Skimming plasterboard that has been papered

noelphobic

ed110220 wrote: »

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.

My builder was recommended by two friends. He passed the job on to his stepson. Things went horrendously wrong with the stepson so the original builder took over. Things went badly wrong with him too (would tell you all about it but would rival War and Peace in length!)

I have since learned to take recommendations from a friend with a pinch on salt and proceed as carefully as you would if you picked someone out of the yellow pages.

To be fair, I have had a few people do work for me that have been recommended by friends and have been really good. Probably had almost as many turned out not so good though :eek:

ed110220

Thanks for all the advice, especially the Gripcoat, I just ordered some.

I have had another plasterer say that it needs reboarding so I'm a little concerned. There's nothing wrong with the old boards apart from the surface being a bit scraped. I also spoke to my neighbour who said she had her living room, dining room and kitchen skimmed (identical house) without reboarding so I'm not sure what to make of it.

Leif

noelphobic wrote: »

To be fair, I have had a few people do work for me that have been recommended by friends and have been really good. Probably had almost as many turned out not so good though :eek:

Finding a good trade is a nightmare.

joinaman

Why would they want to reboard the walls
I agree it is always better to strip off the old skirtings and architrives before replastering, but to reboard would be a waste of time and good money.
The boards are usually 9mm thick, glued onto the timber framework, so apart from loking a bit tatty when stripped, they are normally perfectly sound.
Use scrim tape over all the joints and corners, give a good coat of Gripcoat type . Can you do this yourself and save time and money instead of the plasterer doing 2 trips
When dry, the next day, let the plasterer just scim all the walls as normal. A lot of plasterers don't really lke this Gripcaot stuff, cos it taks more plaster to cover, but it gives a much better finish when done
Then replace all wood work to leave the room looking clean and modern when decorated, We just finished all the walls with a vynil matt emeulsion, with new fireplaces and quality laminate flooring, so gets rid of the old 50s dated look

ed110220

joinaman wrote: »

Why would they want to reboard the walls
I agree it is always better to strip off the old skirtings and architrives before replastering, but to reboard would be a waste of time and good money.
The boards are usually 9mm thick, glued onto the timber framework, so apart from loking a bit tatty when stripped, they are normally perfectly sound.
Use scrim tape over all the joints and corners, give a good coat of Gripcoat type . Can you do this yourself and save time and money instead of the plasterer doing 2 trips
When dry, the next day, let the plasterer just scim all the walls as normal. A lot of plasterers don't really lke this Gripcaot stuff, cos it taks more plaster to cover, but it gives a much better finish when done
Then replace all wood work to leave the room looking clean and modern when decorated, We just finished all the walls with a vynil matt emeulsion, with new fireplaces and quality laminate flooring, so gets rid of the old 50s dated look

I'm not sure, maybe because they look a little odd compared with modern boards. I have removed the skirting boards, picture rails and ceiling fillets (all wood) for re-use after it's skimmed but there are no architraves. It's more fiddly than getting new ones, but I prefer the result as you retain some character.

Everything is as you describe except the boards are nailed onto the studwork or battens.

ed110220

Just a quick update to say the third plasterer who came to give a quote did it without problems for 300 which I thought was reasonable.

One of the plasters told me they weren't even plasterboards. I didn't feel like showing him the cut edge of one!