Is there an alternative to replastering old walls?

[twinky]

Cos after ten years in this house I am about to tackle my bedroom. I've spent the last few days painting the ceiling to get rid of the delightful purple paint the previous owners had chosen. Seriously - who the hell chooses a purple ceiling? Today I've been stripping of about 10 layers of wallpaper and the original walls are lumpy and bumpy. I don't really want to fork out for somebody to replaster them cos I'm supposed to be doing this as cheaply as possible. So has anybody got any ideas ? I'm happy to do the work myself if you can point me in the right direction. Thanks.

[maybeyoushoulddrive]

How high are your decorating standards???

We did our guest bedroom recently and while stripping the wallpaper we managed to take off the top layer of the plasterboard As we've no money at all we bought some plaster skim stuff and did it ourselves! It's not perfect, but we're reasonably happy with it. HTH.

[twinky]

I must admit I'm a bit picky about things but beggars can't be choosers! Can you remember the brand name of the stuff you bought by any chance? Was it quite straightforward to use?

[HamblesHandbag]

we've recently decorated our hall/stairs/landing which was quite a large area. Underneath the paper (which was the thick, textured kind to hide lumps and bumps) the walls still had some of the original edwardian distemper paint, but some of it had cracked off, leaving rough edges.

One option was to have the whole area re-skimmed, which would have been a massive job, expensive and disruptive. We also later found out that distemper can be difficult to skim over and plaster can come away from it after a while.

the other option was to have two layers of heavy weight lining paper put up over well sanded walls - which is the option we went for. These were then painted over - lighter colours cover the slight unevenness of the surface better.

If you look closely, you can just make out some of the worst areas, but for the most part it looks great! And it's an old house, so I think some imperfections are allowed

[twinky]

Thanks for the responses. Hambles I'm reluctant to paper it again because it has some really awkward walls with gables and angles that would be a nightmare to do. I'd rather just have a smooth surface and paint it. But thankyou anyway.

[maybeyoushoulddrive]

I think we used Polycell finishing skim readymix polyfilla from Homebase.

[soundevenfruity]

We became quite a dab hand with Polycell but it's expensive if whole walls require coverage. If you are to do up more than 1 room I would invest into a plastering course at your college because the price difference between ready made stuff like Polycell and plaster is quite staggering.

[soundevenfruity]

At your LOCAL college

[HamblesHandbag]

fair enough

[fossil97]

We did heavyweight lining paper and very matt paint as well. Polyfilla or patching paster for the worst holes and cracks. It's not very hard to do (no pattern matching) and you do get better with practice. Or get someone in to paper it, should be only a day at most.

[member]

I'd be tempted to use Wallrock lining over it; it's a bit like thick grade lining paper but stronger, doesn't need overlaps because it doesn't shrink & you paste the wall to hang. www.onwall.co.uk/category/rough-walls/

[noddyholder]

You will never regret skimming it but you might get fed up at looking at a bad finish with filler and paper.

[annalouiseh]

Depending how bumpy the walls are, and how bad it is, you could get one of these
www.toolstation.com/shop/Painting%20&%20Decorating/Wallpapering/Heavy%20Duty%20Scraper%20150mm/d150/sd3252/p45621
Scrap the wall as smooth as poss, if you do it hard, not to worry if you make holes.
then can get some of this
www.diy.com/nav/decor/decorating-sundries/fillers-putty/fillers/-specificproducttype-interior_fillers/Polycell-Finishing-Skim-Polyfilla-PC0370010-White-9254179
smooth it over where ever needed, deeper holes do a few layers.
My dh used this stuff when our plasterer left lots of dips, rough surfaces on some of our walls, you can then sand it down to a nice smooth finish and paint.
but all depends on the condition of the walls to start - all the above can be very time consuming where as skimming is just a days work for one wall :)

[Catsmamma]

flat matt pure brilliant white

as many layers as you have the enthusiasm for!

The walls in dd's room and the whole house if I am honest are pretty crappy, but I just could not face the palaver of lining paper or replastering, so I slapped up the paint and it looks fine

my theory is everyone assumes white walls are perfect and just fails to notice any flawed areas. I intend to also do this in the dining room!!

[goodoldme]

Op, I had the same problem after removing countless layers of wallpaper in my lounge. I did think about lining paper and trying to patch up the holes with pollyfilla but eventually came to the conclusion that I would just be wasting my money and as Noddy said, would get tired of looking at a bodge job!

I've just had my lounge skimmed. Now its painted it looks fantastic and needless to say the finish is immaculate.

[myron]

Skim plastering is not that expensive assuming you haven't got a massive room. £150 - £200 I reckon.