Currently got painter around but walls aren't in a great state - advice please!

breaking_free

Goodness gracious.

As others have said, you will not get a decent result by patching and painting those walls. 

A few years back I took a week-long course in plastering and then skimmed every wall and ceiling in my home (had to get in a mate to do some of the ceilings as his height meant he wasn't up and down a ladder like me). Worth every penny and I got a lot of satisfaction from doing it myself. The cost of the course and tools was cheap compared to hiring somebody to do it all, plus I then taught Mr Breaking_Free the basics and together we skimmed much of his place as well.

If you're going to spend that kind of money I'd invest in a course and tools. 

MrCheeseman

breaking_free said:

Goodness gracious.

As others have said, you will not get a decent result by patching and painting those walls. 

A few years back I took a week-long course in plastering and then skimmed every wall and ceiling in my home (had to get in a mate to do some of the ceilings as his height meant he wasn't up and down a ladder like me). Worth every penny and I got a lot of satisfaction from doing it myself. The cost of the course and tools was cheap compared to hiring somebody to do it all, plus I then taught Mr Breaking_Free the basics and together we skimmed much of his place as well.

If you're going to spend that kind of money I'd invest in a course and tools. 

Thanks for the tip - I'd forgotten there were courses, saw courses advertised at B and Q years ago but wasn't in a position to use it. I may look into that. 

FaceHead

MrCheeseman said:

.....having had the paper taken off it's clear the walls aren't in a great state...

There is only one reason why someone papers a wall, so this shouldn't have been a surprise. 

I think the lesson here is take the wallpaper off before the decorator arrives, when you will inevitably find you need a plasterer. 

I'm for the reskim. A part of the house at a time, if you can't afford it all at once. Paper just doesn't produce the finish of skimming and if it's worth redecorating, it's worth redecorating right.

Bendy_House

The P&D was intending to carry out (presumably) extensive repair and filling work in order to get the walls to an 'acceptable' condition. I guess that explains the £2.5k price tag.

And, given enough time and effort, it is very possible to get any rough wall to a good standard.

I think the consensus here is that, for that sort of money, by far the best solution is to go 'skim', as that should guarantee a nigh-on perfect finish. The concern about 'patching and filling' is - as the P&D pointed out - it won't be 'perfect'. And that leaves it open to being everything from 'ok' to 'that ain't good enough...'