Problem with bathroom wall...

[Lagan]

Hi all,

I've recently bought a house and in the process of doing it up a bit, including the bathroom and kitchen. Originally it had plain textured paper but some of it had come off so the decision was made to remove it. We found the following stuff underneath...

As you can see some of the plaster underneath the wallpaper is still there (and remains there). A friendly builder came in and had a look at it but couldn't identify what the backing material is - the best I can say is that it feels like a plastic surface, very smooth (and quite inappropriate for plastering on). The second image below shows a hole in the wall which might give a better idea of what it is?

Any ideas on 1. what it is, and 2. how to proceed?

I was thinking of roughing up the surface, putting down drywall adhesive, and putting plasterboard on that. Then finally putting lining paper over that and painting...

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Alex

 

[1john]

This looks like a stud wall, why not just remove the existing covering (looks like plasterboard to me, perhaps it's foil backed) and reboard using new plasterboard, you can either tape and join it or skim it / get it skimmed.

 

[Richard C]

Can’t really tell what it is but in the hole it does look a bit like plasterboard. If you’re going to replace it, use only Moisture Resistant plasterboard in the bathroom dry areas; in wet areas use waterproof tile backer board. Don’t skim areas you’re going to tile (in fact some backer boards you cant skim) & if your skimming ½ tiled areas, MR plasterboard needs priming first.

Read the tiling sticky & forum archive posts before starting work or buying materials, it may help prevent you making catastrophic & potentially expensive mistakes.

 

[NickB_99]

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Agree with the guys - get it removed as advised.
It also looks like clout nails were used to secure the board to the stud wall. It should be drywall screws, as this is more secure.

 

[Lagan]

Thanks for the advice; to be honest I'm still split on what to do, but I'll removed one of the boards and see what's behind.

With any luck I can replace it with plasterboard and get it skimmed, hopefully not at too much cost.