dry lining or re-skimming ? Which is best?

[rancher66]

We have recently removed wallpaper from most walls in the house and have discovered the walls are not good enough to paint .
We do not wish to re-paper and are trying to decide on which would be the best option for us .Re-skimming or dry lining .
Does anyone have any experience with either to help us .
Thanks in advance Mark

 

[DAZB]

I would go with the skimming option . You just cannot get better than a well skimmed wall if you want to paint on to it. Besides which if you were to dryline the walls you would have to remove skirtings and architraves and all the extra work that entails.

 

[AdamW]

Well, if you were to dry line you would generally skim it too. So the finish will be the same.

The benefit of drylining is that you can stick cables and pipes in behind the board so if you are wiring for a home cinema or a network it is a lot easier. The problem with drylining is that you lose a couple of inches of room in either direction which is enough to notice in a small room.

With a reskim you should still remove all of your skirting and architraving to get the best possible finish. If you are doing your whole house (that is what it sounds like) then what is a day of labour when it is the difference between good and perfect?

Skimming is an artform and whilst I am sure many DIYers have successfully plastered walls I can guarantee the finish is not going to be as good or as long-lasting as a good plasterer. I got a spread in and whilst it was quite expensive the finish is as smooth as marble and incredibly resilient. And they work bl**dy quickly too!

 

[plasterer]

Just scim it,A couple of hours a room,good as new