Take off the tape or leave it?

[kevin87]

I am about to paper my mums ceiling as it has like never been done. The plasterboard has alot of tape along it. I am not sure if it will show up if i paper over it. Do i take the tape off or paper over it?

Plaster tape (or what ever tape it is)

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/9795/img2234v.jpg

A bit of tape i took off (that the worst it and i might filler that.

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/2826/img2230r.jpg

 

[Richard C]

If I were you I would take all the tape off & asses what you have with the aim of getting it repaired, re-taped & re-skimmed. It’s a mess & papering over it, with the tape left on there or removed, sure won’t make it look a lot better.

 

[misterhelpful]

The ceiling looks like the old fibreboards? and to be honest, whatever you do with it, you are likely to see marks in the paper.

As you say that is the worst bit, you might be able to get away with removing the existing tape and levelling out the joints as much as possible with this thin tape and a decent flexible filler.
http://www.trade1st.co.uk/productdetail/Mesh-and-Joint-Tape/609.aspx

As it's already painted you could apply another mist coat to seal the filler and make the surface better for the paper to adhere to. Sizing fibreboard isn't a very good option.

You should then line the ceiling with lining paper before applying a heavily embossed paper or fairly thick blown vinyl, which will minimise the imperfections.

But as RichardC says, the best thing to do is get it repaired, or even replaced, as the time and effort you put in might still not give you a decent end product.

 

[Richard C]

The ceiling looks like the old fibreboards?

Looking again I think your probably right ; In which case forget re-skimming it, overboading is probably the easiset/quickest route to take & then skim that.

 

[sparkwright]

As mentioned, that probably is fibreboard, and there is not a lot you can do with it.

Possibly you have not bargained on replacing the ceiling completely.

You may be thinking about patching the ceiling back up as it was.

Obviously the tape looks awful, it was a daft method they used back in the 50s/early 60s.

I don't think filling the joints will look particularly good on that type of ceiling.

Fixing wooden battens to the joists over the joins, then repainting the ceiling, may be a quick fix solution to this mess. I know it won't look particularly nice, but it will cover those joins and, imo, won't look like such a deliberate bodge as tape does.

The best, and expensive, solution would be to (pull the ceiling down if you can), reboard with plasterboard, scrim tape the joints, and skim with plaster all over.

Or you can reboard and joint fill the joints.

I'm not sure you are prepared for this kind of inconvenience and cost though.

 

[kevin87]

Thanks for the info. Its a council house so i should really get on to them to repair it. If you seen how the council left the house after the so called improvements, I dare to think how they could fix the roof. Come to think of it they only repaired part off that roof when it caved in!