Plaster Peeling off with Wallpaper

nuttybabe

Hiya

I am hoping someone with more DIY knowlege than myself or dh can help.

We have decided to repaper our living room after buying the house 4 years ago. Lumps of plaster is peeling off with the wallpaper. It looks like this happened before as there are bits in different colours where it looks like they have fixed the problem.

So my question is, can i just do the same and get that stuff to fill in what has come off. We cant afford to have the room plastered at the moment and i really dont want to live with it like this until we can.

Also the skirting boards look a state, been painted on top of paint on top of paint and dont match. How easy is it to take it off and fit new ones? Same with door frames.

Thank you

Absolutely

How old is the house?

If it's an old house, it could be a matter of the plaster "blowing". It's hard to know without more info. You can always patch up and wallpaper again, but I would imagine you'd need a textured wallpaper to try to hide the imperfections. Painting the walls wouldn't be an option without replastering in my opinion.

Taking off skirtings and door frames (just the outer bits, not the inner bits) can be fairly straightforward. You just need to buy the new skirtings and door frames.

You'll need a mitre box and saw to cut the wood to the correct angles. There's other more pricey equipment out there to cut wood, but I did it the cheap and cheerful way.

After a fair few mistakes, I got my angles right. Practice first :rotfl:

becs

When we stripped the wallpaper we discovered the Walls hadn't been plastered! They'd just papered on top of the plasterboard so we had to have them skimmed. In one o the bedrooms we removed adado rail and filled with coving adhesive which was then sanded down and painted over and made a really good filler.

nuttybabe

thank you for your replies.

its a 1930's house and we have already got textured wallpaper as we knew the walls were not flat! just didnt know how bad they were.

i think we will just be filling in the gaps then and sanding over. thank you. i am so relieved.

i think there might be a mitre saw in the shed. from when dh did the skirting in the kitchen (which has fallen off). what do you attach skirting back on with?

Mayflower10cat

We had a similar problem in our last house - stripping the dining rooms walls with a steamer (three sorts of wallpaper paper plus some paint over the top of each layer, argh....) and we were pulling chunks of plaster off with our strenuous efforts. We used 'patching plaster' I'm pretty sure it was called, to smooth over the holes. It was easy enough for amateurs to use and we were very careful. To attach the new skirting/door frames, something like 'No More Nails' or 'Sticks like Sh*t' (I kid you not, it's really called that) are very good products.

Leif

How are you removing the wallpaper? A steamer may well remove plaster if it is not adhering well. Small holes, holes ~4" across, gouges, marks etc can be filled and sanded using something like Easifill. But wash the walls first to remove wall paper paste. Then fill and sand. To reskim an entire room allow ~£500 exact price depending on area, demand etc.

Skirting board is attached using nails (common), or glue (on flat walls), or screws, or screws and glue (on wonky walls). You can remove it by prizing it away from the wall, using a chisel as a lever, and placing a piece of old carpet tile between it and the wall for protection. You will probably remove plaster requiring repairs. The part of the door frame referred to earlier is called an architrave. I removed skirting from my entire house, and it was fairly easy apart from where heating pipes were, and I left those to professionals who were removing the heating pipes as part of a new boiler fitting. Putting skirting on in one room should not be too hard. I paid someone to do mine as I had the entire house to do.

satchmo1

One tip for removing skirting boards is to run a Stanley knife along between the skirting board and the wall to cut through paint and prevent the paint bringing off more plaster.

Absolutely

nuttybabe wrote: »

thank you for your replies.

i think there might be a mitre saw in the shed. from when dh did the skirting in the kitchen (which has fallen off). what do you attach skirting back on with?

I used "No More Nails" but a cheaper alternative - can't remember the name but a local Wilkinsons will have it probably. Like someone else said, that's a decent option if your walls are not wonky, otherwise I'd use screws or nails - but MIND OUT FOR THE PIPES!

nuttybabe

thanks everyone.

not even got steamer out yet. just using water, vinegar and washing up liquid.

apparently dh used no more nails in the kitchen. might have a go myself just to make sure though!!!! :rotfl:

Thanks again everyone. i really appreciate the advice. fingers crossed between us we can get it done (or just me when he is at work if i can re-attach the kitchen skirting!!! )

muskoka

Screwfix do their own 'no more nails. Very cheap