Partly plastered, partly bare brick / block walls

by Matt
(Cambridge, UK)

Hi Paul,

I've just removed the stone cladding from my old 1950's fireplace. I'm left with partly plastered and partly bare brick / block work walls around the chimney breast. (See attached pictures). The difference in thickness between the plastered part and the bare brick is quite significant. My question is how to tackle the bare brick / block work parts? Should I use a backing coat of sand and cement to bring the wall out to the same thickness as the plastered part or should I attach plasterboard to those areas using plasterboard adhesive and then skim the lot? There is also one wall that will need to be bonded as it has some cable channels and old electrical boxes to fill.

Kind regards,

Matt

Answer
Hi Matt,
Using a sand/cement base coat will be ideal as it can then follow the line of the existing plaster more easily. Plasterboard will work if the old plaster is uniform thickness, but can be very tricky to join to existing plaster. The section on patching plaster will help you with this join.
Good luck Kwest