How To Fix Ceiling Holes – Your DIY Guide

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Faithfull Plasterers Trowel

Refina Plastering Brush

ForgeFix Drywall Screws

Preciva Professional Foaming Gun

Soudal Champagne Gap Filler Expanding Foam

Cotton Dust Sheets

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🛠 Summary

🔧 Causes of Ceiling Holes – Holes can occur due to plumbing leaks, accidental footfalls, or ageing ceilings. The video demonstrates various repair techniques.

⚡ Electrician-Caused Holes – Often, electricians cut into ceilings for wiring but leave them unrepaired. These must be carefully fixed without damaging cables.

🔩 Choosing the Right Screws – Short, corrosion-proof screws are preferred to avoid hitting electrical cables and ensure stability.

📝 Marking Joist Positions – Before placing plasterboard, marking joist positions helps in securely screwing the patch into place.

💦 Foam Application & Drying – Expanding foam fills gaps; water spraying accelerates curing and improves adhesion.

🔪 Trimming Foam Before Plastering – Excess foam should be cut back to avoid rough patches in the plaster finish.

🩹 Scrim Tape vs. Plaster – Scrim tape can sometimes cause ghosting, so joint-filling compounds or multi-finish plaster are recommended for a smooth finish.

🏚 Lath & Plaster Ceilings – These older ceilings can detach over time. Applying diluted PVA helps rebind them and prevents sudden collapses.

🚑 Preventing Ceiling Collapse – Pouring a PVA mixture over old plaster from above (if accessible) helps to reinforce weak sections and preserve decorative mouldings.

📊 Insights Based on Numbers

▶ 3:1 PVA to Water Ratio – A mix of three parts water to one part PVA can be poured over old lath-and-plaster ceilings to strengthen them.

▶ Short Screws are Essential – Longer screws risk piercing electrical cables, leading to extensive repairs.

▶ Multiple Coats of Paint & Plaster – Applying two coats ensures a polished, seamless ceiling finish.

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#diy #plastering #homeimprovement

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[aaassociation]

I watch all your videos. Sometimes I don’t need all the information, but I still love how you simplify things in your DIY projects in a professional ways. You are an amazing person. God bless you!

[thedrywallguyofthediy]

I'm over here in the US! When I run into an old plaster house, especially the lath wood plaster, the old plaster definitely had dried out and lost its bond! In the past, I tried to fix cracked plaster. Within only a few months, the crack returned. Most of the time it's right next to the old crack that I already fixed. This is a vicious cycle that will never go away! The only cure that I truly know is to take 1/2" drywall and drywall over the old plaster. You only lose 1/2" of the height of the ceiling, even you have the old plaster crown. You can hang right up to the plaster crown. And in many cases where they put the plaster crown down about one inch from the ceiling to hang pictures. I had tucked the drywall right above the crown and it looks perfect! However, I definitely make sure that I put a couple extra screws in each board because now you are holding up some of the weight of the plaster. After doing this, you just finish it like regular drywall, and the ceiling looks amazing!

[kevinlawes]

Kirk will be Fuming! One lesson stealing all his viewers lol 😉😆😆👍🏻

[patrickmccarthy]

I sqidge and poke the foam up into the crack/holes whilst its still tacky it makes a thick stronger join and no cutting. My x boss (electrician) used expanding foam to fill holes on his the whole wall balooned out massivley! But i do have to say this very low expanding foam is amazing.

[SaintCoemgen]

I am an American. Living now in Europe. And I have done quite a bit of such plastering/plasterboard repairs. I know this is a UK channel. But it also reaches a world wide audience. So here are my thoughts:

- The plaster in this video is brown. I have never seen or used such. It seems that "browning" plaster may be a UK thing. If not available in your area (it is not in mine), below is what I do.

- The types of plaster I have available locally can eventually crack along the seams between the edges of the repair. Especially when on wood beams such as this as wood is not a very stable substrate. I would thus apply a layer of fiberglass mesh to stabilize the joint. Depending the size of the gap, either a sheet or a tape only on the seams. If one has the skill, then one can "feather" spread the plaster over the tape to make the tape "bump" disappear. But otherwise, cutting a slight notch on each side of the gap to level the mesh to the surface it a good idea. Yes, it is more work, but it results in a very durable, crack proof seam.

Hope this helps.

[andyb]

Kirk - see what your apprentice has gone and done!!🙈

[anthonysmith-mw]

Well that is the only time I’ve seen Roger do a Bodger.

[Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

What a effing ppoor job the electrician made of that, they could have cut a large circles either side of the beams and replaced the plasterboard with a baton holding it in. Also the cable should be in the centre of the beam for the very reason you mentioned.

[EireFirst]

Roger you're the Bez of building 😜

[milant]

Hiya, my understanding was that the drywall/plasterboard screws were used not because they're cheaper (wood screws are comparable in price when comparing quantity so not really so anyway) but rather because the screw head has a very straight edged Phillips drive which keeps the plaster better across the screw head preventing it from detaching (especially on ceilings).
The inner bevelled surface of say a pozi wood screws makes for the potential of the plaster coming away from the screw head or displaying the cracked circular outline. Would include a pic but no can do.

[Cablesmith]

Ey Roger! Less of the sparky bashing 😂

[johncoppock]

Real interesting repair method given the rest of the ceiling. I know all the rest is about to fall down, but if 38mm is min screw size for 1/2 inch board(?), then you have to work around the sparks work or they have to have another go. Yes BCO is the bit I don't understand, and how far can you stretch repairs before they become a project subject to the dreaded BCO. I realise you have applied common sense here. Non conventional perhaps but good job to me.

[stevenjhancock]

Are the fluted/trumpet plasterboard screw heads not specifically suited to the job? A cross between pan heads that grip without ripping through, and countersunk that sit flush.

[Tom-Lahaye]

I would have removed a couple of inches of the old top coat around the repair and put some mesh in, there was enough depth left to make it invisible.
I have a similar repair to do where the lat and plaster ceiling was cut open to prop the floor up in order to place a steel beam in the outer wall.
I used the PVA trick to fix a patch of loose plaster on a wall, I drilled some holes on a downwards angle trough the plaster and injected diluted PVA with a squeeze bottle, and repeated a couple of times until the hollow sound was gone which indicated that the plaster had bonded to the wall.

[MickeyHalligan]

What would you recommend plaster product wise to repair/recreate stippled textured ceiling? Thanks

[ChariotsofWire]

Use easifil or drywall mud, much easier to work with than skim coat, especially for DIY'ers.

[JamesKING-rs]

Toupret and Gyproc do an ultra fine scrimtape for keeping re-patching and remedial work to a mininum of fuss.

[cannontrodder]

I think that foam would do enough to handle movement.

[lomein]

electrician holes can be found all through the wild

[ianscottuk]

Honestly I would have over boarded and got a plasterer to skim it, but I see how the clients position could force you to do this.