Getting ready to buy for the first time and so I'm trying to prepare myself for renovation projects. I'm mostly looking at old Scottish Victorian tenement flats.
The one I viewed earlier today is a second one where all the walls are covered by a semi-gloss beige paint spread over some kind of strips stuck to the wall. You can tell the places where one strip joins with the next, in some places they come off a bit (see the photo). There are also places where the wall isn't smooth i.e. there are lines and patches of wall being indented or protruding a few millimetres in contrast with the surrounding surface.
Needless to say, I'd probably want to make the walls nicer, but I have a few questions:
- Presumably I'd need to remove the wallpaper-like thing from the walls. What kind of treatment would the walls need after that and before I apply a new paint or wallpaper? Would I need to re-plaster? I know that sometimes it's a game of chance but in general how common it is to mess up the underlying lime plaster when redoing the wall surfaces?
- Is the only way to get rid of the unevenness of the walls re-plastering?
Thanks!
Best Answer
You won't need to re-plaster regardless. If anything, a light skim coat will flatten things out after paper removal.
My approach would be to peel and scrape away as much of the paper as is practical using common techniques--putty knives, steam, paper adhesive solvent. Once that's done and the wall has dried, seal it with a good primer to lock down all the paper fibers. Now skim with joint compound and texture if desired. Prime again and paint.
I would not add wallboard. That creates problems with drim, door jambs, etc.