Preparing kitchen wall surface for skimming

[Pedge]

I'm currently in the middle of scraping a load of paint off my kitchen walls so that I can get it skimmed and then partly paint it / tile it.

The walls are very uneven as past occupants had no care in the property and just painted the odd area. In some areas i've got probably 7 layers of paint. I'm managing to get most of it off although there are certain areas that have a thin coat which i'm struggling to get off.

We're living in the property so i don't want to cause too much dust but I know it's hard. The walls do not seem to be the modern type of (pink) plaster and seem to be a rough mixture of sand/cement bonded to the wall.

My question is do I need to get everything off the wall for it to be skimmed or can I get away with taking off most of the paint and then leaving the thin layers which are hard to get off then bond it a couple of times using PVA?

Thanks

Pedge

[Vista]

The 2nd option!

I've done both and removing any serious quantity of sand and cement plaster from a house you are living in, when you have alternatives, should not be considered. If its no longer attatched to the bricks behind then you must remove and replace it or at least the areas where its lose.

the 1st diluted coat of PVA seals the remaining traces of old paint & wallpaper and shoudl be allowed to dry fully, the 2nd coat should be the bonding agent and applied directly before the multi-finish plaster. This should give you a the better finish assuming you have never floated a wall before.

[Pedge]

Vista wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks, will give this a go and try skimming it myself. Have to learn somewhere!

[Vista]

Try practising on an area that you will be tiling over/ hiding with cabinets till you can get the finish you want, thats what I did so I never bothered with the practising on plasterboard. The internal angles are tricky at first especialy at the ceiling, untill I got the knack I hid the ceiling join with coving which you might want to have as a fall back.

Another benefit of skiming over is you can usualy get away with leaving the skirting on, but if your replacing it keep an eye on keeping the wall straight at skirting height to save time latter. Likewise if you do end up getting someone in make sure he gets it straight enough to fit skirting by offering up to the wall a straight edge, something like a piece of skirting, to make sure no big gaps around the back.