Hi folks,

We started stripping the wallpaper from the bathroom walls yesterday.
As we have discovered since moving in, this is an activity that is
guaranteed to fill our lives with little suprises!

Lo and behold, the stud partition between the bathroom and the spare
bedroom was just wallpapered plasterboard with no skim coat. To make
matters worse, it seems that the paper won't come off without damaging
at least some of the plasterboard (we damaged a fair bit yesterday and
will probably damage some more tonight!). When I say damaged, I mean
that some of the top paper-esque stuff comes off with the paper and
leaves a kind of rough textured surface that has the appearance/texture
of cardboard that has become wet and has been rubbed (I've no doubt
someone will tell me that that's exactly what it is!)

Now then, after skimming my chimney breast last year and achieving
suprisingly acceptable results, I am in no fear of attempting the same
in the bathroom (its only the one wall and its quite small). My
questions are as follows:

1) Will the damage we have done allow me to skim it succesfully?
2) If not, do I have to rip down the plasterboard and redo the whole
lot or are there any other alternatives?

Also, is there anything I need to bear in mind when skimming the
plasterboard? I was thinking that I would just put scrim tape on the
joints, paint the whole lot with 1:5 PVA to water mix, then when its dry
maybe another slightly stronger PVA to water mix (3:1?) and when that's
dry-ish get the finishing plaster mixed and bang it on.

Any fault with my logic? Any advice? Criticism?

All appreciated.

Thanks,
Richard

Richard Conway wrote:
1) Will the damage we have done allow me to skim it succesfully?

No, should be fine, especially if you PVA it first

Also, is there anything I need to bear in mind when skimming the
plasterboard? I was thinking that I would just put scrim tape on the
joints, paint the whole lot with 1:5 PVA to water mix, then when its dry
maybe another slightly stronger PVA to water mix (3:1?) and when that's
dry-ish get the finishing plaster mixed and bang it on.

Just one application of the dilute PVA should be fine

David

In article ,
Richard Conway ShoobiddyDoobiddyDoopDoopDoopWah@com writes:

1) Will the damage we have done allow me to skim it succesfully?

It will skim OK.

Also, is there anything I need to bear in mind when skimming the
plasterboard? I was thinking that I would just put scrim tape on the
joints, paint the whole lot with 1:5 PVA to water mix, then when its dry
maybe another slightly stronger PVA to water mix (3:1?) and when that's
dry-ish get the finishing plaster mixed and bang it on.

You don't need to PVA plasterboard before plastering. It might be
worth PVA'ing any areas where the paper is torn right off, exposing
the powdery plaster inside though. Also PVA any areas which have any
other sort of coating, such as paint or plasterboard sealer (which
should have been applied before papering, but sounds like it wasn't).

--
Andrew Gabriel

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Richard Conway ShoobiddyDoobiddyDoopDoopDoopWah@com writes:

1) Will the damage we have done allow me to skim it succesfully?


It will skim OK.


Also, is there anything I need to bear in mind when skimming the
plasterboard? I was thinking that I would just put scrim tape on the
joints, paint the whole lot with 1:5 PVA to water mix, then when its dry
maybe another slightly stronger PVA to water mix (3:1?) and when that's
dry-ish get the finishing plaster mixed and bang it on.


You don't need to PVA plasterboard before plastering. It might be
worth PVA'ing any areas where the paper is torn right off, exposing
the powdery plaster inside though. Also PVA any areas which have any
other sort of coating, such as paint or plasterboard sealer (which
should have been applied before papering, but sounds like it wasn't).

Thanks to both of you for your replies - very reasuring! I think that
as we have made quite a mess of the thing so far and the fact that it is
such a small area I will probably just slap PVA over the whole lot just
to be on the safe side, unless there are any reasons not too.