When working with plaster, it's best to only work with small amounts on the hawk and trowel. Try to build up a rhythm so you can cover the patch repair before the plaster starts to set Give the masonry a good clean out with a brush and a vacuum cleaner, Remember to get the edges of the old plaster too, that'll be quite dusty and dust is not our friend. As you will need to do a bit of cutting, before you start this, firstly run over the area around the hole with a wire detector to make sure there aren’t any wires, pipes or other items that you may accidentally cut through. I have seen and heard a lot of people applying a 1 part PVA and 3 part water to the masonry and allowing it to dry before attaching the plasterboard. Whilst this is not mentioned as part of the plasterboard adhesive instructions, it does seem to be an accepted solution. In both cases, you'll need to skim over the undercoat plaster or the plasterboard to achieve a smooth finish, smooth enough to paint onto.

If you're not confident with plastering large areas, plasterboard will achieve a flat surface with which to skim over.

Planning & preparation

Yes you can use decorators' caulk to fill small holes such as nail and screw holes, but it's not really suitable for holes any bigger than quarter of an inch. Add a dollop of caulk and smooth out with a putty knife or a wet finger for nail and screw holes. Why is it that the plaster in the corners of windows always fails? Well, I'll tell you about that in a jiffy. For now, let's get it sorted. Plasterboard is quite soft and the slightest of impacts such as when moving furniture can mark the surface and even put a hole right through it. The same can also be said for hollow doors – Due to the void in the centre and MDF or fibreboard used as the covering, this does not provide much protection when it comes to resisting impacts.

The reason that plaster mostly fails in the corners and around the recesses of windows is due to two main reasons:By the time you've read all this post, you should have a clear idea which option to go with, I'm not expecting you to decide right away so don't worry, just read on for now. There are many different fillers and plaster products available, so be sure to consider the range and select a product that is best suited to your job. For example, if you only need a small amount, you might find it easier to use ready mixed plaster Depending on the shape of the hole, whether its circular or has jagged edges you may need to use a padsaw, jabsaw or hobby knife. Be careful using any of these items as they are sharp and can slip quite easily. The two main repair methods can be found below: Repairing a Plasterboard Hole Using a Piece of Plasterboard or Timber

Measure and cut a new piece of plasterboard to fill the hole. Fix in place with plasterboard screws or nails. Mix up plaster, apply and leave to dry. Both, lath-and-plaster and plasterboard ceilings are fixed to the joists that support the floor above. The depth of the joists will vary depending on the age of the building (older ones are often deeper than modern ones) and their length. Lath and plaster

Do it right

Another complication that springs to light when you have unfortunately made a hole in a plasterboard wall or hollow door is the void behind it due to the construction of the stud work used to hold the plasterboard up or provide the framework for the door meaning that you can’t just use filler as there is nothing to bond it to.

Roller - including the handle, obviously! Like the brush, we're using it to apply a PVA/water solution, so we're going for coverage, not quality, so just get a cheap one for this. Although, a short pile would avoid a lot of mess. Now you will need a piece of plasterboard to fill the hole. Ideally this needs to be thinner than the current plasterboard. Measure and cut to fill the hole. Fix in place against the noggins with plasterboard screws or nails. Remove any items or objects from the wall so nothing protrudes out from the wall & make sure your wall is clean and dry. So I'm guessing it's loose, echos slightly when you tap it, with a little bit of movement. Then, when you remove the wall paper you see something like this:

If there are only a few bits of detached plaster, great, this means you're in the right place, read on. If there are lots of loose bits of plaster and you're unsure whether it's worth patching it up, I would opt for removing the lot from that wall and re-plastering it all, better safe than sorry. To learn how to completely re-plaster a wall, start here. You may be doing the same, or you may just be skimming over little bits, leaving most of your existing plaster exposed. Either way, I have covered how to skim coat in another post. Here's a link to it which will open in a new tab for you.