paint removal / damp / skimming walls? - lots to do and advice needed please

theLearner_3

in my first house i've started attacking the dining room first - lots to do as the skirting looks rubbish, the coving is wonky and the walls are pitted and flaky in areas

but first.... bit of a strange thing - i put a fabric-backed chair up against this wall (exterior facing) and left it there for about 5 weeks. when i came to move it, the back of the chair was covered with surface mould why did this happen? it came off very easily with a hot cloth and there was no sign of mould on the paint. however, because they back onto the outside, the walls do feel very cold to the touch. is this just poor ventilation in the room?

this made me panic a bit, as i know very little about DIY - but i'm trying to learn. I used this forum to look at paint removal methods as i wanted to see what the plaster looked like underneath the paint. tried quite a few methods, but for this wall a Steam Generator / Gun with a sharp scraper worked ok (albeit very, very slowly) took me about 3 days to strip 1 and a 1/2 walls:mad:

the paint on 2 of the walls (exterior facing) is very thick, almost as though there's paper or something underneath the walls (as in this picture)

but on the interior walls it's very thin, which is nearly impossible to remove (as in this next pic). I had originally planned to remove all the paint back to plaster and then fill in the marks, but there's just too many to do a good job(and i've made a few with my sharp scraper)

i want to get the best finish possible when painted, so i wondered if the best thing would be to get the walls skimmed / replastered with finishing plaster? Would a plasterer be able to skim over existing paint, or would he need a bare surface? This is how the room looks at the moment :eek: but i've removed the skirting and coving without too much of a problem

if skimming the walls is the best thing, are there any particular questions i should ask a plasterer when they come to give me a quote? i don't know any tradesmen in my area, so i'd have to take a chance on a few in the local paper.

any advice or suggestions will be welcomed as i'm complete novice to DIY (you'd never have guessed would you:p )

thanks everyone - dan

moob_2

First off Dan, it sounds like what you said - poor ventilation causing condensation and hence the mould.

It really depends on the paint type that was applied with regards to plastering over it, but if it's really thick, I would strip it all off and get someone in to skim the walls. The reason that some of the paint appears thinner, is perhaps because the other paint maybe went over some lining paper? Hard to tell from the pics...

Get at least 3 quotes for the work, and pick the middle one on value - perhaps get them in earlier and ask them if they are able to plaster over the existing paint to get a suitable 'key' for adhesion.

Good luck, it's a nightmare I know only too well - currently at 5 1/2 years of DIY over 2 properties and going strong.

misgrace

Hi Learner, looking at your walls I dont think they look too bad, I do decorating for a living, and I can assure you I have seen a lot worse, and make good without plastering.

Photo 3, does look like paper, a anaglypta sort to me, but try and get that off.

Photo 6, you have some white bits left on there, would that be the same paper as on pic 3?, it does looks much thinner than pic 3

You could get it plastered, but you are talking money, and if you have the time and the patience, and looking at what you have done already you certainly seen to have patience lol

I would have a go at making good the walls myself, and even line the walls, with either 1200 or 1400 grade, but you would still have to do filling etc.

If you cant get off the thinnish paper stuff on pic 6, then I would rub down these patches of white, specially the jagged edges.
Then get some powder filler, (not the ready made stuff) nightmare
and just apply the filler over these patches, when dry sand back by hand, till you can run your hand over it, and not feel the jagged bits, if you can still feel them, then do a little more filling, but dont put it on too thick, and fill any cracks, holes indents etc.

Whatever you do, do not apply PVA to the bare plaster, but what you can do is if you have done lots of filling, then brush on some diluted PVA to the filled bits, after you have rubbed it down.

This will stop the filler from cracking, or crumbling under your roller, and will add extra protection to the filled areas.
Then, when dry, knock up some Matt white, dilute it by 25-30% and put that on all your walls, specially on the bare plaster, this is called a miscoat, and will seal the plaster ready for the proper rolling, again do not use any PVA on any of the plaster, and dont use silk.

Then when you do your second coat, dilute paint again by 10-15%, and roll on walls, then further coats, just add a tad bit of water, you will get a far better finish than using paint straight from the can.

If this is too much bother for you, then you could always line the walls like I mentioned, but still PVA the lumps of filler, and still thin your paint down.
Hope this helps.:D

Canucklehead

Hi
Good advice from misgrace.

We did a similar thing in our previous house. Fill and sand then 1400 lining paper, works a treat. Keep your patience with the stripping !!!

Corgi Guy.

We used Gyproc joint filler from B&Q ready mixed in tub. Seems to work well.

ormus

another tip.
wrap your sandpaper round a wood block and sand with that. much flatter surface will result. and its easier too.

car bodybuilders use this method all the time, they never use the hands only.

theLearner_3

moob wrote:

First off Dan, it sounds like what you said - poor ventilation causing condensation and hence the mould.

It really depends on the paint type that was applied with regards to plastering over it, but if it's really thick, I would strip it all off and get someone in to skim the walls. The reason that some of the paint appears thinner, is perhaps because the other paint maybe went over some lining paper? Hard to tell from the pics...

Get at least 3 quotes for the work, and pick the middle one on value - perhaps get them in earlier and ask them if they are able to plaster over the existing paint to get a suitable 'key' for adhesion.

Good luck, it's a nightmare I know only too well - currently at 5 1/2 years of DIY over 2 properties and going strong.

thanks for your reply. regarding the mould, it must have been poor ventilation as there's no signs of any damp on the remaining paint or on/in the plaster

its taking so long to remove the paint i was hoping it could just be skimmed over :mad: but listening to everyones comments, i'll continue with removing the easier, thicker stuff at least.

yes it does look too thick just to be paint, but with it only being on 1+1/2 walls out of 4, i'm guessing it's some form of lining paper? as surely if it was wall paper i'd expect to find it on all 4 walls?

i've got 2 plasterers coming round tomorrow to give me advice and quotes . . . . will let you know what they say/quote . thanks once again;)

theLearner_3

ormus wrote:

another tip.
wrap your sandpaper round a wood block and sand with that. much flatter surface will result. and its easier too.

car bodybuilders use this method all the time, they never use the hands only.

thanks for the tip, picked one up today

nelly_2

Im a plasterer you can skim over paint, but if the paint is dodgey its best to get rid of it.

moob_2

Another wee tip - as you'll no doubt be doing a fair amount of scraping - get your hands on a good quality stripping knife - the cheap ones are a waste of time/skin/energy - trust me!

That goes for most tools you will need to buy - don't skimp on cheap tools, it's a false economy!

As a rule of thumb, most plasterers will charge around £14-16 per square meter - mention cash in hand if you can do it to keep the costs down - and drive a bargain.

Remember! You're the boss!


PS: Forgot to add, when you're stripping with the steamer, ensure that you score the paper quite hard (not too hard to go through to the plaster) as this will help get the steam penetration.

theLearner_3

misgrace wrote:

Hi Learner, looking at your walls I dont think they look too bad, I do decorating for a living, and I can assure you I have seen a lot worse, and make good without plastering.

Photo 3, does look like paper, a anaglypta sort to me, but try and get that off.

Photo 6, you have some white bits left on there, would that be the same paper as on pic 3?, it does looks much thinner than pic 3

You could get it plastered, but you are talking money, and if you have the time and the patience, and looking at what you have done already you certainly seen to have patience lol

I would have a go at making good the walls myself, and even line the walls, with either 1200 or 1400 grade, but you would still have to do filling etc.

If you cant get off the thinnish paper stuff on pic 6, then I would rub down these patches of white, specially the jagged edges.
Then get some powder filler, (not the ready made stuff) nightmare
and just apply the filler over these patches, when dry sand back by hand, till you can run your hand over it, and not feel the jagged bits, if you can still feel them, then do a little more filling, but dont put it on too thick, and fill any cracks, holes indents etc.

Whatever you do, do not apply PVA to the bare plaster, but what you can do is if you have done lots of filling, then brush on some diluted PVA to the filled bits, after you have rubbed it down.

This will stop the filler from cracking, or crumbling under your roller, and will add extra protection to the filled areas.
Then, when dry, knock up some Matt white, dilute it by 25-30% and put that on all your walls, specially on the bare plaster, this is called a miscoat, and will seal the plaster ready for the proper rolling, again do not use any PVA on any of the plaster, and dont use silk.

Then when you do your second coat, dilute paint again by 10-15%, and roll on walls, then further coats, just add a tad bit of water, you will get a far better finish than using paint straight from the can.

If this is too much bother for you, then you could always line the walls like I mentioned, but still PVA the lumps of filler, and still thin your paint down.
Hope this helps.:D

thanks for your time and help misgrace

re photo 3, i'll remove the rest of this as best i can. i've found progress to be very slow and i've got to be very careful as the combination of a sharp scraper and a steam gun (which i think softens the plaster a bit) makes it very easy to mark with the scraper :mad:

re photo 6, this is the wall that has the thicker stuff on (same as pics 1,2 and 3) picture is a close-up of pic 6.
The thin stuff which is a nightmare is shown in pics 4 and the 1+1/2 walls in picture 7 - this paint is very thin, removing it is a no go :eek:

what does lining paper do? does the 1200/1400 refer to the thickness? how do you apply it to walls? what about obstacles like radiators, light switches etc. SO MANY QUESTIONS :eek:

Re the last section of your reply, can i just confirm: for the white thin sections (1 and 1/2 walls) you'd sand them smooth (with fine/medium paper) and try and remove the jagged edges so that they run smoth from plaster to white section (on touch)
When you say "Then get some powder filler, (not the ready made stuff) nightmare and just apply the filler over these patches, when dry sand back by hand, till you can run your hand over it, and not feel the jagged bits" so that i understand, do you use the filler to gently bridge the bare plaster to the thin white sections? And should i use the same powder-filler to fill the marks on the bare plaster, and within the white painted sections (can see pitting in places under the white paint)

i understand the rest thanks. on a different note, i've got 2 different plasterers coming tomorrow to quote me for skimming the walls, but will have to see how much it costs

dan

theLearner_3

nelly wrote:

Im a plasterer you can skim over paint, but if the paint is dodgey its best to get rid of it.

thanks for that. i've got 2 different plasterers coming tommorow to give me quotes / advice