Damaged plasterboard under layers of wallpaper : Next steps?

[Chetan Arora]

Hi,

Ours is a 1970 built house. Walls are mostly plasterboards.
When we bought the house in 2011.. there was wallpaper on the walls - and we painted over it.

Fast forward 2021.. looking to take wallpaper off and paint over.
Someone quoted for the job .. started in 1 room ..took the wallpaper off .. the wallpaper had additional 2-3 layers of wallpaper under it .. they took it out somehow on 1 wall and said .. the plaster board is damaged ( in the process) and they need to plaster it .. before it can be painted - they are not plasterer's and left the job after 3 hours - ripping the guest bedroom.

I have since invited more people to come and quote - 1 of them said.. don't plaster .. I can apply filler over the whole wall - and the whole house ( all walls will be the same condition, by the time wallpaper is taken off) and paint over them.
One tradesman said - painting over fill is not advisable and that it would crack after some time.

I am not sure.. which way to go.

The plaster board needs to be smoothened and then paint applied over.
That is going to be the case with all the walls - so it's not about just 1 room.
So does it needs to be plastered or can be applied with filler and painted?

Any advice will be appreciated.

Regards
-C

 

[sparkwright]

Hard to say without pictures.

However, it may be the case that the plasterboard never had a plaster skim applied over it - and that the plasterboard was simply taped and joint filled.

When you wallpaper over this, it won't come off without some significant damage.

Getting a plasterer to skim the walls may be the best solution - certainly in the long term as you would be able to wallpaper in the future without the worry of taking it off again.

A skim finish should also mean a perfect finish, this depends on the quality of the plasterer though.

If you do get it plastered, make sure when you paint the walls you use an appropriate mist coat.

 

[Chetan Arora]

Some images for reference.

 

[sparkwright]

You can try filling it with easy fill or today's equivalent, but am worried about it being patchy.

For a start, there will be tufts of paper sticking out where the plasterboard surface is damaged - this needs cutting back with a sharp knife, otherwise these tufts will reappear through any filler or new paint.

i suspect the walls are covered in wallpaper residue, which cannot be emulsioned over, so that needs removing without damaging the walls too.

You would need to paint the walls to highlight further blemishes which ill need more filling, sanding, priming etc etc...

Getting the walls re-skimmed sounds very appealing.

 

[Chivas69]

I have done a few houses next door to each other and they were all like this. Absolutely no plaster on the boards. Whether it was the building company to cut costs or a contract company pulling a fast one or even how it was supposed to be done I don't know but trying to get any wallpaper off that's stuck to it is a complete barstuard.
Luckily for me the customers wanted a nice thick paper on top so it hid all the blemishes but to try and get them flat for painting, no chance.
You could try filling and sanding but it seems a lot of work and you're not guaranteed the finish you want. A skim with plaster would do the job and it does only have to be a skim so not too long to dry.

 

[Chetan Arora]

Thanks for your helpful replies Spark and Chivas. Much appreciated.

 

[James-the-doubter]

I have done a few houses next door to each other and they were all like this. Absolutely no plaster on the boards. Whether it was the building company to cut costs or a contract company pulling a fast one or even how it was supposed to be done I don't know but trying to get any wallpaper off that's stuck to it is a complete barstuard.
Luckily for me the customers wanted a nice thick paper on top so it hid all the blemishes but to try and get them flat for painting, no chance.
You could try filling and sanding but it seems a lot of work and you're not guaranteed the finish you want. A skim with plaster would do the job and it does only have to be a skim so not too long to dry.

Would you need to remove the paper before skimming?

 

[Chetan Arora]

Yes, I believe so.