What exactly are my walls covered with ?

Smodlet

I understand it is inadvisable and maybe I'm being really dense, but no-one has yet explained why one should not do this. Maybe no-one knows.

TBH, I think I was confusing this with plastering (which would be considerably easier than sanding all the walls, imho) where it is a good idea to use PVA glue to bond the plaster to the wall, or so a plasterer told me.

JP08

In our place the walls of the kitchen had been covered (from new as far as we can make out) with a thin coating of artex or something similar, early 1960s. Not swirlies or stipples, or high relief or anything particularly offensive, more a sort of squares / cross hatches design. The builder that replastered it reckoned it was something that was hand done and quite time consuming - the technique was called jessotting or something similar (though I can find nothing like that on the net).

TheCyclingProgrammer

Smodlet wrote: »

I understand it is inadvisable and maybe I'm being really dense, but no-one has yet explained why one should not do this. Maybe no-one knows.

Applying a layer of PVA to fresh plaster only stops paint from absorbing into the plaster to create a good bond. A mist coat gets drawn into the plaster (which is why it dries so quickly) and provides a good surface for further layers of paint to adhere to.

TBH, I think I was confusing this with plastering (which would be considerably easier than sanding all the walls, imho) where it is a good idea to use PVA glue to bond the plaster to the wall, or so a plasterer told me.

Yes, you would apply PVA to a high suction surface prior to skimming though its not to help the plaster "bond" as such, its to reduce the rate of absorption and stop the plaster from drying out too quickly.

EchoLocation

Thanks all.

southcoastrgi wrote: »

If it's not paint then it's lining paper, bare plaster needs a mist coat of paint (mix water with paint)

Smodlet wrote: »

Agree it does look like wallpaper with possibly several coats of paint but could even be a thin skim of plaster with paint on it. We had that once; rubbish, thin layer of plaster (2mm thick, maybe?) cracked to hell, what a surprise and stuck together with gloss paint... oh yeah. Came off in chunks. Re-plastered and proceeded as normal.

I'm starting to think it's not anaglypta or any standard wallpaper type covering as it's incredibly thin and, I've only just realised, there are no seams at all (or at least visible) on any of the walls. It surely can't just be a type paint because there's a texture to it, so I'm guessing now that it is just 'lining' paper so thin that the paint on top conceals the seams?