Filling cracks and holes in your walls

Every home can have holes and there are a number of things that can cause this. You may have dents or indentations, these can be caused by general wear and tear.

There may be movement and settlement cracks, these can occur in older or even newer houses.

More commonly you may find wall plug holes, these could be from pictures or shelves that you don't want anymore.

So when its comes to filling holes we need to make them worse before making them better, we need to dig the hole out to make the inside of the hole bigger than the outside. This will allow the filler to go into the hole more evenly and to dry evenly as well, without any chance of it falling out.

Once you have done this it is now time to get the vacuum cleaner out as any dust left in the crack or hole will affect the way the filler dries.

Then take a damp sponge or brush and apply to the surface allowing it to soak into the plaster. Doing this will allow the filler to dry evenly and reduce the risk of any cracks re-occurring.

There are a variety of different fillers within the Polycell range for all sorts of different applications. In this case I am using Polycell Multi-Purpose. This is so that I don't have to use the powder filler and I can use it straight from the tub.

If you using a powder filler its always best to mix it up on a flat board to achieve a nice creamy consistency, using a ice cream tub or similar may result in lumps in the filler.

For small holes in the room you can use Quick Drying Polyfilla - it dries in ten minutes and is very convenient and easy to use. Just squeeze out onto your knife and apply without the need of mixing.