Plasterboard options - home renovation

Nimby

Hi guys,

We are currently renovating a house built in the 70's.
Had a surveyor out and the house itself is solid but it does need some work.

We were told that the interior walls aren't skimmed - it's just taped & jointed...with the wallpaper put right on top of it!

Just weighing up our options here and looking for some advice, I'm a bit out of my depth to say the least

Option 1: Attempt to remove 40 years worth of wallpaper and then get the exiting plaster boards skimmed

Option 2: Continue wallpapering over the current wallpaper or put up good thick wallpaper and paint it

Option 3: Place new plasterboards over everything and then skim these

Last option would be my preferred one but is this even possible?

Thanks in advance

Calahonda52

1: whats the wall construction, is it a TF house?
if not TF how are sheets held to block wall?
If there insulation behind it.

3 is a bad option from the point of view of moisture mention in the wall paper/mould growth

Option 4: if a block wall house then remove the existing, make walls airtight and dry line

Nimby

Calahonda52 wrote: »

1: whats the wall construction, is it a TF house?
if not TF how are sheets held to block wall?
If there insulation behind it.

3 is a bad option from the point of view of moisture mention in the wall paper/mould growth

Option 4: if a block wall house then remove the existing, make walls airtight and dry line

Hi,

It is a block wall, not totally sure how the sheets are held.

Ah I was hoping you wouldn't suggest replacing them, I assume that's quite a big job?

Also the house is suprisingly dry, no mould or damp issues in it currently.

Calahonda52

take off an internal wall vent and see
a 1970 house may have no insulation so unless u so EWI, this could be the opportunity

sydthebeat

Calahonda52 wrote: »

take off an internal wall vent and see
a 1970 house may have no insulation so unless u so EWI, this could be the opportunity

i think the OP is referring to internal walls, rather than external walls.

so if they are internal timber studs, then condensation / mould issues arent as prevalent.


PO, what exactly is the issue your want to resolve?
can you see the line of the plasterboards through the wall paper??

Water John

I would be presuming all four walls of a room are wallpapered. Maybe some owner added plasterboard onto the external walls 20/30 years ago.

Nimby

sydthebeat wrote: »

i think the OP is referring to internal walls, rather than external walls.

so if they are internal timber studs, then condensation / mould issues arent as prevalent.


PO, what exactly is the issue your want to resolve?
can you see the line of the plasterboards through the wall paper??

Hi,

Sorry yeah, so the issue is just that I believe not having your walls skimmed is not the norm, and the wallpaper looks a bit shabby imo.
You can't see the lines of the plasterboard but you can see the lines of the wallpaper.

Do you think not having your internal walls skimmed is an issue? I assumed it was from the way the surveyor spoke to us about it - like it was a mortal sin!

Nimby

Water John wrote: »

I would be presuming all four walls of a room are wallpapered. Maybe some owner added plasterboard onto the external walls 20/30 years ago.

Wallpaper on top the plasterboard yeah, only the internal walls.

Rows Grower

Get a couple of plasterer's in to price slabbing and skimming the room, they won't be long telling you what your best options are.

RandRuns

Taping and skimming is fairly common still - in fact it's the norm in most of the UK, and is getting more popular here as it takes less time to dry out the house. If the surface of the plasterboard is in good condition I'd just remove the wallpaper and paint it. However, after this length of time, it's likely the plasterboard would have a lot of surface damage (especially if it's the thinner 3/8 board most usually used back then) and it may be worth just taking off the wallpaper and skimming it.

Rows Grower

RandRuns wrote: »

Taping and skimming is fairly common still - in fact it's the norm in most of the UK, and is getting more popular here as it takes less time to dry out the house. If the surface of the plasterboard is in good condition I'd just remove the wallpaper and paint it. However, after this length of time, it's likely the plasterboard would have a lot of surface damage (especially if it's the thinner 3/8 board most usually used back then) and it may be worth just taking off the wallpaper and skimming it.

Removing layers of old wallpaper is not as easy as you think.

RandRuns

Rows Grower wrote: »

Removing layers of old wallpaper is not as easy as you think.

I've had to do it many the time. Hire a wallpaper steamer.

Nimby

Rows Grower wrote: »

Removing layers of old wallpaper is not as easy as you think.

Especially 30+ years of it! There's just layers of the stuff, it's like a time machine peeling off the individual styles

Nimby

RandRuns wrote: »

I've had to do it many the time. Hire a wallpaper steamer.

I'm a bit unsure on the steamer, I've read that it can damage the plasterboards if they're not skimmed (which they aren't)

awec

Not skimming walls is not uncommon I think.

My house built in 2018 doesn't have the walls skimmed. Same for another development beside us.

RandRuns

Nimby wrote: »

I'm a bit unsure on the steamer, I've read that it can damage the plasterboards if they're not skimmed (which they aren't)

It's grand as long as you don't go so mad with it that you soak the plasterboard. I've done it to every kind of wall without problems.

RandRuns

awec wrote: »

Not skimming walls is not uncommon I think.

My house built in 2018 doesn't have the walls skimmed. Same for another development beside us.

Yes, the last two developments I've done were taped and jointed. Makes for far faster finishing of the houses I find.

Rows Grower

RandRuns wrote: »

It's grand as long as you don't go so mad with it that you soak the plasterboard. I've done it to every kind of wall without problems.

Any chance you could elaborate on the "don't go so mad with it that you soak the plasterboard?"

It would be interesting to know the finer details especially seeing as how you have done it on every type of wall yourself and then we have the added Brucie Bonus of you being an experienced developer as well.

I've done one or two cosmetic renovations of rooms in old houses myself and experience has led me to believe that it's far more cost effective and less stressful to slab over the old layers of wallpaper when there is no indication of dampness on the walls.

Considering the price of a slab and the hourly wage of a construction worker, is there any particular machine you find best for the job?

RandRuns

Rows Grower wrote: »

Any chance you could elaborate on the "don't go so mad with it that you soak the plasterboard?"

It would be interesting to know the finer details especially seeing as how you have done it on every type of wall yourself and then we have the added Brucie Bonus of you being an experienced developer as well.

I've done one or two cosmetic renovations of rooms in old houses myself and experience has led me to believe that it's far more cost effective and less stressful to slab over the old layers of wallpaper when there is no indication of dampness on the walls.

Considering the price of a slab and the hourly wage of a construction worker, is there any particular machine you find best for the job?

You're obviously one of these sad lads that doesn't want anyone else answering a question because you think you know it all yourself. Fire away lad, I've a life!

Rows Grower

RandRuns wrote: »

You're obviously one of these sad lads that doesn't want anyone else answering a question because you think you know it all yourself. Fire away lad, I've a life!

You hit the nail on the head there Boss in all fairness.

Thanks for taking the time to reply anyway.

mfceiling

You can't take wallpaper off a wall that has been taped and jointed. Taping and joining is only done on the joints and covering the screw holes.
This means most of the paper on the plasterboard is still visible and untouched.
The wallpaper paste will have adhered to the paper on the plasterboard so if you try to remove the wallpaper you'll take the paper from the plasterboard with it.
I've seen this before on a renovation job. We had to reslab the walls.

Nimby

Thanks a lot for the replies lads.

We had a friend in at the weekend who works in construction and he basically said the same as ye - no harm in leaving it as is but for extra insulation we'd be best tearing out the existing boards, insulating and putting on new ones, etc.

Alternatively we could put up new slabs (cosyboard) over the old ones and skim that.
We'll have to think about it a bit - our friend pointed a few more "pressing" matters so we'll worry about the plasterboard further down the line