Plasterboard walls in a right state after removing wallpaper

[gregch]

I've previously stripped paper from a quite a few plasterboard walls with no problem, using a steamer and scraper and being careful.

Unfortunately, in the hallway here it's been a nightmare. There was layer upon layer of wallpaper, paint, and plaster (various swathes of plaster having been slapped on between layers of wallpaper) and the whole lot topped off with thick paper that had been painted with oil-based shiny paint.

To cap it all, the very bottom layer of paper had been fused to the plasterboard with the most dense and powerful adhesive known to man.

The result is, after 2 or 3 days of stripping, the walls are a mess. In some small patches, it's come off pretty clean, in others there are bits of stubborn paper that can't be shifted without destroying the wallboard, and there are large areas where the top layer of the plasterboard paper has come off with the paper leaving a brown furry paper surface, and there's some bits of filling and plaster.

We'd planned to hang lining paper in any case, but I'm concerned that once the lining paper goes up and sucks itself to the wall, the unevenness (especially where it's down to the furry paper on the plasterboard) will show through.

Not sure whether I can just gently run a sander over the surface, or if it will shred the exposed paper on the plasterboard? And should I be looking to apply a very fine filler or something over the damaged areas before sanding?

The plan being to just try and smooth it all over a bit, then size it ready for the lining paper.

I'm going to try and attach some pictures!

Untitled

• gregch
• 23 Apr 2012
• 1

Untitled

• gregch
• 23 Apr 2012
• 1

Untitled

• gregch
• 23 Apr 2012
• 1

 

[TheHandyAndy]

I had similar problems with my hall stairs and landing. In the end I ended up stripping everything off and not worrying too much about causing damage, then had the whole lot skimmed. Now the walls are painted and perfect, not a mark on them, and didn't cost as much as I thought it would.

 

[gregch]

Thanks for that Andy. Did you need seal the walls before skimming, and if so do you know what you used?

We talked to a plasterer about skimming, but he had some concerns about whether it would work - something to do with the exposed wallboard paper I think and how well it would seal/bond, i.e. whether the plaster might end up coming away from the wallboard?

 

[oldgreymouse]

Hi gregch, if you have a friendly plasterer to hand, would you not just zap the whole wall with a coat of unibond, let it dry for at least 24 hours, then zap it again while the plasterer is knocking up his mix. No reason why that should not hold a quick skim coat of plaster in place.

Did this to a kitchen ceiling that I ripped all the old lining paper off about 2 years ago, its still up and still painted in supermatt white

I don't know what the plaster guys think about this method but i guess in some cases it works !!

 

[joe-90]

You won't have any probs if you do it that way.

 

[gregch]

Thanks for the replies that's really helpful.

So the plan would be:

- strip off any remaining loose bits of paper and filler
- give it a light sand to smooth it out (is this necessary? will it cause more harm than good, e.g. tugging/ripping what's left of the wallboard paper)
- coat with unibond pva and leave to dry for 24hrs+
- another coat of unibond and skim with plaster

then I guess lining paper wouldn't actually be needed - but might do it anyway for a "warmer" finish - in which case I guess put a misty coat + full coat of emulsion on the plaster first.

also I suppose the lining paper would give an extra bit of security that the whole things holds together!!!

 

[joe-90]

Lining paper is a poor second to a plaster finish.

 

[gregch]

So maybe not bother with the lining paper, but the other steps are OK - in particular, would you sand the walls reasonably flat and smooth before the first coat of PVA goes on?

 

[joe-90]

Get it as smooth as you can without rucking up the paper,

 

[gregch]

OK, great. Thanks for all your help!

 

[oldgreymouse]

If you are going to get the walls plastered, the plasterer will skim over all the uneven bits with his skim coat. Only fill any big holes and sand to feather out any paper tears.

After the plaster skim, there should be no need for the lining paper, you can give the walls 2 quick mist coats then move on to your finish coats.

 

[gregch]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their help. Had a bunch of other stuff to deal with before we got back to doing this just recently. I ended up sanding the walls as smooth as I could get it without catching the paper too badly, then slapped on a generous coat of neat PVA to seal. Plasterer did two further coats, then skimmed, and the result is pretty good! Misty coats done, about to start with the finish paint. Success!

 

[oldgreymouse]

Sounds just the job. I would always leave the 2 mist coats to dry for 24 hours before top coats. Some times, if you try and get on to the top coats too soon even though they feel dry to the touch, it can lift the mist coat in places and I put this down to the paint being still too soft and not fully dry.

Best of luck with the rest.