Complete decorating novice - easiest way to smooth walls before painting?

[waltersj]

We are painting a bedroom and have scraped the horrible old wallpaper off. My husband was a bit overenthusiastic with the scraper and it's left the walls a bit uneven (see photo attached). We can't afford a professional so we want to do it ourselves. We know we need to fill the holes but how do we smooth out the surface ready to paint?

A decorator told us to buy a bag of easifil, mix it up, spread it over the walls and sand it smooth - he said it was easy and better than hanging lining paper. I went to B&Q and one of the staff told me it was the hardest job a novice could do and to either use polyfilla smooth over with a roller or just put up thick lining paper.

Now I don't know what to do - please can anyone give us some advice? Bearing in mind, we have never hung wallpaper or used anything like plaster/filler etc.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chud]

Easyfill is nice stuff - it all depends on how perfect you want your end result to be...

Getting an invisible repair with any filler is going to be impossible (or very nearly) but easyfill will get you closer than most. Use it in 2 applications - fill it to near the top of the gap then allow to dry, put on 2nd coat to finish it flush with the existing wall and sand once dry

cheapest option is to easyfill and sand - but it won't be perfect
Option 2 - easyfill then decorating paper - will give a better result *if* you're OK at papering...
Option 3 - Get the wall skimmed by a plasterer - best result and if you shop around might not cost as much as you think - I would honestly go for this as it'll save you so much time and grief.

 

[Chud]

My next advice is to use trade paint go to your local Brewer's/Dulux/Crown decorators centre - don't go near the rubbish in B&Q etc! The paint appears to be more expensive but saves you time and you'll get more coverage per litre than consumer grade dulux/crown/valspar etc etc.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

I should read before posting.

 

[waltersj]

Easyfill is nice stuff - it all depends on how perfect you want your end result to be...

Getting an invisible repair with any filler is going to be impossible (or very nearly) but easyfill will get you closer than most. Use it in 2 applications - fill it to near the top of the gap then allow to dry, put on 2nd coat to finish it flush with the existing wall and sand once dry

cheapest option is to easyfill and sand - but it won't be perfect
Option 2 - easyfill then decorating paper - will give a better result *if* you're OK at papering...
Option 3 - Get the wall skimmed by a plasterer - best result and if you shop around might not cost as much as you think - I would honestly go for this as it'll save you so much time and grief.

Thanks, it's not the holes we are thinking about so much but the rest of the wall where the wall is a mix of the original paint and bare plaster so it's not smooth. I suppose the Easyfill is only £15 ish so we should just try that first.

 

[Chud]

Easyfill is nice stuff - it all depends on how perfect you want your end result to be...

Getting an invisible repair with any filler is going to be impossible (or very nearly) but easyfill will get you closer than most. Use it in 2 applications - fill it to near the top of the gap then allow to dry, put on 2nd coat to finish it flush with the existing wall and sand once dry

cheapest option is to easyfill and sand - but it won't be perfect
Option 2 - easyfill then decorating paper - will give a better result *if* you're OK at papering...
Option 3 - Get the wall skimmed by a plasterer - best result and if you shop around might not cost as much as you think - I would honestly go for this as it'll save you so much time and grief.

Thanks, it's not the holes we are thinking about so much but the rest of the wall where the wall is a mix of the original paint and bare plaster so it's not smooth. I suppose the Easyfill is only £15 ish so we should just try that first.

Honestly go on facebook and ask your friends for plasterer recommendations - we 'lost' our last plasterer (he's either full time being a roady, emigrated or in prison...) so had to find another, we had 3 chaps round and quotes varied from £240 + materials to £100 inc materials for our job - the £100 chap was recommended by a friend and did a cracking job - cannot fault him.

 

[geraldthehamster]

Spend a couple of hundred quid on getting a plasterer to skim it all. Job done in a day and (if you get a good plasterer) like new.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Tony boy]

Why not go with easy fill easy to use if you take your time watch on YouTube then you'll know next time plus satisfaction of doing job

 

[sparkwright]

I can't help thinking easy fill may be a bit difficult, and re-plastering over-the-top.

You can't keep re-plastering everytime some wallpaper is removed.

Lining paper is a pain if you're a novice - if you don't hang it well then it could look worse, and this will be even harder to correct.

You should be able to do a reasonable job for a fine surrace filler. Srape all loose paint off, sand all surface lightly.

Use thinned down matt emulsion on any bare plaster and filler. Then just paint the plaster walls. Trade emulsion or obliterating emulsuion should cover this all quite nicely. Before the final coat(s) fill any bits you've missed.

No point making this too hard or expensive, you are after all novices, and this is a good way to start to learn.