Cracking ways to fix holes in your walls

There are plenty of products to help tidy house blemishes – just choose correctly
JOB OF THE WEEK GIVING YOUR WALLS A NEW LIFE
Every home gets dents, holes and hairline cracks. It does not mean your house is falling down, it just means your house is lived in.
You need to fill these defects with the appropriate filler next time you decorate.
Then there are the big holes, about the size of a fist, that you get in plasterboard. These really need to be filled straight away. You can also have holes around pipe-work and so on.
There are a range of fillers on the market to deal with all sorts of dents, holes, cracks and gouges. It’s a case of identifying the type of material that has been damaged, and getting the correct filler to deal with it.
Large holes in solid walls are best filled using a fast-set plaster product.
However, most holes are in plasterboard walls, in which case you need to use a Gyproc plasterboard patch.
These are basically as easy as putting a plaster on. Just use a filler to cover it.
Gaps between walls and timber, such as skirting boards and door frames, are filled using decorator’s filler/ caulk. As this is flexible it will not crack.
Small dents and holes the size of a screw head are best filled using Polyfilla.
When it comes to filling wood I always go for a two-part wood-filler – that’s the type where you mix the paste and hardener.
The main thing to look for when choosing a filler is to make sure it sets and dries quickly, so it does not hold up the decorating job.