Hole in bedroom wall

[Mrstrumpalot]

After an accident with some step ladders ( don’t ask) I have been left with a hole in the wall of my ds’s bedroom.
It is about the size of an orange and equally as deep. Far too big just to fill in with some poly filler.

What on earth do I need to do to fix it? Will the whole wall need replastered and painted?

At the moment he has a poster covering it until I can work out what to do!

You can fill that with filler, no plasterers needed. You'll need to do it in layers. Buy some filler that's very very light, various makes, pick up the filler pots and you'll see what I mean .This is important, because the ultra light fillers are way less likely to slump, and let you put a greater depth in at once. Check on instructions what depth of filler can be used in one go, stick to this, put this into hole, leave to completely dry- 24 hrs +. Next layer, dry, final layer, smooth as you can- wet the filler knife for final smoothing, dry, lightly sand with ultra fine sandpaper. Paint . Will take several coats, don't worry if first one looks completely different to surrounding wall, by coat 3 or 4, completely invisible.

Unless the holes so deep you've got a hole completely through a plasterboard wall, with the gap going into a void, with nothing to fill onto, in which case the above obviously won't work.

@DancingLedge ....it’s this deep!

you cut the hole, and a piece of plasterboard, into an oval shape so it will go through the hole, but when rotated will block it

you drill a hole into the oval and thread a piece of string through it

you buy the smallest possible pack of Plasterboard Joint Filling Plaster (preferably powder) and mix up a yoghurt-pot full

you butter the edges of the oval with the soft plaster, put the oval through the hole, pull on the string so it presses against the inside surface of the plasterboard wall and hold it for 20 minutes, or wind it round a piece of wood to hold it in place

When set, you mix up some more, and while holding the string, butter it into the hole so it sticks to the edges of the hole and the face of its oval (you are holding the string in case you dislodge the oval).

When this is set, you cut off the string and finish filling the crater.

Do your initial filling with a flexible metal filling knife, but your final with the widest flat-ended filling knife or scraper you can find, or a plasterers trowel if you can find one. The idea is that the blade is wide enough to press on the sound flat plaster on both sides of the hole, and press the filler flat.

Don't overfill it above the level of the wall.

If it needs smoothing, scrape it with a wide metal scraper while still cheesy. Don't sand it.

I would try and fill the gap/wedge around the edges with news paper or wire wool to prevent any filler falling into the cavity. If you can prevent any filler falling into the cavity then you should be ok, personally I would use an expanding foam to fill it, trim the front when it's dry then use a filler to give the front a smooth finish after sanding. Could be a nightmare job though. Only other alternative in my opinion is to get a plasterer to patch it up. Shouldn't cost too much but will need to cut out a larger section which will then need painting afterwards.

Yep done this the way PigletJohn described. A bit fiddly but if you take your time and don't rush the job it will turn out ok!

if you can manage to get some string round the piece that fell inside, you might be able to use that as your backing, by pulling it towards you.

Agree with Piglet John. The only way to do it.

There are any number of Youtube videos.. here's one:

Thank you all so much. The piece that fell inside is actually in pieces!
That last video makes it look so easy ( although for some reason I couldn’t get the sound to play).
Am certainly going to give it a good try though.

I agree with Canadian John. Watch the youtube video. My dh had the same problem with one of our rooms and just watched a diy and it worked out well.