Scott wrote:
In the week I built a new stud wall - using 9mm plasterboard, and then I
skimmed the top of it. Anyway - I am going to sand it fully tomorrow. I am
then planning on hanging 1300 grade lining paper on the walls next weekend,
so that they will cover any blemished etc as my plastering is not prefect.
Anyway - do I need to coat the walls in anything prior to hanging the wall
paper?


I had a similar situation - I plastered a wall, on my first attempt, but
finished it so badly that it was full of pot holes and water runs. I
wallpapered over it (without lining), and it just looked awful. I
suppose it depends on the thickness of the wallpaper (mine was Graham
and Brown, so wasn't budget) but all the wallpaper did was magnify the
mistakes. Wallpaper clings to a surface, so doesn't "cover up"
imperfections.

I'm not sure lining paper will help. I ended-up saying "sod it" and
replastered the wall (ie reskimmed it on top of hte old plaster). I wet
and keyed the wall first, and got my dad to help by mixing the plaster
for me (a smooth mix is really important, as is the fact that you won't
have time to mix yourself - professional plasterers always have a person
employed to mix for them).

I really, really concentrated on finishing it properly. The finishing
took way longer than actually slapping on the plaster - I spent hours
doing it. I used lots of water and worked on filling in holes by
dragging the float across the surface, scraping off imperfections as I
went and using the plaster that collected on the float to fill in
holes/runs.

The end result was much better and I've just painted it yesterday, in
fact. With a little matt emulsion on there, you can't tell it apart from
the plastering done by professionals on the ohter walls in the room
(unless you look in the corners, but that's another matter...)

The moral of the story is that it's really hard to cover up bad
plastering and if you want good results, the only solution is to have
another go.