I noticed a large bulge in my plaster wall. When I touched it, the plaster crumbled rather easily. Upon further investigation, I pulled away a large section of the plaster; a good 2' wide x 1' tall. There was about a 1/4" space between the section of plaster I pulled away and the underlying plaster. There is no lath apparent - I assume it's beneath the bottom coat of plaster.

Here's a link to a couple pictures, since the file attachment feature isn't working for me: http://goo.gl/qCejtG

My question is - should I use joint compound as this video instructs? Will that be strong enough for such a wide area?

Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

A powdered, hard setting type compound for at least the first coat will provide a better bond and more crack resistant surface. The easy sand or pre-mixed compound can be used for a top coat. Interesting that there doesn't appear to be any movement in the base material. Sometimes the finish coat is applied over too wet or too dry a brown coat or it is applied too thick. Ideally, a finish should be about 1/32" to 1/16" thick. Heavier applications usually chip off much more easily. Using the joint compound material, you can go heavier than conventional lime finish.

 

I don't have any actual plaster experience so I always use drywall products when repairing plaster. I prefer a setting compound like Durabond because it dries faster and a lot harder than joint compound and is more durable than j/c. Regular j/c is easier to sand.

almost forgot welcome to the forums!

 

Agree with the harder setting type compound applied in multiple coats. A 12" drywall knife will make your job a little easier. Your wall itself has a slight texture to it that you will not be able to match with you repair compound. However, you should be able to match the pattern by using a thicker than normal nap on a paint roller. It will leave less than a perfectly smooth application of the paint and you can then blend it into the rest of the wall.

 

Sometimes it's beneficial to thin down j/c to paint consistency and roll it on. Often that will reproduce the 'texture' quicker than paint alone.