How can you tell if a wall needs re-plastering?

crayola

Hi all

The walls in our bathroom are in a bit of a state. They have about the worst wall-papering job I have ever seen, as the paper literally sags off the walls.

Obviously we want to get this down asap and get the walls looking nice and smooth. It is a large bathroom, so unfortunately we cannot tile the whole thing without paying out a small fortune: I'm envisaging getting the walls 'prepared' as nicely as possible then painted with a proper water-proof paint, and tiled to the extend we can afford, probably only covering around a quarter of the room.

MY problem at the moment is not knowing how we get the walls 'made good'.

Is there any way to figure out if re-plastering is needed? I am guessing it will be, but it is entirely possible it's just such a bad wallpaper job that it gives this impression.

thanks all

spadoosh

I'd start by looking at the wall (not wallpaper). Just refurbed my house and the wallpaper was pretty shocking, stripped it right back and there isnt a single crack on the plaster and smooth as glass ( minus the few screw holes that i filled in a hurry) Generally your looking for big cracks, large amounts of previous filling, tap the wall and if it sounds hollow or the plaster moves this will probably need taking out and re doing. Also if you do have really bad walls you will probably find its cheaper to tile the lot than it is to to plaster and tile half. I think plasterers charge about £15 per sq metre (correct me if im wrong) and you can easily tile for less than that!

crayola

spadoosh wrote: »

Generally your looking for big cracks, large amounts of previous filling, tap the wall and if it sounds hollow or the plaster moves this will probably need taking out and re doing.

Hi there, thanks for your speedy reply and I think you have just answered my question!

The wall definitely sounds hollow in parts and there are some fairly shocking cracks where it looks like previous fittings have been ripped out. There is also an odd waxy yellow surface which we found underneath woodchip in some other rooms - God knows what it is but I am now pretty much certain a re-plaster job is needed. Fortunately we know someone good who charged us less than £400 to do an outstanding job on a bigger room, so fingers tightly crossed we can get him back.

Also if you do have really bad walls you will probably find its cheaper to tile the lot than it is to to plaster and tile half. I think plasterers charge about £15 per sq metre (correct me if im wrong) and you can easily tile for less than that!

Good point. I think it's in a bad enough state having had a closer look that I will want it re-doing though - just knowing how messy it looks underneath would bother me! There is sag under the window too, so I think it would look very wonky.

spadoosh

When you say sag, is it the wallpaper or does it feel like the wallpaper is holding the plaster on?

Under windows is a common place for cracks and gaps to appear not always having to be replastered most of the time it can be filled and sanded back.

By the sounds of it you dont have a high opinion of the plasterwork and thats probably the best indication that it will need re doing

crayola

spadoosh wrote: »

When you say sag, is it the wallpaper or does it feel like the wallpaper is holding the plaster on?

The actual wall, not just the window. We had the same issue in the living room and it did need some work to get it looking straight. Our plasterer did it, but it's possible this does not mean the whole wall needs re-doing.

By the sounds of it you dont have a high opinion of the plasterwork and thats probably the best indication that it will need re doing

Hehe, no. I have honestly seen worse, but it's pretty shoddy. A guess a huge amount of sanding down could help, but I get the feeling it is worse than that due to the hollow sounding noises it makes when tapped, and also the fact that stuff clearly has been ripped out of the wall.

phill99

spadoosh wrote: »

I'd start by looking at the wall (not wallpaper). Just refurbed my house and the wallpaper was pretty shocking, stripped it right back and there isnt a single crack on the plaster and smooth as glass ( minus the few screw holes that i filled in a hurry) Generally your looking for big cracks, large amounts of previous filling, tap the wall and if it sounds hollow or the plaster moves this will probably need taking out and re doing. Also if you do have really bad walls you will probably find its cheaper to tile the lot than it is to to plaster and tile half. I think plasterers charge about £15 per sq metre (correct me if im wrong) and you can easily tile for less than that!

It certainly isn't cheaper to tile than plaster. A plasterer may charge £15/m2 but a tiler will charge about £20 plus the cost of the adhesive, grout and tiles, so you are looking at £50/m2. Also remember that if the walls are too bad, then they will need skimming before they can be tiled on. A tiler wont tile onto hollow plaster as the weight of the tile will bring the p;laster off.

Regardless of what you do, you will need to get the walls skimmed.

spadoosh

You can diy tiling fairly easy, alot harder to diy plaster! And you could choose a render instead of a skim, dont need a smooth finish for tiling (alternatively dot and dab to give a smoother finish and then apply tiles) thus tiling is cheaper than getting in a plasterer.

MX5huggy

Forget plastering, rip the whole lot off. then dot and dab plasterboard up in the dry areas, screw aqua panel concrete boards in wet areas if its an old house insulate behind.

Then tile over the top no skilled labour needed then a basic white tile will come up quite cheep.

Never really understood this plastering before tiling, I think plasters just don't like to admit they are not needed.

dave82_2

MX5huggy wrote: »

Forget plastering, rip the whole lot off. then dot and dab plasterboard up in the dry areas, screw aqua panel concrete boards in wet areas if its an old house insulate behind.

Then tile over the top no skilled labour needed then a basic white tile will come up quite cheep.

Never really understood this plastering before tiling, I think plasters just don't like to admit they are not needed.

It's probably useful if you want the walls leveled up without having to lose to much space to plaser board. Especially if the bathroom is tight to start with.

Fire_Fox

If pulling the wallpaper off removes the skim coat leaving a relatively level, non friable but rough surface underneath you can safely tile straight onto that. If bits of skim remain they may come away quite easily with gentle use of a hammer and bolster. Tiling is not necessarily expensive, plain white tiles are incredibly cheap if you shop around (e.g. Wickes £4.49 for ~sq m or £4.09 if you buy ~19 sq m), you can lay them brick or diamond pattern if you want to make life complicated!

Powder tile adhesive and grout (e.g. Wickes £9 for 3kg) again not necessarily expensive, tho do use waterproof in very wet areas like a shower. If you are on a really tight budget you can even reuse tile spacers. DIY tiling really is not difficult it's just time consuming if you are not a professional, you don't even need that many tools tho hiring or borrowing a wet tile saw (not sure of the proper name) speeds things up a lot. When you grout just squish it in the spaces with your finger, a lot less wasted product than slapping it on the whole wall and far less washing down to do afterwards. My mother taught me to tile, the following year I laid a circular patio using many of the same techniques (very petite female in my early twenties). :cool:

Leif

Were this in a non bathroom then patching plaster would be easy assuming holes are less than 6" across. You use Easi-fill, usually two coats as it shrinks, and sand to finish. But Easi-fill absorbs moisture so I don't think it is good for a bathroom. There might be alternative patching plasters to use, but I suspect they do not sand so well. Making plaster look good is easy as long as the holes are not too big. I've some 1m diameter ones so I will have them skimmed.