Cornice / coving repairs

[Bossk128]

Afternoon all,
I've got a couple of questions on repairing my coving. It's an old house, and the coving I think is original plaster. Over the 7 years we've been in the house some cracks have appeared throughout the house.

Question 1: Does this look like normal age related cracking, e.g. do to a heavy lump like me walking about upstairs, or could it be due to anything more serious? Note we're close to a train line and you can feel rumbling when the freight trains go past.

Question 2: Can i repair these with some kind of plaster filler, then paint over?



Room 1


Room 2



An old repair, pre-moving in.



Fine cracks been previously painted over?



A lovely piece that isn't damaged!

 

[covenantuk]

Some of those cracks look like they've previosuly been painted over yes, some look newer.

I have the same issue because there's movement in the building - there's a 4cm drop front to back in the house so one of the door sticks, but only in the summer.

In old properties movement is not uncommon in my experience and if the house has been standing for 100 years then it's unlikely to suddenly develop an issue. One thing you should check though is that there it's not due to very large trees near the house. Roots can invade the foundations or thirsty trees (I'm looking at you, Poplar) can dry out clay soils leading to movement.

If this is all ok then I'd just strip it all back to plaster and repair as part of redecorating the room. At that point you'll probably have a better idea of the general state of the plaster in the room. Use a caustic-based stripper like Langlow Stripaway - it's messy stuff but the best way to strip paint off plaster without damage. Use a flexible filler to repair the damage and repaint with an alkali resistant primer as first step.

If the damage is really or the plaster behind the cornicing has blown leading to the cornicing starting to fall off then you can replaster and you can still buy plaster cornicing, but it can be a little pricey.

 

[Bossk128]

Thanks for the reply, that's useful. No trees at the front, it's directly on to the road. The closest tree at the back is about 10m away. It is a big tree, but I hope the roots don't travel far....

I've heard it's messy to repair, so had planned to wait. I'll look into Langlow. Cheers!!

Old houses, gotta love em