before & AfterDIYLiving Rooms
webuser_768402840

V upset, cracked the plaster

HU-768402840
last year

Hi,

Hope all is well

My weekends are generally uplifting with all the diy I do

Today was one bad day

Waa trying to drill hooks for the curtain rods.Bought a bosch drill hammer and some hooks from amazon. Seen a couple of you tube videos and decided to crack on

Drilled through plaster and then inserted the plug.After which I put the screw in and gave it a buZZ from the drill. Boom, a big chunk of plaster fell off, v upset

Don’t know if this was my poor drilling or something wrong with the plaster

Will now go back to the builder

No more drilling for me, will leave it to the int decorator

upset,hope it’s not something more sinister

Mel





Featured Answer
  • Jonathan
    last year

    This isn’t sinister in any way….it’s unlucky. It just needs a repair. Try not to worry as these things happen…… normally when you have no time to deal with it

    Comments (12)

    • HU-768402840
      Original Author
      last year

      The only thing I could have done wrong is

      used a v small masonry drill, to drill the intial hole

      The plug then expanded and cracked the whole plaster?

      Or the plaster is just of poor quality? Disaster !!

    • Sarah U-S
      last year

      I live in a Victorian house and this has sadly happened to me lots of times. Is it an old house? In the first photo, you can see the newer (pink) plaster around the outer section of the hole, but immediately next to the hole, you can see old grey plaster. In old houses this old grey plaster can get really dry and crumbly. I once drilled a hole in my daughters room when my husband was out. He came back and the whole wall was back to brick because it just crumbled off! If the room has been freshly skimmed, the plasterer should ideally take off the very loose old plaster first. I’ve found that they don’t always do this because it can end up a very big and expensive job!

      HU-768402840 thanked Sarah U-S
    • HU-768402840
      Original Author
      last year

      I tried to look through my pics and see what was done on this room wrt plaster

      Usually,for the ground floor

      they used those grey ? plasterboards ,then plastered them and then painted

      Don’t think it was done in these rooms


      Mel



      Builder’s quote mentioned


      Due to the amount of damaged caused by the chasing for the electrics and heating pipes we recommend that these are filled with bonding compound and then all walls to the bedrooms, bathroom, landing, stairs, lounge, kitchen/sitting room, utility are unibond and skimmed with new beading where required.

      Labour and material £4200.00


    • HU-768402840
      Original Author
      last year

      This was the type of ? plasterboard used?



    • Sarah U-S
      last year

      I think this means that they put a fresh skim of plaster over the old grey bonding that you can see around the hole. This is fine when the grey stuff is sound and intact, but it can get crumbly with age. You can sometimes tell if they grey stuff is sound by gently knocking on the wall - it ales a hollow sound where it is loose. To be fair, your plasterer might have done this and it might have sounded fine - sometimes you just don’t know until you drill into it.

      HU-768402840 thanked Sarah U-S
    • Sarah U-S
      last year

      That should say it makes a hollow sound and not ales!

      HU-768402840 thanked Sarah U-S
    • HU-768402840
      Original Author
      last year

      I think I will stop drilling and diy on walls

      Will leave it to the builders

      Will stick to removing the remaining insulation and then adding sheep wool, if there’s any money left over!

    • User
      last year

      Don't give up on the diy or drilling. It happens to all of us. I'm sure you did nothing wrong. You just hit a weak point in the plaster. It can be repaired.

      HU-768402840 thanked User
    • HU-768402840
      Original Author
      last year

      Message from the builder

      -You r drilling into a concrete lintel and the vibration has blown the plaster. The curtain rail support needs to be wider.

    • HU-768402840
      Original Author
      last year

      I just had a discussion with the builder. We decided, that it's best that his lads do it!

      It seems like a plan to me, was painful to see that plaster blow out

      Would still drill the wooden bits, like the door stoppers and latches etc. Although will stay a mile away from those walls


      So this weekend I'm back to the attic, removing that itchy fibreglass insulation.

      Thanks, everyone, for all the support, advice and kind words


      Mel

    • Sonia
      last year

      We’ve all done it Mel, so don’t beat yourself up about it. At least you haven’t drilled through some water pipes! Some jobs are just best left to the professionals. 😃

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