First you need to cover the 2 hole. You need to attach the replacement piece of drywall on the big hole to something solid before mudding and taping it. 2 choices are to open up the hole larger until you have some wood to attach it to or improvise! My favorite way to improvise is to cut 1 or two thin boards about 2-3 inches wider than the narrow width of the hole. Stick it up the hole the long way and rotate it so it is resting on top of the hole with about an inch on either side. Hang on to the board in the middle through the hole and put two screws up through the ceiling on either side of the hole to hold the little board in place. Screw your new piece dry wall into the little board(s) you put up there. Tape and mud. Can't tell how big the little hole I but I would probably jut dry to put a piece of mesh tape over it and mud. If it sags you might need to put something up there to back up that patch too or purchase a firmer patch to go over it. No need to prime anything until you get all your mudding and sanding done. Use a putty knife and scrape as much loose paint away as possible. I would do little to no sanding of the paint edges as you are sanding paint with lead. Just skim coat everything with mud. Patch, tape your corners, mud everything (couple thin coats) and sand. Then prime and paint. Your joint compound will be perfect for all. Wear a dust mask when you sand.

Hi Vedazu, STOP...DO NOT do anything to those walls for a month!!! There's a lot of water in plaster, and it takes that long to harden-off. It's a very heavy-bodied product! * If you primed/painted NOW, the water leaving the plaster will push-off your new paint job. * AFTER a month, THEN sand, vacuum well, then prime. * Then, TWO coats of paint. Sorry, sometimes you have to wait! Faron

Yippee it worked. My thread is back. I had to go into my computer's history to find this thread. I had posted to it last week or so and it never re-appeared on the GW forum. Update: I fixed the large hole with plastic screen type lath, fastened up into the plaster with drywall screws. I couldn't reach one edge so I wedged in a 1x.5" piece of wood lath at one end and overlayed the plastic lath, and I think the screws are pegging the plastic screening in place :) There was a lot of technique getting that piece of plastic screening up there! Then I took Easysand 20 and filled the screening, it was ugly: After it dried for several days I took my "California Patch" and slathered a bunch more Easysand 20 on it and wedged it in place. It stayed! It is drying now. As I was trimming away some of the extra Easysand I inadvertently scrapped away some of the sheetrock paper, not the full thickness though. It will need to be gone over with another thin coat of mud, either Easysand or my pre mixed green lidded joint compound. It will need to dry for a long time: I took that Easysand 20 and filled the gap along the entire ceiling periphery. After several hours, I took my 5-in-1 tool and shaved it flush with the existing plaster ceiling and made sure everything looked square. The product was still damp and easily shaved. When all of this dries I will tape up the corners and ceiling junctions using the green lid premix joint compound and a webbed, creased, tape I found. It was sort of expensive, but I only have right angles on this job and I figured it would help make the angles cleaner. Thanks for everyones input. It was very helpful. Now I just hope this works out ok as I have some thick layers up there.

Took off old wallpaper and adhesive in the dining room, above wainscoting. The wall seems to be made of plaster, (possibly concrete behind it, built in 1929). There are imperfections on the wall, cracked spaces not too deep,... can I put Gardz sealer on it, then use a high-build primer, and then paint? Will that be enough to smooth out the wall imperfections to give it a smooth look? And if I use Gardz sealer, must I still use an oil based primer?