Plastering on Woodchip??

HaleBopp

Hi there,

We had some plastering done on our landing last week and like yourself there were huge areas where we couldn't get the paper off, as again like you seem to have discovered it can appear superglued on! Our plasterer managed to 'unibond' over these bits, he told us that if there were to be any issue with the plaster not taking to the bits where paper couldn't be removed we would def. know sooner rather than later. 4 days on and so far so good! :beer:

Just hope it stays that way!

Terrysdelight

Woodchip - I hate it. My dad is a professional decorator, and going back to my youth - our house was covered in the stuff! My dad used to say its brilliant, just paint over it to freshen it up - basically excellent decorator but hated doing anything in our house!

Plastering over woodchip doesn't sound a good idea to me - if a job's worth doing its worth doing well - strip it off and replaster/skim.

brownbake

HaleBopp wrote: »

Hi there,

We had some plastering done on our landing last week and like yourself there were huge areas where we couldn't get the paper off, as again like you seem to have discovered it can appear superglued on! Our plasterer managed to 'unibond' over these bits, he told us that if there were to be any issue with the plaster not taking to the bits where paper couldn't be removed we would def. know sooner rather than later. 4 days on and so far so good! :beer:

Just hope it stays that way!

Thanks everyone for all your replies. I am just not sure what to suggest to her now? This stuff is really stuck on - not just being lazy!! Best job = probably stripping all off but that is going to require a steamer I am sure and that may take big chunks out of wall.

Quite telling that no one who is a plasterer is willing to put in there 2 bits worth??

jason_s_2

If you asked me to skim the bathroom, then i would tell you the woodchip will have to come off, no decent plasterer would skim over paper, if they do then they are not doing the job properly,and if a jobs not done the right way then more often than not there will be come backs.

Mikeyorks

Inevitably it's been painted over? And probably several times? And likely at least once with vinyl silk or even gloss?

And that's the problem which turns woodchip into a real menace. Spiked roller (used lightly if suspicious plaster underneath) and a steamer. Strip down to the basics .... and get scraping .... there is no real solution other than that.

The stripping of the clothes isn't a pet perversion. It's not even the sweat generated by the steam and effort. Just that I have the scars to prove that most of the released 'wood chips' .... as the paper delaminates .... and releases thousands of them - get into your outer clothes and get really spiteful. The OH just watches - with her tweezers - whilst the air turns blue and miniature chipped forests rain down.

If any plasterer tells you the stuff can be skimmed over ...... ignore them!

savemoney

I found like that scoring the wallpaper with a piece of wood about 6 inches long with nails through lightly and then put hot water on the wallpaper and leave for 20 minutes and then using a wallpaper steam stripper gets most of it off

brownbake

Thanks for all the replies, yes it has been painted over numerous times and is stuck on so hard.

The general consensus seems to be to remove the woodchip. Do any plasterers know if it is OK to plaster over the woodchip or is that just a bodge?

The woodchip is not going to come off the wall if plastered on but would the plaster not stick to that surface? Would it suck moisture out the wall?

Any help appreciated

loracan1

pugmanic wrote: »

Wood chip is only put on walls to hide what is underneath. The likely hood is that the plaster under the wood chip is not too good.

I highly recommend one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/16530/Decorating-Sundries/Decorators-Knives/Heavy-Duty-Scraper

I tried one of these on my woodchip. The blade broke.

brownbake

Thank you everyone for your help and replies. If it is worth doing properly and all that.

I am gutted to TBH.

We stripped off the wallpaper off her son's room with all the right tools and a wallpaper stripper. One small wall 10 x 8 took about 4 hours!!!!!

I don't know what the people used to put the woodchip on - I am suspecting no more nails, then multiple coats of emulsion and then sealed it with PVA by the looks of it!!

This is going to be an absolute nightmare. Wall paper stripper is gonna have to be bought - try not to blow the plaster inevitably there are going to be chunks out of the plaster - but that is what the plasterer is getting paid to do!!!

I think woodchip stems back to the 70's when DIY was all the rage and people did it just to add "interest"!! BTW why on earth is it still being sold? It should be made illegal, it does more damage than drugs!!!

nickj_2

brownbake wrote: »

This is going to be an absolute nightmare. Wall paper stripper is gonna have to be bought -

!

you won't regret it - make sure you score the paper first , if your having it replastered use a stanley knife and criss cross paper to allow steam to get thru and dampen paste , if you're not replastering do the same but only score the paper - not the plaster