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Plastering
Skimming walls for first time.
Hi. I have just bought a 1950's style semi detached house. Not living in it yet but I just need some advice or redirected to right place on how to prepare the walls before skimming for first time. There is wood chip paper all over the house but peeling it back seems to come away easy thank God. There seems to be plaster behind the paper so my questions are. Could i skim over the paper? or is it best to remove the paper and skim onto the existing plaster? How would i prepare the walls if both options are suitable?
Thank you
3 Answers from MyBuilder Plasterers
Best Answer
Yes remove all paper so it's back to the bare plaster you will probably find that the walls will have hairline cracks in due to them being so old any walls that are cracked should be covered in a fibreglass mesh in the first coat of skimming as if they are not taped or meshed the cracks will come back through eventually, other than that juat pva and skim hope this helps!
Answered 5th Apr 2016
Hello, you would not be able to skim straight over the top of wall paper as eventually it will begin to just fall of. firstly you need to strip all of the wall paper from the wall using chemicals or a steamer. This will take it back to the bare walls. from here you should then coat the walls in a dilute solution of PVA and water to create a sound dust free surface for the plaster to stick to.
Good luck!
Answered 28th Mar 2016
Hi you should never skim straight over paper because eventually it will come off if not straight away, always strip all paper off first and then begin plastering process hope this helps.
Answered 30th Mar 2016
