Problem with plaster and wallpaper

[North]

Hi,
I am considering plastering my artexed ceiling in the leaving room. My walls are covered in wall paper and it is in a good condition so we do not want to get rid of it at the moment but within the next couple of years. My problem is that if the plasterer covers the ceilings he will also cover a bit of the wall paper where it touches the ceiling and then if we decide to remove it may be a problem. I though about cutting off 1cm strip of the wall paper so that the plaster ends up in the naked wall but I am not convinced is a good solution. Anyone has a better idea?
North

 

[stevethespreader]

Hi,
I am considering plastering my artexed ceiling in the leaving room. My walls are covered in wall paper and it is in a good condition so we do not want to get rid of it at the moment but within the next couple of years. My problem is that if the plasterer covers the ceilings he will also cover a bit of the wall paper where it touches the ceiling and then if we decide to remove it may be a problem. I though about cutting off 1cm strip of the wall paper so that the plaster ends up in the naked wall but I am not convinced is a good solution. Anyone has a better idea?
North

if you want to keep your wallpaper that would be a bad idea cutting off 1 cm, your skim is only going to be 2-3 mm thick, get the ceiling skimmed then when its time to remove the wall paper run a stanley blade around the edge of the ceiling, you may also consider protecting your wall paper from splashes of plaster or it will get ruined

 

[Richard C]

A “decent” plasterer will make very little mess even with ceilings but some spatter is inevitable; water from the plaster will also seep down into & behind the paper where it meets the ceiling damaging it. I think you should strip it before plastering & budget for a complete re-decoration.

If you’re really intent on chancing it, stick with Steve’s suggestion of running a Stanley knife around the perimeter when you strip it but my money is on that being a just few days after you’ve had the ceiling plastered!

 

[North]

Thanks for the advice. I want to keep the wall paper at the moment as we are too busy with other parts of the house. I have one more question:

if I run a knife around the edge, a bit of wall paper will always be stucked in between the plaster and the wall. Would it be a good solution to pass something like vaseline around the edge so that the plaster does not stick to the wall paper (at least not too much) with the hope of being easier to remove in a future?

 

[Richard C]

No

 

[1john]

Its gonna take a very lucky person to plaster your ceiling without getting plaster on the wall paper imo and if it is washed off and the paper is dodgy then it may lift the paper from the wall

 

[joe-90]

Get some plastic sheet and low tack masking tape. Put the tape along the edge of the plastic so that only about 10mm is sticking above the plastic - just enough to press on the wallpaper and hold the plastic sheet up. With care you will be able to peel it off afterwards.