Remove lining paper off walls and ceilings and re-plaster?

Cammy0102

The quotes are for removing wallpaper and reskimming only! It's quite a large area. This is in London. I'd imagine overboarding ceilings would add another £2K on top and removing old ceilings altogether would easily double the costs which we can't afford.
Really don't like the idea of bringing down ceilings as there's nice wooden flooring and carpets there already and these will get destroyed and dust will go everywhere. 

Has anyone had any success with removing wallpaper off lath plaster and replastering (with bonding and multifinish)?

stuart45

Just skimming the walls does get done quite a lot. It really depends on the condition of the walls. If they feel quite sound and not hollow in most areas it could be OK.

Norman_Castle

Cammy0102 said:

Has anyone had any success with removing wallpaper off lath plaster and replastering (with bonding and multifinish)?

Last year I removed very old woodchip from a lath and plaster bedroom ceiling. It had been previously patched. The paper came off the old plaster easily. One small area of the old plaster was very soft and there were uneven cracks. I used multiple screws to even out the cracks and filled large areas with polyfiller. There was a lot of careful work and the sanding was awful. Now painted its acceptable in most lights but depending on the direction of the light its still uneven. It was a lot of work but worth it because I'm tight.

If your coving and rose are original that suggests the ceiling is as well. Try drilling in to it with a small drill. If you find laths you'll know for sure. You wont know the condition of your ceilings until you remove the paper, by then you may be committed to re plastering. If the ceilings tidy and stable I'd keep the current paper.    

Cammy0102

We'd be happy to replaster if that's going to last. What we don't want is replaster and find ceiling cracking all over the place because lath plaster is cracking. But maybe we are worrying too much.

stuart45

Cammy0102 said:

We'd be happy to replaster if that's going to last. What we don't want is replaster and find ceiling cracking all over the place because lath plaster is cracking. But maybe we are worrying too much.

It might not last. Depends what's underneath. Lath and plaster fails for a number of reasons. Laths too close or far apart. Nails rusting. Vibration from above. Dampness.

Cammy0102

We are curerntly thinking of leaving ceilings as they are and patch repair where the lining paper has bubbled up or come off. With the walls, we are going to try and remove the wallpaper carefully ourselves (without using a steamer, just Zinsser paper scorer and maybe Zinsser wallpaper remover gel and a scraping tool) and then get a plasterer to reskim.

Norman_Castle

I'd try putting paste behind the loose ceiling paper and re fixing it. Far simpler than stripping it and harmless if it doesn't work.

Use a mini roller on the outside to push paste further under the paper. Let it soak for a few minutes before positioning it.

Cammy0102

Norman_Castle said:

I'd try putting paste behind the loose ceiling paper and re fixing it. Far simpler than stripping it and harmless if it doesn't work.

Use a mini roller on the outside to push paste further under the paper. Let it soak for a few minutes before positioning it.

Thanks Norman. We will do this when we repair the lining paper on the ceilings.

Plan is to still remove the paper off walls and rekim. We are going to remove wallpaper off one small room first and check the condition of the lath plaster underneath. 

FreeBear

Norman_Castle said: I'd try putting paste behind the loose ceiling paper and re fixing it.

Which is what I've been doing with some of the woodchip on my ceiling.

As for stripping, You may well find that the top layer will peel off dry. Carefully work a scraper blade in underneath at a join, and give the paper a tug. Then use a spray bottle to dampen the remaining paper with water. You shouldn't need to use expensive gels or fancy chemicals.

Alderbank

I've not done this job myself but this web page looks interesting...
https://handycrowd.com/removing-a-lath-and-plaster-ceiling-without-removing-the-cornice-or-coving/