lining or skimming or textured wallpaper

[Krhos123]

I live in a two hundred year old Georgian flat. In the past I have had all the walls lined and painted to a reasonable result.

I have just had the hall redecorated at considerable cost. I am not all that happy with the result. Parts of the walls look really pitted and have a rash effect. Being a hall it is more noticeable as there is not much else to take your eye off it like furniture. I did not really investigate the skimming option as I had an idea in my head that it would crack. Now I am thinking I should get the decorator to come back to put a textured wallcovering (blown vinyl) over the top. Am I just being too fussy? My decorator said that a plaster skim would have given a better finish but that there would have been a lot of cracks to be dug out. He also said that in such old houses most people have the walls lined. Can anybody help as I feel really disappointed right now as I also got the cornicing restored.

 

[Zampa]

Blown vinyl isnt always a good idea in a hall because of the amount of stick it may get with peple passing through.

It would also spoil the character of your place.

Interesting to know what these 'rash marks' are though and what may have caused them.

I think your decorator is right about the skimming and lining..its easy for me to say, but being a decorator I would opt for the lining maybe double lining.

Also go for a light colour paint and make sure its a matt finnish as light matt paint doesnt tend to show the imperfections as much as anything with a sheen.

 

[Krhos123]

The rash marks - well my theory is as there was a lot of filling to do - he literally kind of skimmed it anyway and after sealing some of it bubbled up and I am not sure of they were rubbed down again or papered over (hence the pitting). It looks like "bits" are trapped under the paper. So are you saying I would ideally get a plaster skim and then line again on top. I recently visited a house where the owner skimmed all the walls and ceilings and then it was just painted on top. This was a Victorian house. How does this fare with cracking?

 

[Krhos123]

Thanks

I am going to live with it for a while and pehaps I will ask the decorator to cross line the offending sections as only one third of the hall is too bad. Also the light does not directly shine on to other parts as it is a basement. It is really only the back door area where the light shines on that bothers me. Time will tell

 

[spice]

The rash marks - well my theory is as there was a lot of filling to do - he literally kind of skimmed it anyway and after sealing some of it bubbled up and I am not sure of they were rubbed down again or papered over (hence the pitting). It looks like "bits" are trapped under the paper. So are you saying I would ideally get a plaster skim and then line again on top. I recently visited a house where the owner skimmed all the walls and ceilings and then it was just painted on top. This was a Victorian house. How does this fare with cracking?

I think what has happened is that when he did the filling, and you mentioned he kind of skimmed it, I would presume he used like a caulk blade to skim with the filler to skim over the big areas that needed the filling.

When there is a lot of filler, and I dont mean the odd bit of filler here and there, but loads of filler in the one area, it will crumble underneath the wall paper quite soon or a couple days after.
When the wet paste hits the big expanse of filler, it does affect it.

The way round this is after you have filled, sanded, apply a diluted PVA onto the filler, this will stop it crumbling underneath the paper.

If that is the case, even with double lining you will still see the crumbling effect, so it might be an idea to actual cut away the paper from these bits, re-fill, then PVA it, and also feather out with the filler where the paper has been cut, and just dab a bit of PVA on it, then you can re-line.

This does work, as I have done this on the odd occasion after another decorator, but, when I have come up against lots and lots of filler, I always give the big lumps a good coat of the diluted PVA, leave it to dry, then I line the next day, have never had the lumps crumble by doing this.

If its just little nibs through the paper like pinheads, then he has missed these when he sanded down prior to lining.
You can very gently bang these pinsheads and they will disappear.

 

[Krhos123]

Thanks for that.

Tried the pin head thing and I reckon it works on matt paint. I have the F&B Modern emulsion on the walls. I have kind of resigned myself to the fact that with this type of paint I would have been better with a plaster skim. Also the way the light floods in to create a tunnel effect does not help.

I am going to wait a year and probably get the walls and ceilings plaster skimmed.