DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

We have a couple of areas in the house were we have a problem with damp salts etc - I have a contractor coming at the weekend to repair the affected walls - but it involves hacking plaster right back to original stonework so will not be able to re-paper for some time.

So in my wisdom decided to strip the other walls of the vinyl wallcovering and just paint once plaster is dried out - BUT in several areas when we've stripped the paper it has also taken off the underlying 3 coats of paint so am now left with walls that are a mixture of bare plaster and paint. Obviously this means I need to get all the paint off and get the whole room back to bare plaster or is there another way to get a smooth finish. I was so sure this was going to be easy!

HELP! ANy suggestions greatfully received

Do you have more paint than plaster or the other way round? If it's only a few bits of paint left then scrape them off. However, I suspect that the outer surface of the plaster has degraded which is why the paint came off and where the paint has gone you may well a rough rather than smooth surface.

You could try finishing skim polyfilla or the new "smoothover" stuff. But the latter is rather expensive for what it is and I don't like it personally.

My preference would be (without seeing it I might add so the usual disclaimers apply) to line with a good quality lining paper (not less than 1200 grade and preferably 1400), render the seams invisible with filler and paint over the top of that.

Cheers

thanks roseberry

it's about half and half paint and plaster - we have scrapped some of the extra paint off but to do the lot will take me about a year I think! so not ideal

as there are about three or 4 layers of paint though will lining paper cover the mess or will the lumps and bumps still show through?

I'm prepared to put the time in to get a decent finish but don't want to line the room only to find its still rubbish.

Also what should i seal the plaster/remaining paint with before i line it?