Skimming Over Damaged Plaster

[geekman]

Hi all,

We are currently renting a house, and the landord said we can decorate and do what we like so long as we pay for any repairs needed. I think the landlord was aware of how bad the plaster under the walls were.

We stripped the wallpaper off the walls ... which must have been there for some 10+ years ... and noticed loads of holes in the wall. Some parts of the plaster were falling off. They are not huge holes, but to go around this wall with pollyfiller would cost me an arm and a leg.

Certain parts of the wall are uneven where someone has attempted to fill in holes and not bothered to sand the holes down.

I've spoke to my uncle who is a builder who said he can skim the walls for me so long as I pay for the materials. Seems fair. But what I wanted to know was what's the longevity of the walls when doing this?

I can not afford to have the walls re boarded, that's not even an option.

Has anyone had success/disaster with re skimming damaged walls? Or are there any problems likely to arise in doing so?

All I wanted to do was strip the paper and put some white paint on the walls. Wish I didn't start it now lol.

Any advice please.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Are you paying less rent due to the fact that the house needs decorating?

Andy

 

[geekman]

Are you paying less rent due to the fact that the house needs decorating?

Andy

No. The rest of the house is fine and has been renovated. The master bedroom (our room) had very old wallpaper on the wall that was coming off in places. I mentioned to the landlord before renting that I would like to decorate this room and she said it's fine, so long as I pay for repairs.

I really have no issue with paying for the repairs so long as the repairs are not going to be expensive. Some landlords can be extremely funny and not let you decorate at all, so I am thankful she has allowed us to do so.

If the task was to cost too much, then I would discuss with her about knocking some rent off for one of the months.

 

[Pigeon85]

Your best bet would be to just let your uncle look at the walls and give advice, he is the one going to do the job so let him decide on the best approach to take. All I would say is if most of the plaster is sound then there should not be any problem with re-skimming, and for the best job try to remove the skirting board first.