plaster

[ibennett]

Hi
new to the group with a 30's deco style semi recently gutted out revealing excellecent original plaster work n not so good floors. With regard to the walls they are covered in a light brown paint type coating which is thicker than paint like a plaster wash. anyway it is flaking off and some came off with the wallpaper making the good plaster ruff in finish.

Help if you can, what is it and how can I smooth the walls without replastering, scrap it, burning it, nuke it!!

thanks
Ian

 

[Ian Bond]

Could this be a plaster skim, perhaps someone had the walls skimmed before redecorating?

Where this has been done in my house, I've carefully prised off the loose areas of skim coat, revealing the rough older plaster below. This is fine for my house as the plaster was supposed to be all wobbly and a bit rough. Not so good in a smoothly finished house.

It depends how bad the wall is after you've removed the wall paper and really loose stuff? I wouldn't try and chip off all the skim, especially if large areas are still sound and sticking to the wall.

Can you re-skim the affected patches and hang a thick lining paper?

 

[Gervase]

It does sound like a bargain-basement cosemtic skim. It can be a pain to remove, as some will stick to the existing plaster. Failing that, you could reskim over the top.

 

[ibennett]

thanks, not to sure about the plaster skim theres several coats brush applied although I have heard froma collegue that in the 60's his house was plastered then painted with a plaster slurry type compound to 'smooth' the wall on top of the plaster.

given the depth of the chips being several coats over 80 odd years straight thick paper may not be enough, and new skim-£££££ to much

 

[Ian Bond]

Is every wall in every room effected the same way with this brushed on / flaking off skim / paint?

You said the house had been gutted out - that sounds like a very expensive, major renovation project. I was going to suggest doing things more gradually, one room at a time to get the habitable, but it may be too late. Been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt myself, I'm afraid

There's no point trying to skim over a flaky background - it won't look good or last long.

I'd try and remove the flaky, loose material without damaging the sound plaster (easier said than done, and you'll need a lot of time and patience). It will save a lot of damage and further expense if you can avoid having to replaster large areas down to the brick / stone / laths etc.

Once I'd got a sound, clean surface I'd re-skim it as has been suggested, at least to get a reasonably flat finish. Thick lining paper should also help cover any slight irregularities.

If you need to get a pro plasterer in rather than DIY it will be expensive, so I'd go one room at a time and spread the cost over time. Not always possible, I know. The alternative is living with wobbly undecorated walls, as I've been doing for the last several years whilst I try and fix more serious problems.

Are you planning major re-wiring / plumbing work, or has this been sorted out already?