prepairing old plaster for painting

[Mike]

Hi Recently bought our first house - an 1870s terrace. Have stripped off all our wallpaper for painting but a bit stuck on how to tackle repairing the plaster? I guess plaster is in a pretty typical state for a house of this age - lots of nicks, divots, small cracks and patches of hollow sounding stuff (about 50%) i'm inclined to leave hollow sounding plaster rather than hack off and start again because none of it is actualy loose or moves when pushed and it seems unlikely to fall of in the near future. Do experts out there agree or am i just being lazy? Question is what is the easiest way to get the walls to a point where a painted finish will look ok? There seem so many options - fill and sand, skim, lining paper, smooth over products ... Budget means solution will have to be DIY. Wondering if it would be worth the time and effort to learn to skim or if another method would be a better way forward for a DIYer. Any advice much appreciated.

[mail]

Dear Mike You are right not to replaster just because it sounds hollow in patches. Repair not renovate! I suggest you apply Feb or similar SBR (styrene butadiene) solution only to all hollows and nicks to kill suction and then with a plasterer's trowel or similar fill the holes with a suitable plaster filler. Using a hawk and finish plaster (with glue) if there are lots of close holes and a flexible applicator "blade" (cant remember the proper name) for widely spaced ones Then sand it slightly with orbital sander (dont overdo it) gently does it then paint it with a watered down coat of the final paint (presumably an emulsion?) you will be using then get an arc lamp at the bottom or side and look for all the bits you have missed repeat the above until it is to your satisfaction Chris

[The Medway Handyman]

I've BT,DT,GTTS. Get a plasterer in for a day to skim the lot. Long term its the only way - unless you want it to look a mess. Bite the bullet.

[meow2222]

I did something like this on one wall. Isnt any quicker than skimming it but doesnt need the skill that skimming does, so is a straightforward diy job.

No need for anything on the plaster other than water though to stop suction.

At a previous place there was one big patch of plaster coming loose, but in good surface condition, and we decided to pour dilute pva behind it to fix it. Worked fine. I wonder if a few holes with dilute pva poured in where its coming unstuck might extend the life of your plaster by n years. Not really tried doing it like that.

NT