Repairing Plaster Walls

I've been learning a lot about plaster and plasterboard wall repair as we move through our house projects. Here are some links that you might find helpful if you find yourself needing to do some repairs:

Repairing Plaster Over Lathe

Repairing Lathe and Plaster Walls & Ceilings

Living with Old House Plaster

[Since this post is getting a lot of visitors I thought I would add more information here and I'll add in photos to illustrate in a week or so as we repair the bathroom walls.]

In the office we ended up with a damaged wall when we removed a piece of wood that was screwed in. The surrounding plaster was all riddled with holes like someone had shot bb's at it -- I can tell this room has a history. I didn't think that I could do it, fix a hole in a wall but eventually we decided to tackle the job.

First we used a chisel to create a clean edge for the area we wanted to remove and then used the chisel to remove the plaster from the lathe. Then we cleared out the lathe from that area, it was a narrow wall so the pieces didn't need to get cut out which helped some. Then we removed the loose plaster from around the edges.

Next we measured, cut and screwed some plasterboard into space. Last came the finishing which involved applying a nylon mesh adhesive tape and then applying plaster over that for the edges. I found that I could match the original uneven lightly textured surface of our walls by wiping down with a wet sponge and then also blending the edges of the plaster into the surrounding wall. Smoothing with the sponge really helped to cut down on the sanding afterwards as well.

After the four edges were done I went in and used plasterboard compound to cover the middle, again using a sponge to blend the edges in. I made sure to cast a light from a steep angle on the area I was working, which helps point out any uneveness while I was working. I'm pretty pleased with the result so far, I hope that once I get it painted that you can't even tell. I do have to say that I like the look of the plaster rather than the plasterboard compound so I might stick with that for the future, well it probable depends on the wall finish and whether or not it needs that texturing.