I have stripped off the wallpaper. Now what?

[whatsagoodusername]

I've stripped off all the wallpaper in our living room and we are intending to paint the walls.

DH says we need to skim the walls. We've had a quote, which we can't afford right now, to skim and paint the walls and I really want to get it done before Christmas. I have the time to do it, but I have no idea what I'm doing. The closest to this I've done is repainting an already painted wall.

The walls appear to be a concrete drywall and was built in 1947. There are some small cracks, but nothing large enough to worry about according to Google. There are some holes that need filling from old screws and nails.

So... skimming? Can I do it? How do I do it? What do I need? Is it necessary?

I wouldn't skim, unless the walls are uneven and that bothers you.

I'd make sure the walls are clean (use soap of some description to get the wallpaper paste off). Then fill the cracks/holes. If there are loads and loads, you can get a very wide scraper that is designed for applying vinyl wallpaper- looks a bit like a window squeegee - which you can use with fairly watered down interior filler.

Then sand the filler, paint with a very very watered down mist coat (otherwise it'll come off the filler), then a less watered down mist coat, then your paint.

Heavy grade lining paper? I have 3 rooms skimmed and 2 lined, honestly can't see a difference unless I get up close and look for the joins.

We have 2 different approaches to walls. If they're not tooooo bad, we get a bag of easyfill, slap it on and then sand it smooth. A coat of watery paint and you're good to go, but it's messy! Option 2 we have lined with thick lining paper and painted. If you paint the joins with a brush first then go over them with a roller, it seems to hide them.
I prefer option one but have been just as happy with option two in our Edwardian semi :)

Interesting I'm faced with similar problems removed lining paper but went too heavy on steam and skim coat plaster came off in places revealing chocolate brown sandy to touch but hard like cement type consistency stuff behind in places

I want to skim the wall but it is hollow in places... Have been trying to decide between skim or lining

Why do people say not to skim?

Skimming isn't a diy job.

Spinelina - I'm interested in this wallpapering tool, we have lots of very shallow pitted blemishes to the plaster in areas having done the same as the op. I may actually have one of these, but not exactly a sure and would appreciate a link if you can please?

Lelivre I got mine from my local trade decorators centre, on the recommendation of my builder. The closest I've found on the internet is this. I think it would do the same job - basically you are after a very very wide blade of some description. I'll try to take a photo of mine later. If you've got something, you could just give it a go on a bit - it's only interior filler and the worst that happens is you need to sand more off than you otherwise would. But you really really need to do a very very watered down coat of paint on top of the filler says the voice of experience who didn't water it down enough the first time and had to redo a whole wall.

Blackeyez if you've actually got bits of the skim coat missing, you need to sort that out with more than lining paper. Depending on how much there is to do, you can get patching plaster from a DIY shop, which is reasonably easy to work with - though you will need to get familiar with using a hawk and float. Reskimming the whole lot will give a better finish - it will be very hard to completely disguise the patched bits, which may or may not matter to you.

We had some chunks of skim come away for the same reason as you Blackeyez - we just used filler - gyproc easifill I think, and once sanded down and painted you can't tell at all. They weren't massive chunks though - the biggest hole was probably smaller than a dinner plate. Chip away all the flaky bits before you fill, as well.

Hoping the image appears...

Woo! it did. How exciting. As you can see, big blade. Fairly flexible. Does hundreds of holes in one fell swoop!

Spindelina - thanks so much for coming back with that info. That's really helpful, as it isn't like the tool I have. I will try and track one down, it looks like just the thing we need

Thanks everyone!

Guess I'll give it a go... worst that happens is I have to sand it all off!

The walls aren't that bad, mostly just small nicks from wallpaper removal oops and tiny cracks.

Any recommendations on the filler? This sort of stuff? Is it any sort of paint to water down to put over it?

My preferred filler for this job is the cheapy one from my local hardware store. It's not so good at big holes, but does the job for small holes / nicks / blemishes, and is much easier to sand than the expensive stuff.

And for the mist coat, use the cheapest paint you can get. Go to your local decorators merchant, and get the cheap matt emulsion. Then the first coat needs to be about 70% water, the second more like 70% paint.