Uneven wall solutions?
Question:I have many many uneven walls in my house, where people have stripped wallpaper, and gouged out part of the wall.
On the plasterboard walls i have big holes and on the concrete walls it ripped some of the plaster off.
Anyhoo, i tried lining paper, but the walls arent even straight, so its really hard to do well, and it looks awful, you can still see the imperfections through it.
i dont think theres a 90 degree corner in the house, lol!
So, what are my options, i was tempted to buy some polycell smoothover but apparently thats useless, so what can i do to make my walls nice and level, but without spending a fortune on proffessional contractors!
Should i take the plunge and apply a skim coat of plaster to the walls?
But i hear plastering can be quite hard to do, im willing to give it a go though, cant get any worse?
What tools / materials will i need?
Answers:
If the damage is superficial and not structural then you should consider putting up new sheetrock/plasterboard and/or running a skim coat with joint compound/top coat.
Putting a skim coat over existing walls is not extremely difficult. You will need the following:
Plastic sheets and tape for closing off rooms and covering
A mask or preferably a respirator
Buckets of water and wet towels for exiting
Ok, that's the general stuff now the real deal.
A few buckets of joint compound, a couple of putty knifes, and some flexible filler (wire mesh, plastic, fiberglass, or other synthetics), sandpaper, wire brush, substitute TSP, sponge, bucket, lots of towels, and a tool that you can use to pick and cut (utility knife, screwdriver or chisel). Optionally you may want a piece of sheetrock and tape for large cracks. Another option is to add 'spackle' and another putty knife to your toolset. Make sure you have a hammer and nailset if there are any nails sticking out. A plaster float is always a good tool to have.
Preparation:
Start by preparing the room with plastic draping the doors to the house and taped one. Cover anything you do not want to plaster and imagine you are going to paint.
Cleaning:
Loosen anything from the walls with the wire brush then clean them once with rag or towel and water. Starting on the side that was cleaned once and should be dry proceed to notch out any large holes. You will later fill the holes with flexible filler prior to skimming. Set any nails that are popped out. When you have finished prepping the large holes and the wall is dry sand it with coarse sandpaper and rinse with TSP. Even if you use 'no rinse' TSP substitute I recommend a final clear water rinse.
Plastering:
Make sure the room is dry and the temperature will not drop to freezing or fluctuate rapidly. If it is very dry you will have to either work fast or use a humidifier.
NOTE: PLASTER IS FORGIVING
This is not bondo or cement you are putting on the walls. Prepare the large holes by filling with flexible filler or cutting pieces of sheetrock to fit. Cover these areas with a light coat of filler or joint compound before skim coating the rest of the the house.
Hand Technique:
You have to find out what works for you. You need to place a large amount of joint compound on whatever tool you are using. PUSH the compound onto the walls. Imagine you are pushing it through the walls. Overlap your strokes so that the tool is almost scraping the wall as you progress. You want to make the areas as thin and flat as possible. You will find a natural balance eventually and then it's child's play.
Repeat:
You have to let the compound dry and build it up in some areas.
Sand:
You want to lightly sand the lines out and any obvious flaws. You can also use a smooth damp towel if you are careful.
Cure:
Allow to dry and follow the directions on the compound. You may need to lightly mist some areas to prevent cracking.
Paint:
When the area is clean and cured paint as soon as possible. Make sure to prepare the surface and depending on how your walls turned out (if some areas are just fill) consider using a heavy weight primer.
Alternately you can apply new sheetrock over the walls directly covering flat walls or using strips of wood to fur out the warped walls and apply flat sheetrock over that area.
I think you should consider taking the plunge because it is not very difficult, done properly will hold up over time, and you can be proud of your work.
You can buy a DIY self plastering kit for the untrained in most DIY stores. Well in Ireland anyway..They are excellent and do the job well.. You then get a nice smooth finish for painting..
dont do it yourself you will just wast time and money on materials and still end up getting someone in it should not be anymore than £150 depending on room size if you are in birmingham i can recommend someone to you. you will be pleased when you see the results if you get a plaster in it should take about 3-4 hours that smooth over stuff is useless if you dont know how to use it so will plaster be useless its almost identical its how you put it on that counts.
easy answer for you! Prepare walls first ie remove ALL wallpaper make sure NO paper on walls at all no matter how small then fill any holes ie nail holes with normal filler leave smooth though or rub down when dry If big holes or render underneath has fallen out you need to remove all loose material then prepare with a pva adhesive then fill holes with sand and cement 4.1 mix.Next you need to pva all your walls so when you start to plaster the plaster doesnt go off as soon as it hits the wall 2 coats of pva is ideal, then you are ready to plaster the best plaster to get is "Multi-Finish" you can get this from most DIY stores. Now you need 2 buckets 1 for mixing plaster in ,other with water in that wont need to be changed till you finish the job ,as you will need this to keep your trowel&hawk clean throughout the job. Mix plaster following instructions on bag then put1st coat on largest wall ,1st apply thin coat then after about 5 mins level out any "lines" or bubbles,. if its bit dry or trowel "pulling "throw a bit of water out of your bucket of water onto the wall by dipping paintbrush into water and flicking it onto wall then trowel up until reasonably flat .Now apply 2nd coat thinly again and repeat as written above ,LEAVE ALONE now for about 15 mins then trowel over any lines left by trowel ,use water if needed ,LEAVE again for 15 mins then use water and CLEAN TROWEL and keep flicking water and troweling up wall till really smooth, then after about 3 hours go over wall with JUST A WET TROWEL for really really smooth walls!! When plastering the most important thing is to clean hawk and trowel between coats so they are like new ,and whenever trowel starts to stick or you get debris on it, and always keep the bucket you use for mixing plaster in spotless and washed out immedietly after mixing plaster .CLEAN TOOLS MAKE EASY WORK GOOD LUCK
Hold it write there a minute .Plastering and Skimming walls , is a work of art and if you don't know how to do it and don't have the knack, then don't do it you will only wast your time and money ,Get a plasterer in, ital be cheaper than doing it your self. Believe me i know.
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