Patching and Plastering - Can I plaster over plaster?

Our bathroom wall has a really ugly plaster texture on it... my kids describe it as "pokey" (very small rough bumps). There are a couple holes in the wall that need repaired (we tried to remove the towel racks which had been glued to the walls, and accidentally tore out chunks of drywall!)

We tried that really heavy wallpaper to cover it up, but it did not work. (Worked beautifully on panelling, by the way). We tried scraping it off, it didn't work! I had some leftover plaster from another project so I swiped a bit off that on the wall... and it looks great!

Can I do that over the entire bathroom... just cover the old plaster with new plaster to smooth it out? Is there any sort of prep work that needs done first?

Couple of questions to help the Pros....

You say plaster..is it really plaster..or is it textured drywall? How old is the house..thats a good indication.

Withs a bit of prep, a skim coat can be applied to almost anything...but you want to use the right product I think.

I don't know much about working with plaster but if you mean joint compound - yes it can be skimmed over the paint and texture. It's a good idea to rough up the wall a little with sandpaper and of course the wall should be relatively clean [no cleaner residue,hairspray,etc] but basically you just apply the j/c fairly smooth, sand when dry and prime/paint:D

Yes, I meant joint compound, LOL.

The house was built in 1964, but the bathroom was completely remodeled in 1998... that's when the ugly texture was done.

Often heavy texture is used to hide poor workmanship:eek: I'd scrape and sand a little and then thin the j/c lightly. The smoother you get the wall, the less j/c will be needed. Thinning the j/c helps it to 'slide' better making the job easier.