Skimming plasterboard that has been papered

ed110220

Hi all, I want to redecorate my living room which involves first getting it skimmed (the one job I can't DIY).

It's unusual in that the walls and ceiling are lined in plasterboard but they have never been skimmed, the bare boards were simply wallpapered. Anyway, the finish isn't very good as you can see the joins through the paper and I'd like it painted rather than papered.

I got a plasterer out to give me a quote and he said he hadn't seen walls like that before and that he thought they would have to be reboarded first.

I was hoping they could be skimmed once I had stripped all the paper off and maybe primed with PVA. Where I have stripped them in another room to redecorate with lining paper the plasterboard has looked a little different from modern board as the paper covering is thicker and more like cardboard. It dates from the late 1940s.

What are your opinions on this? I can reboard myself but it's a lot of extra work and expense (I've done this upstairs where the walls were originally lined in hardboard rather than plasterboard).

muckybutt

Reboarding :eek:

Should be easily doable if you can strip off the paper and prime with pva wash as you say.

I'd find another plasterer if I were you who knows what they are doing.

mikey72

You need to get plasterboard from this era checked for abestos.
Normally it contained horsehair, but some brands put abestos in.

justjohn

scrim tape joints then plaster joints.....then texture paint it(emulsion and artex mixed together) lol

However unsure about asbestos situation..

muckybutt

mikey72 wrote: »

You need to get plasterboard from this era checked for abestos.
Normally it contained horsehair, but some brands put abestos in.

Oh no the ACM brigade have struck !

Providing the plasterboard is not disturbed or broken then it poses minimal risk. PVA ove and re skim as said ... end of. ACM is fully contained no risk.

ed110220

Thanks for the replies, pretty much confirms what I thought. I must say I was surprised and dismayed when he said it needed reboarding!

He did come recommended by a friend, but he was pretty young and hadn't seen walls like it before. To be fair they are fairly unusual.

joinaman

Have just done both my son and daughters rooms with walls like this
Both houes are post war, ex councli, plasterboard on thin studwork. Stripped walls back to plasterboard face ( the dirty beige paper face) then coated walls with plasterers "Gripcoat"
usually blue or green gritty adhesive which bonds to the wall ( and anything else it touches, so need to cover up everything to prevent splashes )and provides a much better grip for the plaster than pva
Tubs are about £18 which would do a room about 6m x 4m.
Having used both pva and gripcoat i would never go back to pva, ,
Have seen a lot of failures using pva so not worh risking it for me

ed110220

joinaman wrote: »

Have just done both my son and daughters rooms with walls like this
Both houes are post war, ex councli, plasterboard on thin studwork. Stripped walls back to plasterboard face ( the dirty beige paper face) then coated walls with plasterers "Gripcoat"
usually blue or green gritty adhesive which bonds to the wall ( and anything else it touches, so need to cover up everything to prevent splashes )and provides a much better grip for the plaster than pva
Tubs are about £18 which would do a room about 6m x 4m.
Having used both pva and gripcoat i would never go back to pva, ,
Have seen a lot of failures using pva so not worh risking it for me

Thanks, it sounds like what we have here. It's a BISF house so all the walls are dry-lined or non-structural studwork. The plasterer seemed a little surprised by it.

mikey72

muckybutt wrote: »

Oh no the ACM brigade have struck !

Providing the plasterboard is not disturbed or broken then it poses minimal risk. PVA ove and re skim as said ... end of. ACM is fully contained no risk.

:rotfl::rotfl:There's always one.

"I'd rather not know. Let's ignore it, it'll go away if we pretend it's not there.
Slap the PVA on and slap a bit of plaster over it."

mikey72

joinaman wrote: »

Have just done both my son and daughters rooms with walls like this
Both houes are post war, ex councli, plasterboard on thin studwork. Stripped walls back to plasterboard face ( the dirty beige paper face) then coated walls with plasterers "Gripcoat"
usually blue or green gritty adhesive which bonds to the wall ( and anything else it touches, so need to cover up everything to prevent splashes )and provides a much better grip for the plaster than pva
Tubs are about £18 which would do a room about 6m x 4m.
Having used both pva and gripcoat i would never go back to pva, ,
Have seen a lot of failures using pva so not worh risking it for me

That's much better advice, but get a sample tested first, then you'll know what you're working with if you ever need to make any holes in it.

muckybutt

mikey72 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl:There's always one.

"I'd rather not know. Let's ignore it, it'll go away if we pretend it's not there.
Slap the PVA on and slap a bit of plaster over it."

And are you UKATA trained mikey ? nahhh didnt think so ! I am

ACM's are not dangerous if they are encapsulated and maintined accordingly, in mse fashon there is no need to rip the boards out or get them tested at £XXX if there is no need to.

As far as I am aware British plasterboard has never contained ACM's, there are building materials that contained acm such as some lino's - insulating board - cement board etc, plasterboard isnt one of them. USA did use acm in plaster and boarding as a binding agent but not over here. If you know otherwise show me the evidence and we'll let the HSE know.