What is the best method to deal with plugs in plaster walls?

Question

I moved into an older home that has plaster walls. They are also filled with old plugs from hanging pictures etc. What is the best way to deal with them before repainting?

Can I knock them further in and use a poly-fill over top like I would for drywall, or do I need to deal with them differently due to the plaster walls?

Answer 1

Old plaster is very hard, and thus very brittle. Leave the pounding to a minimum, as you could make a bigger mess. If you pound too much on plaster and lath you could end up breaking a lath strip and have a hole or crack from stud to stud. I would try to use a drill at slow speed to drill out the old fastener.

Answer 2

knocking them in the best as pulling them out makes a bigger hole  

Answer 3

Since you are going to fill in the holes from the old plugs anyway. Just carefully push them in.