temporary bodge-jobs - overboarding? painting plaster?

[tycarregydwr]

Hello, been a few years since I've been here. We haven't made much progress on our house because we're skint. Luckily it's still nice to live in. But we're getting sick of looking at the bare walls/crumbling plaster/mess, and are considering some bodge-job work to improve it aesthetically to a point that we could live with for a few more years.

Few questions:

* Painting over old plaster. We have several areas of lime plaster over a mix of walls (some solid walls, some lath), which is mostly original plaster, with a variety of exciting patches, where the plaster is in reasonable condition - well, at least it's still stuck to the walls. We've removed eons of wallpaper and gotten down to the plaster, some of which has flaking paint and/or thin lime wash.
1) Is it possible to paint straight over these areas? Or do we need to attempt to put a finishing coat of lime plaster on first. (We're not aiming for a perfect finish, by any means, but just some kind of improvement on bare and patchy plaster).
2) And if we can paint, what do we use - I assume standard modern emulsion, etc, is out?

* Blown plaster. There are other areas where the plaster is not ok - all on lath walls. It's being held up by as you called it 'structural wallpaper' and I'm sure as soon as we try to strip it, all the plaster will just fall down. We were going to do that, and replaster from the lath, but that's not going to happen in the near future. So, I know this is terribly blasphemous, but
3) is it possible to plasterboard these areas for now, idea being that in the future we could take the boards off and plaster properly?
4) If that is possible, could we screw the boards straight over the funky plaster-covered-with-wallpaper? Or do we need to pull down all the mess and screw the boards to the lath?


Would be so grateful for any advice. I know this is not the proper way of doing things, and we do want to do it right, eventually. But I need an interim solution.

 

[MatthewC]

Hi

I would say that if you intend to keep the good plaster then you need to use something breathable to paint it with - either water-based emulsion, limewash or clay paint etc. In my opinion (without having seen it) it would be a waste of money to try to put any coat of lime plaster on - if it's so bad that you can't paint it (i.e. plaster dust sticks to the paint on your brush etc) then you need your plan 2.

I stand to be corrected but I don't think it would be a bad thing to put some plasterboard on the lath walls - in fact, as a temporary measure I think it's a good idea; anything reversible is usually pretty acceptable in my view. You would be best off if you could locate the studs to screw into - if you only screw into the laths you might find yourself holding a lot of split plasterboard with lath and plaster attached!

If you are anywhere near Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire, I have some old limewash you could collect. PM me

Matthew

 

[Flyfisher]

But I need an interim solution.

Just be aware that interim solutions can easily become permanent ones.

 

[Carol]

Not sure how bad surface is but we used Amstel soft distemper very successfully on my previous house. It was recommended as there was lots of different surfaces, good old lime plaster, pink gypsum and really bad old lime. The Amstel held all together until I could afford a more permanent solution (about seven years!) and went on so nicely I used it on all my ceilings after that.

 

[tycarregydwr]

Thank you for your replies.

Flyfisher - oh believe me, I am aware! But I really want to make sure that anything we do is either 'proper' or at least reversible. Because one day we won't have hordes of small children and a new business to run, and there WILL be more time and money for the house.

I will look into that Amstel distemper, thank you.

MatthewC - you say water-based emulsion would be a possibility? This is intruiging as I'm assuming it's the cheapest option...
And do you think I'd be ok to try boarding directly over the plaster-and-wallpaper stuff? Or would it be better to take that mess off and board over the lath? That would be a lot messier, obviously, but I guess my concern is that the plaster seems so blown, I'm worried if we start trying to board over it, everything might fall out from behind anyway...

 

[MatthewC]

I have experience of removing lime plaster from lath walls (and ceilings) - it's not a nice experience! Once you start then you have to do the whole wall... Are you ready for this task? If it is as seriously bad as you are implying, then yes, get it off but I bet you think "he was right!" . Just (please) don't get rid of the lath as well.

 

[tycarregydwr]

I know, it's not a job I relish. But I just think it would be much worse if we started by trying to overboard the whole lot, and ended up with it partly crumbling behind. 'Luckily' the wall in question is one side of the stairwell and although this makes it bloody awkward to reach the top (why we havent started til now), it does mean it's not very big.

We absolutely would not remove the lath, as we WILL be reinstating the plaster wall eventually.

 

[Tony.]

I imagine you could keep the existing wall covering and screw plasterboard directly onto it.
Drywall screws come in various lengths.
Will the additional thickness cause any problems ie skirtings etc.
Locating vertical studs could be a problem and without any support of horizontal joins these may crack.

I wouldn't do it myself but I did a few things wrong before I saw the light!

 

[noj]

One thought - have you considered a thick lining paper over the flaky stuff as a really cheap and reversible fix?

If you do overboard and want to locate the vertical studs then then the easiest way I've found is with a magnet on a piece of string - dangle it along the wall and it'll be attracted to the nails holding the laths (which are only where the studs are). Mark where they are and you quickly get the layout.

Just be a bit careful that you're not locating old steel gas pipes or metal trunking over cables!

 

[formerly known as]

I have seen walling, not dissimilar to that which you describe, covered in a canvas fabric secured by screws and cup washers. This presents a 'tidy' finish, whilst being temporary enough in appearance so one doesn't get complacent and leave the plaster boarding in place for an extended period. As Flyfisher suggests there is nothing so permanent as a temporary repair.

 

[bennoa1]

If the plaster isn't bad don't use modern paints otherwise you stop the wall breathing and it will be a pint to get off (unless you remove all the plaster as well), same with plasterboard. If it were me I'd just paint it for now and do it properly when you can afford to. If it doesn't need to be insulated this should be good for a few years, although you may want to sand off some off the flaky bits - very fine sandpaper on a block of wood should make light work of this. I wouldn't use a belt sander as it would be too harsh.
I used earthborn clay paint which has been really good.