Sorry about the disco lights they are from previous owners. The walls as you can see from all the indents are in a pretty bad state, I then think what they have done is paper over with liner paper and then paint to try and disguise it but hasnt worked. Admittedly its no to bad in normal daylight. Several rooms are much the same, I cant afford to get the rooms skimmed and my own attempts at skimming fall well short. So looking for my best DIY options.
Any thoughts?
Strip the lining paper, replace any sections of plasterboard that need it, remove the machine-gunning of rawlplugs, rake out anything loose, undercut a sharp edge in the face of the plasterboard, use a wide taping knife to "bridge" to nearby level surface, fill (ready-mixed joint filler is good for buying as a bulk filler and sands very fine) and sand it down ... expect lots of dust.
Even thinking about attempting to skim brings me out in a cold sweat. Your choices are:
Sand it, polyfilla it, paint it.
I too noticed the line of wall plugs that hadn't been removed and are sitting proud.
The bumps dips are from fixtures/fittings/shelves that have just been removed and the "holes" not filled before putting up the lining paper. What may be found is that in the past the walls have been painted with the fixtures and shelves in place so no paint gets behind these objects. When they have been removed the dips are the thickness of the paint (and possibly a paint ridge around the removed object.
I agree the starting point is to remove the lining paper. Just fill dips with a fine pre-mixed filler and sand down. If you don't go too mad with the filler hand sanding using a large sanding block will minimise the dust. Hand sanding tends to allow the dust to directly fall to the floor where it and be easily vacuumed up.
To remove wall plugs I just screw a screw into them but just enough so it bites hard and then I use a pair of water-pump pliers to pull the screw straight out, still attached to the plug. The water-pump pliers can be used to lever out the screws/plugs by using a piece of scrap wood against the wall to form a fulcrum point, and protect the surface of the wall. With these types of holes I would paint them with PVA/water mix to seal the edges before filling (or inject them with the same mix using a syringe - available cheaply on Ebay for filling ink cartidges). With wall plug size holes you may want to fill in a two stage process. Fill the hole to be flush with the wall surface but it may shrink back by
0.5mm as it dries so then just fill a second time.
I still have wood chip in my house. It tended to be quite thin and was good at hiding crazed plaster surfaces in Victorian type lath and plaster walls. It didn't/doesn't hide the bumps and dips that the OP is complaining about.
I have woodchip too, on an old lath and plaster ceiling in my office. IMHO it doesn't look too bad, but these days I wouldn't normally put it on a wall for fear of the style police.
Dips are fixed by filling, very shallow ones with fine surface filler. Paper is not sandable, ensure when filling than not a single grain is left proud & don't sand.
High points can be cut back then filled.
Sometimes loose nails are a gotcha with PB, remove & screw it in place.
NT
I agree it won't hide the OP's bumps and dips, but it lessens the visual impact of them (IMHO), compared to a smooth finish.
If the job is ready, I have found skimming not hugely expensive. This site seems fairly accurate.
I think blown vinyls are deeper and even more effective than woodchip.
SteveW
I like woodchip.
Horrible stuff, not least the texture. It isn't easy to put up either.
Having said that, some people hate woodchip- the world would be boring if everyone liked the same things.
It's not that bad with a few coats of paint to soften out the lumps.
I don't like blown vinyls at all, but I do quite like anaglypta in suitable Victorian and Edwardian settings.
In many cases its easier to stick a screw into the plug and just hammer it a little bit deeper into the wall, remove the screw and then fill over it. Saves ripping out the surface or having to prise against the wall etc. Easier to fill as well.
I usually just cut the top off the plug with a Stanley knife & Polyfilla over them.
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