Extremely thick wallpaper

Thanks for the progress report, hope all goes well

 

No problem! Better to have a panic attack than asbestosis.

Mr. HandyAndy - Really

 

So is it just plasterboard then?
Glad it worked out safe,
Regards,
teabreak

 

I have been reading this thread because I am also stripping wall paper this weekend. I'm in a house built around 1905 and I am repapering the bathroom. I stripped the paper off most of the walls fairly easily, although some plaster will need repairing. Then I got to the wall behind the sink. After the three layers that I knew would be there I got to a dark brown layer and under it was a glimpse of old wall paper, so I kept stripping it. It seemed almost like a thin cardboard, then I noticed it was nailed in spots and there was also an edging of something like masking tape. I finally got to the plaster and have a pretty big area done, but the plaster looks different than the other walls. It is newer looking and not rather rough. Have I screwed up this wall? It has been so much work that I hope I can just repair any holes, prime and then re-paper. Should I take out those nails? See pictures

 

Take a hammer, go left or right of the nail about 8 inches, and bash the wall. This will give you the answer you need.

Mr. HandyAndy - Really

 

If that response is for me, it seems a bit harsh.

Marilee

 

It sounds like you have stripped the first layer of plasterboard, it is a layer of plaster sandwiched between two layers of cardboard with a paper finish (often one side is dark the other light) tap the wall plasterboard will sound hollow except where the wooden studs are that's what the fixing nails are banged into. Don't take the nails out the plasterboard will fall off!
Handy's post is not far from the truth, a fair comment if a little brutal, making a small hole with a screwdriver should see you break through the plasterboard to the other layer of cardboard and then a void.
If you have damaged the plasterboard surface it might need skimming or you might get away with a bit of polyifilla and a lining paper

 

Okay Thanks Teabreak, I took a screwdriver and it went through and there was a void. I could cry! It has been so much work that even my friends gave up on it. Funny that it is just that one wall that has the wallboard. Now, should I quit removing those wall board layers on the area I have left?? (I hope!) Or will I need to keep going and remove all of the wallboard layer also so I can prep the wall for the paper? Here I thought I was stripping off old wall paper! darn!!!

Also, the surface seems okay just not real smooth so how do I know if I damaged it? It seems real solid and has no give at all. Thanks for ANY help!

 

I know it means expence, but the best solution is to get a plasterer to put a skim over the damaged wall. The existing exposed plaster is designed to have at a mimum the cardboard as part of its strength. A skim will give you a perfect wall surface whilst any other solution will be a less satisfactory finish.
Depending on how solid the remaining paper is you may not need to do anymore stripping.
Sounds drastic but it will take a plasterer about a morning to leave you with a perfect wall

 

Okay, I will keep that in mind, but I thought I didn't really need a "perfect" wall if I am wallpapering it. How expensive would this be?

 

but I thought I didn't really need a "perfect" wall if I am wallpapering it.

Quite the opposite, the finish is only as good as what's underneath it.

 

As Astramax says preparation is the key. Ok if you have a wall that just has patches of odd plaster all over it or is painted some terrible colour, but unless you go for a textured wallpaper (that's why most wood-chip paper was put up in the first place) the uneven wall will show through. Any kind of sheen or vinyl paper is the most noticeable.

I remember warning a couple their wall were too bad for vinyl, but they insisted I hang it. I started off at the chimney breast because that was the most fiddly bit with sockets etc got that and a side wall done, turned up the next day and was asked to strip the whole thing again and hang textured paper.
The customers were very good in fact and accepted that they should have avoided the shiny and rather thin vinyl so that was fine in the end, job looked lovely and they had the other room done the same.

I made a mistake in my own home stripped the paper and although the walls were fine I hung lining which was then painted, when it dried I could see a strip of the old backing paper about 9" long and just 1/2" wide I had somehow missed showing through as a raised bit that just caught the light! Really peed me off every time I saw it! But like most tradesmen in their own home it never got rectified.

If you want to try a patch up job you can try skimming with Polycell Smoothover It is a good product give it a try and see how you get on, might need a couple of goes, try to clean off any "sticky out bits" of cardboard because they will get stuck in the skim as you do it but second time around after sanding you should get a reasonable result



Please do let us know how you get on

PS As far as getting a pro in best just to get a couple of quotes prices will vary up and down the country just hope you are not in Central London prices go mad in the capital!

 

As some are recently finding out,. I am also OCD when it comes to asbestos, as it is literally deadly stuff, which can take between (15 - 60) years before it does its damage & if if gets into your lungs, you'll never be able to get it removed & asbestosis CAN NOT BE CURED

Please I Urge you all to read

http://www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk/encyclopaedia/k/article/asbestosis/?print=1