Wallpaper over plasterboard

[magicalmimi]

We are decorating our hallway for the first time. There was alygypta type wallpaper up. On some walls it has revealed a cleanly plastered wall underneath. Which we are delighted with as we want to paint it. However I have got to a hollow sounding wall and found that it seems they wallpapered straight onto plaster board? What can we do? Will we need to have the wall skimmed?

I think you could paint the plasterboard, after filling in any holes or joints, and giving it a primer coat but it won’t be as durable as painting over skimmed plasterboard. If you can, get it skimmed.

if you have to paper over plasterboard, my opinion is that you should paint it well first, using vinyl silk emulsion, especially at joins, edges and filler.

otherwise, when the paper is subsequently stripped, it will tend to tear or roughen the paper "skin" of the plasterboard.

Thanks @pigletjohn and @knittedfairies that is exactly what they have done.. think getting it skimmed will produce a better finish