Flaking paint on hallway wall due to incorrect preparation General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[Busysquirrel]

Hi! The previous owners of our house didnt prepare their new plaster properly in the hallway, and as a result we've had flaking paint in that hallway for many years. I am at last getting round to trying to sort it out. I've taken off as much flaking paint as I can. It has come off quite a lot of the wall leaving patches of bare plaster and patches of paint. It looks like a map of the world!! I just dont know how to get the wall smooth enough so that you dont see the relief between the old paint and the plaster when I prime it properly and paint it...I've tried sanding with my electric sander but that just takes more plaster away as the plaster is softer than the paint. Any ideas? Totally flummoxed.

[thewallsare]

I've been through this several time.

You have 3 options.

1. Sand best you can and paint over. If light hits the wall at an angle and you look straight along the wall it will look "rustic"!

2. Lining paper. Get a really thick lining paper say 2000 grade. It will eliminate the unevenness as long as the difference is less than a mm. It's cheap but I've found it to be hit and miss with it pealing at seams after painting...

3. Skim. Get a plasterer or learn yourself to skim over. Most expensive unless you do it yourself but the best finish.

Good luck!

[Busysquirrel]

Thank you for your reply. Thankfully my stepson is a plasterer so will get him to do it. We just need now for there not to be a national shortage of multi-finish!!!