| Comment | > I assume I should break down the rest of the wall that sounds hollow when I knock on it tough, right?
Eh, hmm... There isn't a right answer to this unfortunately.
The whole wall *should* sound somewhat hollow, because with lath and plaster, it *is* hollow. But it might be that it's also blown. If you're knocking on brick and plaster and it sounds hollow then it's definitely blown (unless you happen to knock where they patched an old fireplace with plasterboard, or something).
Personally, I would knock down any plaster that is blown only if I was already renovating the place and it was already a mess. I'm confident in my ability to fix it though.
If I bought a place which was decorated and happened to become aware that some plaster was blown, I'd probably just leave it - it can become a bit of a can of worms. (Unless it was a ceiling - tear that down asap before it comes down on your head!) It is good to have no blown plaster on your walls but it's a trade-off with the considerable workload.
If you're plastering over old plaster, as long as the plaster is relatively sound, you don't need to knock it back to the brick / lath. You *can* but you don't really have to. There may be some small structural improvements if you do, but not as significant as if repairing blown plaster. |
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