How to repair damaged plaster caused by adhesive glue?

electrictiffey

Hi there,

We are planning to install wire shelving in two wardrobes which originally had a standard melamine shelf and clothes rail underneath. Would appreciate any advice regarding the following:

1. I removed the shelf in the first wardrobe using a pry bar and stanley knife.  It turned out the shelf supports were attached to the wall by a liberal amount of construction adhesive as well as screws.   As a result some paint and cardboard was ripped off the wall when the shelf was removed (see pic).  What is the best product/method to repair this?  

Damaged wall in wardrobeGlue on the back of shelf support

2.  I would like to avoid damaging the wall to the second wardrobe if possible when removing the shelf supports.  Any suggestions for how to best do this? I read that you can slide a piece of wire between the wood and the wall to cut through the adhesive - is there any product which would be best for this?

Cheers

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @electrictiffey. It's sensational to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about repairing your wall.

You'll need to remove any glue that is proud of the surface of the plaster with a scraper. After that, you can apply a skim coat of plaster using a taping knife to the wall. Fill in the damage where the paper was torn away and taper the plaster into the surrounding area. You'll then be able to sand the area smooth, apply an undercoat and then your topcoat of paint.

With that amount of construction adhesive, I can't imagine you will be able to remove the other shelf supports without a similar amount of damage. The glue would have soaked into the paper, and even if you could cut it away neatly with a wire, you'll still then need to remove the residual glue from the wall. Personally, I'd bite the bullet and pull it off with the crowbar and then re-plaster.

Let me mention @TedBear and @tom_builds to see if they have any thoughts on removing construction adhesive from plaster without damaging it.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell