How to cover screws in plasterboard ceiling?

[Hercules12]

Hi. Very boring thread but I've spent hours today washing down walls and ceiling. I have bits of plaster coming away from where the screws are in the plasterboard ceiling. I've got a powder filler I was going to use for small holes but it says to cover screws with oil based paint first to prevent rusting.
Obviously I'm a bit limited with current times in this- is there anything I can use instead??

shameless bump

Just use the filler, that's what my fella does. If the screw aren't exposed to air how can they rust? Are your screws galvanised because then it really is a moot point!

DH says if they are countersunk they shouldn't rust. He says do three fills with your filler. If they aren't counter sunk screw them in a bit more then fill

I've been doing the same, washing down walls and ceilings ready for painting. When I've come across those small holes in the ceiling I'm just using filler, not oil based paint or anything else. I didnt know that's what you're supposed to do, tbh, so I've always just filled holes and it's always worked out fine.

Hi. many thanks for such helpful replies! I have no idea if galvanised. They look pretty tightly sunk into the board so hopefully sunk in enough. Will use filler.
Many thanks again!

Plasterboard screws are usually black passivated which gives a small amount of rust protection, enough so that they won't go manky if you filler over them.

I've put up a few ceilings/plasterboard walls and I've not had any problems with rusty screws. As pp have said make sure they are below the surface of the plasterboard and just smooth over them with filler, sand and repeat until it's smooth as the rest of the surface.

Thanks, c3pu. I've attached a photo. I've got this filler www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-multi-purpose-filler-powder-white-off-white-2kg/396gt
Will that do the job?

Yeah that's a regular plasterboard screw, it won't rust. That filler will be fine.

Might be worth getting to the bottom of why the plaster seems to be flaking off the screws though, has the plasterboard been moving/shaking or something?

You can get small tubs of cheap white gloss from places like poundland and poundstretcher.

You could i suppose even use clear nail varnish.

As pp screws will probably not rust if countersunk. Even if they do you could cover with gloss and paint over the stsin that appears

Hi. Thats good to know. I think it's probably because exh had various building work done internally and house is now 20 years old but put together cheaply as new build. I'm just using the lock down time to try to do it up. Most of where the plaster bits have come off are near to where an internal wall was.

Thanks, walksen. This is such a helpful thread! Didnt expect any replies!