Artex Ceilings / Textured Wallpaper

AlexMac

If you're committed to £13k (which will probably cost a bit more anyway when the builder encounters the unexpected) then only you can say whether the extra grand or two to have the walls and ceiling professionally skimmed and decorated will be affordable. Personally; I'd do it, as you're already doing so much.

And only your builder can give you a binding quote.

It's also not clear if you plan to decorate yourself? If so, and as you seem new to this, it might be worth getting the internal decs an finishing done by the builders, as they can probably do it alongside the other work faster than you so you can start earning rent sooner.

The other factor is who you intend to rent to? Most tenants don't care about artex or texture, unless it's a high end rental , which, from your description of local values, isn't likely? So you could just slop on the magnolia and save a couple of £k?

Slithery

csgohan4 wrote: »

You don't have to steam wallpaper, you can just use a sponge and bucket with warm water to soak it and then scrap it/ tear it off, usually is plaster underneath.

If some of the plaster comes off you can use Polyfilla and then new lick of paint will do

You've obviously been lucky with your properties

I've been living in places that I've bought where attempting to strip wallpaper has resulted in a 3" thickness of lathe and plaster peeling off leaving me with bare brickwork...

csgohan4

Slithery wrote: »

You've obviously been lucky with your properties

I've been living in places that I've bought where attempting to strip wallpaper has resulted in a 3" thickness of lathe and plaster peeling off leaving me with bare brickwork...

All the more reason not to steam it as it could damage what's underneath. At least sponge there is no heat and you can control how much water into the wall.


It's not perfect, plaster still does come off and I've had to use a bit of polyfilla to fill in lots of holes, but still cheaper than getting a plasterer to skim the whole wall. But it's good enough or me and I can pretty much paint straight away as polyfilla dries very quickly

OldMusicGuy

Slithery wrote: »

You've obviously been lucky with your properties

I've been living in places that I've bought where attempting to strip wallpaper has resulted in a 3" thickness of lathe and plaster peeling off leaving me with bare brickwork...

I have had this when restoring old properties. If it has lath and plaster, taking any paper off the wall or ceilings can result in large areas of plaster crumbling away. Well beyond the scope of a bit of Polyfilla.....

So if this is an old property, watch out!

sgun

South Wales? I think the issue with the black mortar is that if it is damaged and blown it might need raking out before skimming over which would add to the cost. And underneath the new skim you might end up with ongoing problems.

In reality skimming poor walls on a cheap house that is made with cheaper (coalfield?) bricks you will be forever mending hairline cracks and repainting. I speak from experience! I have done my whole house now but am doubting whether I should have just gone for good quality lining paper and painted over that.

However if I were you I personally would do the work (paper though) as you are getting everything else done. Its really easy to just leave another job forever and then it never gets done and then when you go to sell you have to do it anyway as it'll just look even worse. Again, I speak from experience!

Mr.Generous

I'm dead keen to know how much value you can add in a couple of months paying labour to be able to pull all your money back out.

NaughtiusMaximus

csgohan4 wrote: »

You don't have to steam wallpaper, you can just use a sponge and bucket with warm water to soak it and then scrap it/ tear it off, usually is plaster underneath.

You can but IME you can do the job twice as fast with a steamer.

Never had any problems with plaster coming away but having said that I've never tried using one on a pre-war property.

sgun

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

You can but IME you can do the job twice as fast with a steamer.

Never had any problems with plaster coming away but having said that I've never tried using one on a pre-war property.

Oh believe me, the plaster will come away with a steamer if there is anything wrong with it. (Again, speaking from long and painful experience!)

It all depends as well with what was used to stick the paper on, how much, how many layers of paper, whether there has been damp (this makes it easier but the wall could be shot), what the wall has ever been patched with etc, etc. its so variable that you have to give it a go and just see what happens.

AdrianC

I used a steamer a couple of months ago.

The wallpaper came off just fine, no plaster - although one corner did look distinctly dodgy. So I poked it. Big mistake. Turned out there was no stone underneath it... for 450mm...

[Deleted User]

I've not found a time difference between using a steamer and water, and have also had problems with bits of plaster coming away, sometimes as much as three inches in depth (like a side ways on pit lol). I don't use steam anymore lol.

But again, with a low budget house, I'd paint over what I could. Leave it to the purchaser to decide if they like it or want to remove it. With it being a long term ex rental, you need to keep money for fixing botch jobs that rentals like this always have.