Plugging away...

During the week, we don't make very much progress on the house.  So when I stopped by today to check the mail, I took some pictures of my plugs that I had done for the radiator piping holes.

What I had done was take some wire window screen, cut it to the width (hole diameter times 3.14) that would role up to the diameter of the hole I was plugging.

The holes....

The window screen cylinders...

The holes immediately after the cylinders were inserted and filled with spray foam expanding insulation.

Two days later after the foam had a chance to cure...

These particular patches are on the ceiling so for my example on how I intend to finish the patches, here is a picture of two patches lower where the pipes originally went through the wall.

Here you can see how the foam expanded out from the hole.  I wish I had made a cylinder and filled it outside of the wall so I could have seen how it expanded through the screen.  I tugged on the foam and it was firmly wedged in the hole, much more securely than filling it with newspaper would have been.  And by completely filling the cylinder all the way through the wall, I don't have to worry about knocking a hole in the wall in the same spot.

Next, I trimmed the foam slightly below the wall surface...

And knocked out some of the loose pieces of plaster.  Next, I put my primarily layer of spackling...

After this dries, I fill in any remaining depressions.  Later, I hit it with a sanding block and prime it before the wall is painted.