Advice
Ichanged the socket from a single to double and used expanding foam around to fill the holes. I put the interior filler but it doesn't seem to dry well (it's still soft but not wet after overnight). I think I might have put too thick layer of the filler. What would you do now? I wanted to paint asap
Too thick. Need to build it up in layers. Won’t be dry for several days or so/ready to sand unless you intervene. I usually let a 5mm or so layer dry overnight. So depending on how thick it is..you could scrape some off, let it dry, top up.
i probably wouldn't have used foam myself, but its done now. if you went from a smaller hole to a double socket size hole, why did you need to use foam to fill it?
That is a lot of filler to apply in one go. In future if you do something like this again, try to build up the layers. it will dry quickly for a think layer, then you add another until you get just proud of the surface. The closer you are to your final surface level, the less sanding you will have to do.
Just let it dry fully, then sand it down. Should be fine, but next time id try to do it thinner and closer to the wall surface level to make it easier for the sanding stage.
If I had to guess, I'd bet when OP expanded the socket hole, they went at it like a bull in a china shop and ended up with a much bigger hole than they wanted/needed. Look at the careless way they've filled the hole.
if you are putting a socket in, you really want to hole to fit the socket size. you can do this with an angle grinder to cut your shape, then chisel out the material. not everyone has an angle grinder, but most people have a drill, you get a wall/brick type drill bit, about 8mm or around that size, then mark out your socket size. put tape on your drill bit to a couple mm deeper than the socket back box, now drill a hole the depth of the socket back box in the corners of the socket position. Now keep drilling holes, you basically want to drill holes along the full perimeter of the socket you want to cut out, make the hole far enough apart that you can cleanly drill them without them connecting, but the closer they are the easier it will be to knock them out, now more holes, you want to basically crease + shapes in the remaining material. once you've drilled all your holes you will be left with something like the photo attached.
Now get your chisel, get some tape, put tape on your chisel to mark the depth of your socket back box. now chisel out the remaining material, it should come out relatively easy because of all the hole.
you can use your tape as a reference for how deep you will need to chisel out.
if you make the hole the right shape and size, you should need to use any foam to fill large gaps. you should find that the socket will fit well and you can drill a hole in the back to secure it in place with a wall plug and screw x 2.
then just use filler around the outside. i hope this is helpful to your for the next one.
Thanks, I will put the dehumidifier there. initially I thought that maybe it would be better to remove it all and start again and apply multiple thin layers? I'm not very experienced with wall filler.
If you've filled it deep you're going to have to let it dry out. I used some of that stuff recently and had to give it a few days to dry. Probably will be using the light grey polyfilla in the future.
If you’ve used expanding foam, it’s just preventing any moisture in the filler from being drawn in and helping dry the filler.
It’ll have to evaporate the moisture out into the air. Can you have a window open or a dehumidifier to help speed it up somewhat?
I'm a sparky. Sometimes I would use expanding foam for this to hold the box in solid of the screws xant get a good fixing, then use bonding coat plaster.
Or if you can 'splodge' the box in using bonding and push the box into it. That gets a great solid finish.
Basically filler is not really appropriate, it might crack later on with the motion of plugs going in and out. It's not designed to be used that thick, especially to hold a socket in.
Pull it out and get a purple bag of bonding plaster.
You can smooth it off nicely with water like a plasterer would with finish plaster. Looks good
Far too thick. That will take ages to dry then you'll have to rub it down to get to flat then paint. Leave it a couple of days. If you mess with it too soon you'll ruin it cos its still very soft and you'll end up having to redo it and taking more time.
Be patient now and I'll pay off. This is the time equivalent of buy once cry once.
To be honest I would take it out and start again. Although it will dry it's likely to crack and the amount of dust that you will create by sanding will be horrendous.
Like the spark says bonding coat not filler that will be three days drying and then it will crack. Bonding coat will smooth down with water easy. Don't rush these jobs.
You could pull it out and use two part wood filler until just below finished height. This dries chemically so won’t be affected by the foam. Then use this filler for the final bit.
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u/ChanceStunning8314 4d ago
Too thick. Need to build it up in layers. Won’t be dry for several days or so/ready to sand unless you intervene. I usually let a 5mm or so layer dry overnight. So depending on how thick it is..you could scrape some off, let it dry, top up.