Lime plaster underneath woodchip wallpaper: should I be worried?

[davide2023]

Hi all,
I have started redocorating what it will be eventually my work-from-home office. My first task was to strip the wallpaper: I went with some light cross scoring using a utility knife and a wallpaper steamer, but I am not sure it was the right way.
Underneath I have found some lime plaster, which has cracks on various walls and sounds hollow when tapped in some area. So my questions are:
- should I be worried?
- did I create the issue?
- if I did create the issue, how should I tackle other rooms to avoid the same problem?

This room was probably last decorated around 35/40 years ago, as I have found some charming newspaper underneath the carpet from 1988
Let me know what you think, I have a LOT of this wallpaper in this property...

Some photos before the wallpaper was removed are here: https://www.periodproperty.co.uk/fo...s-on-a-wall-before-wallpaper-stripping.17752/

 

[noj]

It looks good to me!

Fine filler in any big cracks, hang lining paper, decorate as you please... Ideally something breathable

 

[davide2023]

It looks good to me!

Fine filler in any big cracks, hang lining paper, decorate as you please... Ideally something breathable

I am think of calling a professional to do a skim plaster and even out the walls (they are a bit wobbly).

 

[Feltwell]

I am think of calling a professional to do a skim plaster and even out the walls (they are a bit wobbly).

Skim with lime is one option, but you'll be surprised how good a finish you can get with the right lining paper, and save yourself a lot of money in doing so.

I swear by the Vario plus non-woven paper - pricey but very, very good.

https://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/m/MAVNWLPV/

 

[Zebra]

When you say you're going to get a professional to reskim it, do you mean in gypsum or lime?

 

[davide2023]

When you say you're going to get a professional to reskim it, do you mean in gypsum or lime?

I guess I would have to understand the differences...

 

[davide2023]

Skim with lime is one option, but you'll be surprised how good a finish you can get with the right lining paper, and save yourself a lot of money in doing so.

I swear by the Vario plus non-woven paper - pricey but very, very good.

https://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/m/MAVNWLPV/

I guess my attempt is to create a more contemporary look, and I am worried that papers might create weaves and lines on the walls that would hurt my OCD every time I see them
However... I am willing to understand more about it: anything I can ready?

 

[Lacan07]

Those cracks are perfectly normal. If you skim with gypsum bear in mind it will crack again sooner or later. If you skim with lime the walls will be breathable and will be more able to adjust with the movement of the house but it will also crack again eventually.

If you have OCD I'd take Feltwell's advice and wallpaper it. A contemporary look is fine but you'll have to live with the cracks or redecorate every few years.

 

[a twig]

For future stripping I have found Zinsser DIF Wallpaper Stripper to be more effective and less damaging than a steamer - particularly for getting those last horrible adhesive bits off the wall.

 

[Feltwell]

I echo what Lacan and Twig say. Don't forget that if you hang the lining paper I suggest, you can paint it - you don't have to wallpaper over the top. That's what most of my rooms are like.

Cheaper lining paper is available but it's very much a case of you get what you pay for. Hang the Vario paper well and it will hide all the minor surface blemishes. You paste the wall, not the paper, and it's very strong stuff, hard to tear.

 

[Lacan07]

With regard to the question of whether a steamer can damage lime plaster when removing wallpaper I suspect some of my over enthusiastic efforts with the steamer may have 'contributed' to some areas of plaster that came away from the wall, although I'm pretty sure it was on its way off and would have needed to be removed before skimming anyway.

However, looking at the photos above I don't think you caused any of those cracks with your steamer.

 

[Cassie]

My house has also lovingly been shrouded in at least one layer of woodchip. Some places, several layers and in some places charmingly layered with vinyl wallpaper too. I guess it was put up to hide the cracked walls. For fear of causing harm, I started doing it by hand, but after progressing at appx 1 inch square/hour, I relented and used a steamer. Much quicker and I don’t think it did any more damage than already existed. Where the plaster was really blown, I’ve patched in lime. Even for a novice like me, it was straightforward. Cracks (even quite big ones) I’ve filled and sanded. Then a thick lining paper and paint over. In a room that had very bad walls that I probably should have replastered but couldn’t face ripping it all off, I used anaglypta wallpaper (the plastic-free original stuff, not the vinyl) and then painted. I was surprised at just how many sins that stuff will cover! Not all the designs are the horrible’70s type you’ll have seen at your nan’s I have many more walls to strip eventually. Soul destroying. But it doesn’t grow back

 

[skinnymalinky]

@davide2023 your pictures - and your situation - are very familiar to me

I'd probably doubt that you created the issue - but can't be totally sure you didn't make it worse I guess.

In terms of removing the paper, I always try to get it off dry first if at all possible. You can get wallpaper perforator tools that you can use along with fluids like Zinsser DIF that might help you without using the steamer. But there's always the risk of leaving loads of tiny holes in the plaster with these. Unfortunately I've had a lot of really stubborn stuff that just would not come off without being blasted with the steamer

I definitely wouldn't 'skim' over these if you don't have to i.e. if it's just some minor cracks here and there. The average local plasterer is going to cover the wall in PVA and gypsum, which may negatively affect your building as already mentioned above. On the other hand - good luck finding a plasterer who is willing/able to use lime and who won't charge you a totally mental amount to do the work.

There are loads of lime/breathable fillers available that you can probably use to fill and sand yourself e.g. https://cornishlime.co.uk/products/associated-products/fine-filler/ https://earthbornpaints.co.uk/product/casein-filler/ - a painful process but much cheaper.

I guess my attempt is to create a more contemporary look, and I am worried that papers might create weaves and lines on the walls that would hurt my OCD every time I see them
However... I am willing to understand more about it: anything I can ready?

I have the same concerns - the joins would probably drive me mad so have avoided this option so far - but I might have to give in eventually

 

[Feltwell]

If you want to be truly OCD about lining paper joins:-

Use the Vario paper I show above, but hang each vertical with about a 1mm gap from the next sheet. Use a seam roller to make sure the edges are well stuck. When dry, skim over the joint with Easifill powder filler - which is meant for jointing taper edge plasterboard - leaving it slightly proud, then sand back with fine paper when dry for an invisible finish. The Vario paper is strong enough to do this, providing you are sensible

 

[skinnymalinky]

Thanks for the tip @Feltwell !

 

[Cubist]

All this talk about wallpaper has reminded me of a couple of things.

Feltwells tip re using a little filler to 'smooth' out the gaps between falls of wallpaper is excellent advice but... not so when it comes to patterned paper. I am sooooo glad I live in a timber frame house in which any suggestion of wallpaper of any kind is entirely pointless.

The second thing that came to mind was the First First Ladies insistence on papering a ceiling. She was not very impressed when the third panel joined its fellows in a scrunched up ball having been angrily tossed into a corner by your truly, but... then she finally understood why I had said that using an embossed paper on an artexed ceiling maybe wasn't such a good idea!

 

[Feltwell]

Re OCD and lining paper gaps - may I interject a little relativity:-

The picture below is of a wall that is as rough as a badger's arse, to quote the beautiful and lyrical saying (some say bear - who am I to question) that was lining papered by yours truly with smooth Vario paper, then painted with a roller.

This is a close close up, phone maybe 4" from the wall. The texture shown is just from the roller. Running straight up and down the middle of the shot is a lining paper seam, butt jointed, no filler. As my old Dad used to say, a blind man on a galloping horse would be glad to see it. No, I've no idea either.

 

[Lacan07]

I often wonder if a breathable wallpaper is the way to go in an old house, it's cheaper, easier and you don't have to obsess about the inevitable cracks in the plaster

 

[davide2023]

It seems there are essentially 3 options here:
- lining paper (cheap and reasonable)
- limeplaster (expensive and best)
- plaster (probably not the best option, but the more readily available)

Unfortunately my brain says no automatically to any form of paper given my background (where I come from, paper is used to print books, not hang on a wall), but I might have to cave to the idea it is a reasonable solution if done in the right way. I have an entire house to renovate, and somehow I'd like to find a blueprint that works and apply that sequentially to all the rooms.

 

[Feltwell]

Depends how deep your wallet is! Plus how much disruption you're prepared to endure - plastering means waiting for the professional, then waiting for it to go off before you can decorate. Worst of all is if you skim in modern gypsum then find it peels off in time, plenty have had that happen - or you get damp as a result, again not unusual. It *can* work but there is no guarantee you won't get future problems.

Cheap lining paper is, well, paper - just as soft and tearable as what you find in books. The Vario stuff is very tough and hard to tear, totally different. Decorating Direct sell it, but they claim:-

Incredibly strong - even tougher than glass fibre, but feels like paper! Unique super smooth, even finish - Plaster like smoothness both before and after painting. Absolutely no shrinkage or stretching - Perfect butt seams, and no soaking required. Fast application - less than half the time of traditional pulp papers.

Having used it in about half a dozen rooms so far I'd say that's fair. It covers a multitude of sins, but like all coverings if you paper over a protuding point it will show through. Generally though, I'd say I've got a same or better finish with it than most plasterers achieve.

I ran out and used some cheaper Erfurt (who make the Vario) paper from Screwfix to finish off 1 room, it was like chalk and cheese, nowhere near as good.