Beginner - stripping paint and painting plaster questions

[theredsky]

Hello,

I'm a complete beginner to decorating, so I'm afraid this is a bit of a long post with lots of questions. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

BACKGROUND
I've recently moved house, and decided to redecorate the master bedroom. It had been wallpapered, and then the wallpaper had been painted over. I didn't like the colour of the paint, and the wallpaper was starting to lift off and peel, especially along the seams, so my plan was to strip off the wallpaper and paint the walls.

ISSUES
I managed to get the wallpaper off OK, but discovered there is a layer of paint under the wallpaper, which is flaking off and exposing the bare plaster. I'm now in the process of getting the paint off using a wallpaper stripper blade - very slow work! Two of the walls are solid and properly plastered, and a steamer is making the paint removal a bit faster. The other two walls are just plasterboard - the steamer just makes them soggy and more prone to damage, so I stopped using it and I'm just carefully chipping the paint off bit by bit. Even though I'm trying to be gentle, this is causing a small amount of damage in places (dents and scratches).

QUESTIONS
Here are the questions (sorry there are so many of them...)
1) Is chipping/scraping the paint off with a sharp wallpaper stripping blade the best way to remove the paint?
2) Once the paint is all off, should I repair the damage to the plasterboard using filler and then sand it down, or is there something I should do instead (such as hang lining paper)?
3) When I go to paint the wall, do I need to clean the plaster and plasterboard first, or do I just apply the mist coat straight away?
4) How many mist coats should I use for both the plaster and plasterboard?
5) Do I need to put joint tape (sorry, not sure what it's called) in the two corners of the room where the plastered wall meets the plasterboard wall?

Many thanks.

 

[edamski]

Hey guys,

I'm also a bit of a beginner decorator and these problems sound very similar to ones that i am experiencing when trying to prep my hall for decorating.

I had been hoping to paint walls but after lifting paper it is taking off a paint layer leaving an uneven surface. I am thinking that the solution may be to strip off the paper and any loose paint then size and apply thick lining paper, to give me a reasonably even surface to paint on.

Is this the best solution without wishing to replaster walls or doing a lot of filling and sanding which will fill the house with dust!

Thanks in advance,
Adam

 

[LJW61]

Scrape off any obviously loose flaking, then paint the walls to seal & bond the remaining 'old' paint , when dry, skim any deeper areas of damage with Easyfill or Tetrion , then you'll need to line the walls, the thicker paper the better - 1400 or 1700 grade ( you may need to lightly skim again in places) followed by 2-3 coats of good quality TRADE emulsion

 

[coolusee]

For newly skimmed plaster :
I have just finished painting my ceiling which was newly skimmed and realised that I should have used the Dulux Selant to save effort and lots of paint.
I tried using mist coat to act as a sealant as my first layer but it didn't work as expected. May be the % of water to paint I used was incorrect.
I have read some post here which say u can use a initial mist coat with 20-30 % water followed by another mist coat with 10% water followed by proper full coats.

If you plan to use Polycell ready-mixed filler, make sure you do not apply it on the walls in excess because they stick so well that they are difficult to come off

 

[LJW61]

Which paint & where you buy it throws all kinds of variables into the equation..My ratio of 20-30%is based on the trade paint I buy ..
(Runny old wickes/homebase emulsion hardly needs any water ..)

Even though the mist coat is not the easiest to apply (and you will see through it) I never use more than one thinned coat.. Then 2 (3 at most)carefully rolled topcoats of pure emulsion should suffice..

 

[edamski]

cheers guys, thanks for the advice. Will have a bash!