Dumb questions in regard to walls

[Smoomins]

Have a room that needs layers and layers of old wallpaper and paint taken off, and replastering.

• if I wanted to hire someone, who would do this? A painter and decorator?
• if I wanted to do it myself, how can I tell whether there is asbestos? House is Victorian

• when it's ready for plastering, would the plasterer fill in holes in the wall? We have several
• would the painter/decorator remove our inbuilt shelves, and would the plasterer put them back up again?

You could hire a decorator to strip walls, but it’s an expensive way to get it done.

If you are worried about asbestos you will need a specialist to carry out a survey before you get anyone in doing any work.

The plasterer will do any filling / repair any holes as part of plastering. They might charge more if it needs a rough coat and a skim (if it’s really bad).

They won’t put shelves up, as the plaster will need to dry a bit before you do that. A decorator might, or a handyman.

In a victorian house you 'may' find asbestos in any ceilings that have been artexed, but it's unlikely it would be on/in the walls.

I wouldn't pay someone to strip wallpaper off, seems an expensive way to do something very simple.

Strip off as much as possible first then you'll get an idea how difficult the rest is and whether it would be more cost effective to buy/hire. a wallpaper stripper.

Once the wallpaper is off, you can then see how bad the walls are. If you are having the walls replastered or skimmed the plasterers will sort out what is needed.

Also, take the shelves down before stripping the walls. If you plan on re-instating them it keeps them clean.

And if you re stripping the wallpaper off make sure you have lots of bags ready and bag up as you go where possible. Saves a lot of work after.