Decorating advice needed

Jimmy_Boy

Thanks Jeepers.
I have tried running the shower again to get hot steam in the room lol, but it didnt make much difference. I tried a heat gun on one part and cracked the plaster below which will need addressing (you live and learn! )

I'll try the water + washing liquid spray method and see what comes of it.

Pretty sick of it to be honest, let down by traders, let down by friends who said they would give a hand but when push comes to shove there nowhere to be seen, lost my job today so working on a limited budget and history so far with traders has not been good (read: a feckin nightmare!).

My place is upside down waiting on this bedroom to be finished, no access to any of my stuff as its all piled into what little storage I have.

I'll just have to crack on and see what I can get done.

Thanks again for the advice.

Jeepers_Creepers

One day you'll back on this and laugh.

Meanwhile, we'll do it instead  

cough

I find it hard to believe that the mere steam from your shower lifted the paint - if it did, the paint was really badly applied. I'm not surprised, therefore, that more steam hasn't helped. There's a world of difference between the steam from a shower and that delivered by a wallpaper stripper, for example. I'm hopeful, tho', that a good bit of dampness will do the job, partly at least.

Don't soak the paint/walls, just 'wet' it. Then give it a good chance to do its job - at least 10 minutes. See if that works on a sample section, and if it does, then go for it.

Stay strong. Things will change. Everything you do to your house is an investment, not just financially, but satisfactorily.

Jimmy_Boy

Im trying to look at it positively - out of 5 surfaces (4 walls, one ceiling) the paint literally just pealed completely off on 3 of them. The ceiling I have about a good 50-60% off and the uneven wall is the most stubborn with about only 20% off so far.

However as I stated previously, im thinking the best option here (as I really am not happy with how uneven it was) is to skim this wall again - this means I would not have to strip the rest of the paint off of this wall and I would address the uneven wall at the same time (well... depending on how good / bad a job I do! ha), meaning my focus would be just to get the ceiling stripped.

Do you think my approach / logic to re-skimming this wall is correct ? The thing I am not 100% sure on is that there is already skirting board on the wall - ive not seen any plastering tutorials where there is pre-exisiting skirting board, its always been a complete wall. I would rather not have to take the skirting board off to plaster the wall, but I suppose if I had to then its something I would need to do.

neilmcl

Jimmy_Boy said:

Im trying to look at it positively - out of 5 surfaces (4 walls, one ceiling) the paint literally just pealed completely off on 3 of them. The ceiling I have about a good 50-60% off and the uneven wall is the most stubborn with about only 20% off so far.

However as I stated previously, im thinking the best option here (as I really am not happy with how uneven it was) is to skim this wall again - this means I would not have to strip the rest of the paint off of this wall and I would address the uneven wall at the same time (well... depending on how good / bad a job I do! ha), meaning my focus would be just to get the ceiling stripped.

Do you think my approach / logic to re-skimming this wall is correct ? The thing I am not 100% sure on is that there is already skirting board on the wall - ive not seen any plastering tutorials where there is pre-exisiting skirting board, its always been a complete wall. I would rather not have to take the skirting board off to plaster the wall, but I suppose if I had to then its something I would need to do.

If you're going to do it then do it properly and remove the skirting. I admire your enthusiasm but this is a job where experience wins out if you want a perfect finish, and plastering a wall is where you need a perfect finish else there's no point doing it. Get a professional in would be my advice.

stuart45

neilmcl said:

Jimmy_Boy said:

Im trying to look at it positively - out of 5 surfaces (4 walls, one ceiling) the paint literally just pealed completely off on 3 of them. The ceiling I have about a good 50-60% off and the uneven wall is the most stubborn with about only 20% off so far.

However as I stated previously, im thinking the best option here (as I really am not happy with how uneven it was) is to skim this wall again - this means I would not have to strip the rest of the paint off of this wall and I would address the uneven wall at the same time (well... depending on how good / bad a job I do! ha), meaning my focus would be just to get the ceiling stripped.

Do you think my approach / logic to re-skimming this wall is correct ? The thing I am not 100% sure on is that there is already skirting board on the wall - ive not seen any plastering tutorials where there is pre-exisiting skirting board, its always been a complete wall. I would rather not have to take the skirting board off to plaster the wall, but I suppose if I had to then its something I would need to do.

If you're going to do it then do it properly and remove the skirting. I admire your enthusiasm but this is a job where experience wins out if you want a perfect finish, and plastering a wall is where you need a perfect finish else there's no point doing it. Get a professional in would be my advice.

Good advice. I've done a fair bit of plastering, but it's not my trade, and my finish is not as good as a decent plasterer.
A tradesman who does this for a living can feel any bumps when running the trowel over the work, so can get a really good finish, whereas for me I don't have that feel for the plastering tools. It might look easy in the video, and when the wall is still a bit wet it can look OK. When they dry the imperfections start to show, and when painted they show even more.
Knauf Fill and Finish Light 5kg | Wickes.co.uk
Using a lime based filler like this with some decent taping knifes and a plasterers trowel is much easier to feather in all the edges
with a light sanding.

neilmcl

stuart45 said:

neilmcl said:

Jimmy_Boy said:

Im trying to look at it positively - out of 5 surfaces (4 walls, one ceiling) the paint literally just pealed completely off on 3 of them. The ceiling I have about a good 50-60% off and the uneven wall is the most stubborn with about only 20% off so far.

However as I stated previously, im thinking the best option here (as I really am not happy with how uneven it was) is to skim this wall again - this means I would not have to strip the rest of the paint off of this wall and I would address the uneven wall at the same time (well... depending on how good / bad a job I do! ha), meaning my focus would be just to get the ceiling stripped.

Do you think my approach / logic to re-skimming this wall is correct ? The thing I am not 100% sure on is that there is already skirting board on the wall - ive not seen any plastering tutorials where there is pre-exisiting skirting board, its always been a complete wall. I would rather not have to take the skirting board off to plaster the wall, but I suppose if I had to then its something I would need to do.

If you're going to do it then do it properly and remove the skirting. I admire your enthusiasm but this is a job where experience wins out if you want a perfect finish, and plastering a wall is where you need a perfect finish else there's no point doing it. Get a professional in would be my advice.

Good advice. I've done a fair bit of plastering, but it's not my trade, and my finish is not as good as a decent plasterer.
A tradesman who does this for a living can feel any bumps when running the trowel over the work, so can get a really good finish, whereas for me I don't have that feel for the plastering tools. It might look easy in the video, and when the wall is still a bit wet it can look OK. When they dry the imperfections start to show, and when painted they show even more.
Knauf Fill and Finish Light 5kg | Wickes.co.uk
Using a lime based filler like this with some decent taping knifes and a plasterers trowel is much easier to feather in all the edges
with a light sanding.

I've never used the Knauf stuff but according to the following video it can be let down slightly with water and rollered on up to 3mm thick then smoothed off. This may give the finish required to hide the imperfections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-bnT4xMJw

Personally I prefer to us Gyproce Easifill for filling purposes, they also do a ready made product called Easifiller which can be used for this sort of purpose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TMNmib8sT8

stuart45

Yes, easyfill is a great product as well. I've been using the Knauf as I had some left from a tape and fill job I did. Downside with the Knauf is being a lime product it does take 24 hours \before you can sand, or recoat.
Interesting video with the roller.

Jimmy_Boy

The more I think about it the more I think I would like the wall to be re-skimmed. It's a bit of a mess in all honesty, its not level horizontally or vertically. At the top there is some kind of filler / paste that has been applied and you can physically see the wall bow out at that point.

Im aware that skimming is not as easy as it looks, like anything, when you see a pro do it they make it look like a piece of cake, then you try the same and end up with something that looks like a turd

What would be a ball park figure to plaster this wall by a professional. 2.4m x 3.6m, in the South West (cornwall). Im thinking roughly £100.

Took some pics to try and show the uneven wall, not sure if the pics show it that well though.

Jeepers_Creepers

You are being too much of a perfectionist, wanting these walls completely flat and level. These tiny variations will not be seen, and really aren't an issue, I don't believe.

Can I ask - who did the painting? If a pro, then they should be called back to sort it. It wasn't done properly. They made a mistake.

For skimming, the first thing the plasterer would do is to get rid of the rest of that paint, because the new wet skim will almost certainly lift it - along with the new skim. They might try and seal and prime it first - ending up with, say, BlueGrit - but I personally would not be happy knowing that the new skim was being held on by a weak layer of paint.

Imagine a leak from a rad in an upstairs room, with the water coming down that wall. Normally not a problem - let it dry and redecorate. In this case, tho', there'd be an added risk.

No harm if calling in a couple of plasterers and asking their advice, and for quotes. But listen carefully to what they plan - and make sure they know that the missing paint was virtually peeling off.

Jimmy_Boy

I appear to of missed the previous comments by @stuart45 and @neilmcl, apologies for that.

I really like the look of that Easifill, especially the ready mixed EasiFiller as I could just apply that straight out of the tub without worrying about correct mixture etc...
Im thinking if I was to follow the advice of @Jeepers_Creepers post

3) Existing walls. Wherever there's a bumpy raised previously-filled bit (like you've shown), then first go over it with the large sanding block and 120 or 180 (180 is finer) grit paper to get it level with the surrounding walls; get any raised bits flattened down. Then see if you need to fill any sunken bits to bring it up.

Try to get it as level as I can based on the above, and then do the complete wall with EasiFiller to smooth the imperfections. They do 1L and 2.5L tubs, any guestimates on how much I would need to do whole wall @ 3.6m x 2.4m ?

In the Easifill video, at the end he said he was going to sand out trowel lines, but didnt mention what grit. Would 180 grit be appropriate ?

Would this also be usable on some of my other problem areas ?

In the process of scraping the paint off the ceiling, inevitably ive ended up with some marks left by the scraper, can I use this EasiFiller for this purpose, or is a different product / process required ?

Can I use EasiFiller where plaster cracked and fell off after using heat gun

There used to be a light socket here, although its not exactly a flush finish. Can I use EasiFiller here ?

Could I also use EasiFiller to fill the holes around the lights mentioned earlier as @Jeepers_Creepers suggested against the ready made stuff.

Had a look through my shed and found some stuff left by previous contractors... I know it sounds really dumb, but I get overwhelmed with so many different types of products that in turn I end up more confused than ever as to what it the right product for the job! Im sure I could make some use of these but not 100% sure. With that being said, im leaning very strongly towards the ready mixed EasiFiller just due to the convenience of applying it straight out of the tub without running the risk of having to mix and potentially getting the mix wrong and making life harder for myself

Im going to try and crack on with all of this today, im actually quite excited about it

Sorry for so many more questions and thanks again so much for sharing your advice with me.