Removing wall paper and plastering/skimming

bbat

Hello, I've just set about the regretful task of stripping wallpaper (which has been painted over a few times). I am planning to get the walls skimmed before painting. 
I have just discovered that some paper has been applied direct to the board behind it (cardboard type 1 stuff). There was no skimming done before papering. This means it's a pain in the backside to get off and I'm worried I'll damage the board. 

My question is, how perfect does the wallpaper stripping have to be before the walls are skimmed? Is it ok to have some bits of paper? Should I ask least try to get the upper paint off even if there are papery bits left? 

Thanks

 

SaverRate

bbat said:

Hello, I've just set about the regretful task of stripping wallpaper (which has been painted over a few times). I am planning to get the walls skimmed before painting. 
I have just discovered that some paper has been applied direct to the board behind it (cardboard type 1 stuff). There was no skimming done before papering. This means it's a pain in the backside to get off and I'm worried I'll damage the board. 

My question is, how perfect does the wallpaper stripping have to be before the walls are skimmed? Is it ok to have some bits of paper? Should I ask least try to get the upper paint off even if there are papery bits left? 

Thanks

 

Ideally all paper needs to be off so the skim sticks to the board not the paper. Have you tried a wall paper steamer? My parents used this and they found it alot easier to strip the wallpaper directly off of the boards. 

bbat

HarryDavies01 said:

bbat said:

Hello, I've just set about the regretful task of stripping wallpaper (which has been painted over a few times). I am planning to get the walls skimmed before painting. 
I have just discovered that some paper has been applied direct to the board behind it (cardboard type 1 stuff). There was no skimming done before papering. This means it's a pain in the backside to get off and I'm worried I'll damage the board. 

My question is, how perfect does the wallpaper stripping have to be before the walls are skimmed? Is it ok to have some bits of paper? Should I ask least try to get the upper paint off even if there are papery bits left? 

Thanks

 

Ideally all paper needs to be off so the skim sticks to the board not the paper. Have you tried a wall paper steamer? My parents used this and they found it alot easier to strip the wallpaper directly off of the boards. 

Thanks, perhaps ill try that. I know they usually use pva or something before skimming so I just wondered if it needed to be perfect. 

floppydisk1

If you can't get little bits of paper off the board, after you tried to rub it off, steam it and scrape it, you can always paint over papered bits only with some solvent based paint (gloss, eggshell )  and when it fully dries PVA over and skim as normal. That way water in plaster won't take the paper off the boars so no air bubbles and peeling plaster. But it has to be only last resort, few remnants of it, not going over papered wall. On the other hand, steamer will take care of if not all at least the most of it. if you use too much force and scrape the board , it doesn't matter as it's going to be plastered anyway, just don't make a big holes and you'll be fine.

neilmcl

bbat said:

HarryDavies01 said:

bbat said:

Hello, I've just set about the regretful task of stripping wallpaper (which has been painted over a few times). I am planning to get the walls skimmed before painting. 
I have just discovered that some paper has been applied direct to the board behind it (cardboard type 1 stuff). There was no skimming done before papering. This means it's a pain in the backside to get off and I'm worried I'll damage the board. 

My question is, how perfect does the wallpaper stripping have to be before the walls are skimmed? Is it ok to have some bits of paper? Should I ask least try to get the upper paint off even if there are papery bits left? 

Thanks

 

Ideally all paper needs to be off so the skim sticks to the board not the paper. Have you tried a wall paper steamer? My parents used this and they found it alot easier to strip the wallpaper directly off of the boards. 

Thanks, perhaps ill try that. I know they usually use pva or something before skimming so I just wondered if it needed to be perfect. 

Please try not to use a steamer if you can, it can damage the plaster board.. Try and get as much off as you can then go over with some warm, soapy water and wipe any paper left over, leave for 20 mins and wipe again, leave and see if it then comes off. Once this is all done wipe down with some fine sandpaper to lift of  any small bits of paper and debris that's left behind.

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Bat.

I presume you are getting a 'pro' in to do the skimming? In which case, if you chose one now you can ask them just how much you need to remove, and how smooth the finish needs to be (usually not very...). This could save you a lot of anguish. 

As said before, plasterers have a range of products available to them to secure a surface ready for skimming - stuff like Blue Grit. 

bbat

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Hi Bat.

I presume you are getting a 'pro' in to do the skimming? In which case, if you chose one now you can ask them just how much you need to remove, and how smooth the finish needs to be (usually not very...). This could save you a lot of anguish. 

As said before, plasterers have a range of products available to them to secure a surface ready for skimming - stuff like Blue Grit. 

Yes I'll be getting in a pro. Good shout to ask them now. Thanks!

JIL

We (husband mostly) stripped a three bedroomed house, he used a steam stripper. We then had most of the rooms reskimmed.  However the stairs were an issue in that all the plaster was uneven and there were big holes in some of it. We had by this time met and used a decorator, he was absolutely fantastic in that he repaired the walls and skimmed and then painted. The walls were every bit as good as the ones done by the plasterer.
Also before he skimmed and repaired he covered radiators and used masking tape around windows, which the plasterers didnt.
It cost us as much for the decorator to repair, skim and paint as it would have to have just had it skimmed.
Just putting that out there as an option.

kdotdotdotdot

JIL said:

However the stairs were an issue in that all the plaster was uneven and there were big holes in some of it. We had by this time met and used a decorator, he was absolutely fantastic in that he repaired the walls and skimmed and then painted. The walls were every bit as good as the ones done by the plasterer.
Also before he skimmed and repaired he covered radiators and used masking tape around windows, which the plasterers didnt.
It cost us as much for the decorator to repair, skim and paint as it would have to have just had it skimmed.
Just putting that out there as an option.

I second this.  Maybe not for the whole house, but for difficult areas.  My electrician left me two holes in the stairway hall ceiling (moving a light, per my request, though I'm not amused by the second hole), thinking that I'd get it replastered anyway.  Instead, I got a decorator who not only stripped the hallway of woodchip paper, then smoothed, mist-coated and painted the walls, glossed all the banisters and woodwork, but also patched ceiling holes, 're-stippled' the patches and painted the ceiling. It cost me £500 but a plasterer would have cost the same, and he wouldn't have stripped the wallpaper or repainted afterwards either, so I feel I'm quids in.  Of course, this depends on the state of your walls - mine were ok and didn't need replastering.