Removing Wallpaper Before Plastering

[Rosstitute]

Hello

I'm in the process of removing old wallpaper before getting a plasterer to skim the walls and ceiling

The issue I have is that the gyprock plasterboard that makes up the wall in the room is ancient and I'm finding that I'm scraping into the board when I'm taking the wallpaper/lining paper off. It also isn't helping matters that the lining paper underneath must be at least 20 years old and is proving difficult to remove.

My question is how far down do I need to scrape the walls to, and also, if I happen to gouge bits of the gyprock out, is this going to cause issues for the plasterer?

I've included some pictures to hopefully show things a bit clearer

Many thanks for your help

 

[misterhelpful]

It's hard to tell from the pics if the beige colour is the backing paper of the wallpaper, lining paper (I think it's either of those) or the plasterboard surface paper (which looks like the darker brown paper in this case) - what I can tell is that you are removing that lovely zig-zag paper that we all love!
If the darker stuff is the plasterboard paper, and if that is as bad as surface gets all over, I wouldn't be too concerned - I've seen plasters skim much worse with great results. What you want to avoid, as much as possible, is damaging too much of that darker brown paper. A few dings and deeper gouges with a scraper won't cause a big issue either, but you do need to be as careful as possible not to tear into it excessively, whilst removing all wallpaper and lining paper, or the new plaster will loosen it and blow.

 

[Rosstitute]

Thanks for the advise - Im using a steamer at the moment and taking my time to prevent any massive gouges; however progress is slow - it took me an hour to do the equivalent of one strip of wallpaper

The light stuff in the photo is the newer lining paper, the zig zags are imprinted on older lining paper, and the dark stuff is the board underneath.

One further question I would have would be - is a steamer the best way to go? I know there are sprays/chemicals on the market that are available - would these be more effective?

 

[JohnD]

mist it with a garden sprayer. Warm water and a drop of WUL.

By the time you have gone all round the room, the first spray will have soaked in and you can go round again. Keep it moist. When you start stripping, work of the top and keep spraying so water can run down behind the paper. Get it properly wet and it will peel off.

Using a steamer may overheat the plaster and burst it off the wall.

 

[misterhelpful]

Using a steamer may overheat the plaster and burst it off the wall.

There isn't any plaster, is there? It sounds like, and appears as if, the the paper is hung directly onto the plasterboard, which is what is making stripping more difficult. (I could be wrong!)

 

[Rosstitute]

Using a steamer may overheat the plaster and burst it off the wall.

There isn't any plaster, is there? It sounds like, and appears as if, the the paper is hung directly onto the plasterboard, which is what is making stripping more difficult. (I could be wrong!)

think the board joints have been plastered over but underneath there doesnt appear to be any

 

[misterhelpful]

think the board joints have been plastered over but underneath there doesnt appear to be any

Yeah, just taped and filled. It's never ideal to paper directly on to plasterboard, for the reasons you are encountering.

 

[Robbie uk]

My first house was the same, dry lined and taped and filled, no plaster. just contract matt over everything. Nightmare once you start stripping wall paper off.

 

[Rosstitute]

My first house was the same, dry lined and taped and filled, no plaster. just contract matt over everything. Nightmare once you start stripping wall paper off.

Thanks for the heads up! Looking forward to it....so far it's been an absolute pleasure