DIY Drywall Monstrosity. Advice Needed.

JonathanWilson

3 layers of wallpaper (the last dating back to the 50s) plus one layer of paint. After recruiting some help from family, I come back to this monstrosity. To be fair, the corners cut by the previous owners are astounding. And now to fix it all.

The sheetrock/drywall interior is exposed (the cardboard layers have been stripped off at the left-to-left-middle of the wall.) But those cardboard layers look like they will give me a headache. Can't sand them properly as they flake.

It's just the one wall out of 8 that looks like this. The rest are fine.

Any help with what to do? Taking the wall down is out of the question as it's too pricey.

I'm completely out of ideas other than to strip the remaining parts, sand it, and use a thick base coat, or even skim finish it. Help and advice is desperately needed because I don't want to make THAT look any worse.

Thank you.



As a new user, it won't allow me to upload a link or image. Just copy and paste it if you can.

Edit: The purple layer is about 2-3mm thicker than the drywall chalk layer, that's why I'm unsure whether 1400 lining paper would work or if I should skim it.

jk0

Just re-paper with lining paper surely?

[Deleted User]

Yup, either use thick wallpaper (normal sort) or thick lining paper. All you need is a smooth surface to put your finish on it. Don't know how unsmooth the surface is but if it is too rough for the lining paper to work on its own, buy a box of plaster type filling powder, mix it up in small quantities and try and fill the worse of the dips, then use the lining paper.

Had to deal with this a few times.

FreeBear

i.imgur.com/5yjZjen.jpg

Looks a right mess... Sheetrock is a name not widely used in the UK, more of an American thing. But that aside, only really two options. Skim it, or replace it.

I'd be tempted to get a tub of premixed drywall compound (mud if in USA). Give the wall a brush with dilute PVA, then apply a layer of the compound as level as you can. Leave it a day or two and then go over it a few times with a damp fine sponge float - Look at a few videos on "wet sponge sanding", and you'll get the idea.

Don't try dry sanding the wall - It will make a right mess and the dust gets everywhere, including in your lungs.

-taff

Seen that a few times. Got them skimmed.

onomatopoeia99

Agree with others. get it skimmed if it's a surface that will take plaster (I'm slightly concerned about all this talk of cardboard in your opening post). If it isn't, line with plasterboard and skim that.


I have a 1950s house and my internal walls are all block. The previous owners were there for 40 years and never stripped wallpaper, just added extra layers and finally woodchip (including on the ceilings if they weren't already artexed) plus paint on top. Stripping it all back is a nightmare, and after 8 years I still have two rooms to do. My local plasterer has had a fair deal of work from me as everything needs skimming.

-taff

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

(I'm slightly concerned about all this talk of cardboard in your opening post).

MIL had a 1950s council house. Not really sure how to describe it, but some of the inner walls had this type of plaster board, mostly where doorways had been blocked up. When the wallpaper was scraped off, the top layer of this stuff came too, so it looked like cardboard layers instead of the pink plasterboard inners you'd see now.

ceredigion

People saying skim it. You can't, the lining paper has been compromised beyond repair and it is no longer structurally sound. It will fail. Cut it out and replace.

-taff

Errr,,you can, otherwise it wouldn't have been possible in MILs house. I think it got coated with PVA but am not sure exactly what it was.

ceredigion

-taff wrote: »

Errr,,you can, otherwise it wouldn't have been possible in MILs house. I think it got coated with PVA but am not sure exactly what it was.

I have a car that will do 150MPH, not a good idea though.

-taff

Suggest you take that up with the HA plasterers who skimmed it then, since they did at leat two rooms like that, and it didn't fall off the wall as long as I remember [ circa 10 years]