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Hello,

I'm renovating a couple of rooms and the plaster has blown in certain areas, although most of it is sound.

Ive hacked off the problem areas and can now see why it's blown. There is a wooden beam between the brick work which over the years has obviously led to the plaster failing. The house is not damp and these are internal walls anyway.

Anyway, the old plaster is the original victorian lime based plaster on top of a scratch coat. I was planning on blue gritting the surface then just filling it back up with Hardwall or undercoat then skimming. Would this be sufficient/correct?

See attached pic:

Yes, do what you propose with the blue grit or similar.
Also, brush or spray with clean water, and take the suction out of the exposed bricks.
The timber is a wall bonding beam.

One other thing? I would introduce a mesh over the timber embedded beam, use say, scrim or plastic or stainless steel mesh this to allow for differential thermal movement of timber and brick.

Ken.