wallpaper removal

RaulDublin

Hi.
We are getting an old house plastered in the ceiling . 4 walls and stairwell has layers of wallpaper on it and the plasterer gave me the option of putting a9 mm board on top of them and plaster over them rather than stripping wallpaper .He thinks that scraping the wallpaper layers off may be time taking and too messy ?

I see options here of scraping and steaming them over with a steamer . Is that not an option or does steaming work with only one layer of wallpaper .Should he not try that at least .

Also does anyone have an idea of the costs associated with option 1 above of plastering over a new board instead of stripping wallpaper?

thanks, raul

fussyonion

Yeah he's suggested the board because it will cost a lot more money.
Do it the old fashioned way; use a steamer.
Don't scrape at the walls too hard. Put plenty of water on the walls before you scrape.

bren2001

fussyonion wrote: »

Yeah he's suggested the board because it will cost a lot more money.
Do it the old fashioned way; use a steamer.
Don't scrape at the walls too hard. Put plenty of water on the walls before you scrape.

He suggested the board because it is far easier than stripping wall paper. The OP said "layers" of wall paper which can take a while. Its very easy to take lumps out of the wall as well.

Klim

He's probably right. Bearing in mind you said old house, even if you get the layers of ancient paper off, the walls are likely to be of poor, uneven condition (a reason why a lot of older walls got papered in the first place), and could likely need skimmed anyway.

Stripping with many layers is massively time consuming as you effectively need to do each layer individually as you go through. Some may have been painted over, which is even tougher to remove.

It's really up to you to weigh up which is going to be more cost effective for you.

jlm29

Just to clarify- are you expecting the plasterer to strip the wallpaper for you? if you are, expect to pay a premium. It's more a handiman/labourer/DIY job. It's a job that will take HOURS, so won't come cheap, if you're paying a qualified tradesman to do it. I would think that putting up the board and skimming over it will be cheaper, unless you find someone else to strip the wallpaper or do it yourself

RaulDublin

jlm29 wrote: »

Just to clarify- are you expecting the plasterer to strip the wallpaper for you? if you are, expect to pay a premium. It's more a handiman/labourer/DIY job. It's a job that will take HOURS, so won't come cheap, if you're paying a qualified tradesman to do it. I would think that putting up the board and skimming over it will be cheaper, unless you find someone else to strip the wallpaper or do it yourself

Yes . After tqlkig to him i think that its too messy and time consuming to strip the wallpapers. I've suggested a 9mm board which he will use now to smoothen up.
Thanks, Raul

ron 1

We were in a similar position ( wall paper is now stripped - very tedious but steamer worked. ) it is a very old house so lime plaster on walls. Can you put board over this and skim? Issues with "breathability" and ventilation down the line? Walls not very smooth so may have to wall paper otherwise

DublinDilbert

What's going to happen at your door frames if wall is now 20mm wider? How well will the new board bond to wall paper?

Get a steamer in Argos and strip the walls, I wouldn't ask a plaster to do this. Then thissle bond them with a roller and get him to skim them.