AIBU to disagree with DH that these walls need to be sanded?

[BaconBrownSauce]

Decent sized front bedroom, Victorian so walls are 9ft tall. We are now changing it to a nursery and want to paint the walls.

Unfortunately, whoever lived here before put a textured, gritty effect paint on the walls.

DH is saying we need to sand them all back to smooth. (He has a little handheld mouse sander!)

I think sanding will be a million times more trouble than it’s worth, the dust would be horrifying, and we should just live with it.

Who’s right?!

Just read your update. Congratulations!!! So pleased for you!

But maybe you will have to patch the bits you can, paint or paper over it in a nicer colour, then put it on the long finger for when you have the money and energy.

Just a note of caution - sometimes textured coating like this had asbestos on it. It’s worth getting it tested before you mess with it any more.

Still looks like wallpaper to me. But if not then best thing to do is get quotes for someone to skim it. Sanding it off even with professional equipment would be a nightmare.

This paint will have been put on in 2021 or 2022 as the previous owners didn’t have the house for long, and from the online photos of the house when it was sold to them, this bedroom wasn’t light grey!

Thank you for the congratulations, can’t really believe it ourselves still 🥰

No one is in the wrong here, just depends what finish you want live with. You could test pain a small area and see how it looks.

If not, and DH is really prepared to sand it down, let him. Worth having window open and a mask on though.

I’d paint over it. And then in a few years time, when you redecorate, have someone deal with the walls, incl plastering.

The idea of using that little sander is crazy. It will take weeks.
And he would need proper protective equipment (mask, googles) at the very least.
And dust would go everywhere.

And please (by experience….) dint wait until the last month of pg to start doing it.

I think this is the way I’m going to do it. Say I’m happy to live with it, but if DH wants to sand it then he can rope his dad in. Hire a proper sander and they can crack on. Ideally while I’m in a cafe somewhere with some cake and a cuppa! 😁

Thanks all for your recommendations. Absolutely a replaster is the way forward but it’s just not feasible right now!

That's a weird paint, it doesn't seem to be adhered to the previous paint behind it? We had a problem wall once, went into Brewer's decorator's and they advised us - you could show pictures?

I know you want to get the room ready, but the baby will not go in the room for ages so I don't think you need to rush to get it sorted. Congratulations!

That's a weird paint, it doesn't seem to be adhered to the previous paint behind it?

It doesn’t surprise me that they didn’t prep the walls properly before painting. They were a young couple and it’s clear they just didn’t have a clue what they were doing. We have slowly repaired and restored so many half finished jobs and bodge jobs!

Please be careful, if it's Artex it may contain asbestos. Sanding may expose fibres that could potentially be deadly.
Best thing is to give a skim over with new plaster.

Can you wallpaper over it with that self stick type wallpaper?

And even harder to get off, nightmare!!

Whoever invented it, needs sorting out.

You could try covering it with lining paper. It will not give as good a job as replastering but will be cheaper and look better than just paint.

I hate to say it but yes, that all needs to come off. It will be worth it in the long term. I had my entire house replastered two years ago because there was artex everywhere and textured walls, plus the previous owner was a smoker and it stank.
But please God not a handheld sander. Just get a plasterer in to assess and skim. They will do any sanding required with proper tools.

My living room is large and to replaster the whole thing cost me £300 but then I live in Somerset and plasterers are not that expensive here.

That’s wallpaper that’s been painted over.

I'd either live with it or have them skimmed.

For a bedroom probably live with it.

It would probably soften enough to be scrapped off if you used a wallpaper steamer.
FWIW I painted over the hideous textured wallpaper in my house just to get a quick clean job done and waited until my children had got past the sticking pictures up and scraping walls with toys stage before I did a thorough job, I'm doing it right now in fact.
Glad I waited until I was well past the small children underfoot stage as there were unexpected discoveries that meant it took longer and was more costly to do.
Do not sand, it makes a hideous mess and there are potential health issues.

Klingstrip would probably take it off safely but is quite expensive over a large area.

Probably best to Skype m plaster over. It shouldn't take long.

Either wood chip (probably not), artex, or anaglypta (most likely imo), but whatever it is, get rid of it.

As a compromise, very thick lining paper especially the type that has insulated backing is designed to smooth rough walls and is lovely to paint on.

Skim ffs

I'd try pricking it, and steaming it like wall paper. Reckon that'll scrap off and being pretty satisfying to do!

Skim it.