Wall refinishing question

Sparktrician · Sep 8, 2015

I've recently been asked to refinish a client's bathroom. The work is very straightforward (replace vanity, medicine cabinet, fart fan & ceiling fixture, repaint the room), but as I look more closely at the walls, it's become apparent that somewhere along the line in the last 35 years since the house was built, a previous owner peeled off the old wallpaper and painted over the residual adhesive, leaving a multi-level mess. Anybody have any experience with leveling this all out? I hate to think I'll have to replace the drywall if there's not another stripping process that will work (aside from using the RAS).

tiralie · Sep 8, 2015

I would seal and skim coat it, but that maybe more difficult in a tight space than taking the drywall off.
Tim

tjbnwi · Sep 8, 2015

Sand walls flat. It should be pretty easy with an RP or ETS and 80 grit. One coat of Gardz, prime and paint.

Tom

SMJoinery · Sep 8, 2015

Fart Fan! ;D

w802h · Sep 8, 2015

So painting over wallpaper, even previously painted wallpaper, may cause it to bubble unless it's sealed properly. If you sand off the adhesive, you may do damage to the sheetrock surface as well and still need to skim. A small bathroom still takes a few days to hang, tape, and sand. It's hard to imagine after adding demo that removing drywall would be cost effective unless you were dealing with old tile mastic. Many ways to skin a cat all painful.

rizzoa13 · Sep 8, 2015

Easy fix. Take your Spackle knife and run it up and down , side to side across the whole surface. Your looking for loose pieces of paper and of you find any run back and forth over it until nothing loose is left. Then thin a bucket of Spackle with water or soap and mix it up real good with a paddle. Use an old roller to roll out a decently thick coat of Spackle across a workable amount of wall. Then flatten it with your Spackle knife but don't worry about ridges at this point as you'll sand it down. Don't use too much pressure you want to leave a coat of Spackle on the whole surface. Try to get any lower spots filled it with more Spackle If need be. I let that dry overnight then take my dts400 and use a 180 or 220 pad and knock down any high spots. Then skim it again and apply more pressure when knifing it off, this coat is to fill low spots and holes. Then a hand sand and your golden.

That's my technique for skimming a wall it may take you a while to get the hang up but for me it's really the easiest and least time consuming method. Re-rocking, talk go and feathering it would take much longer.

Holmz · Sep 8, 2015

The "Magic Trowel (TM)" seems to work good for leaving a thin coat if the spackle is the right consistency.

Sparktrician · Sep 9, 2015

tjbnwi said:
Sand walls flat. It should be pretty easy with an RP or ETS and 80 grit. One coat of Gardz, prime and paint.

Tom

I had a long chat with the owner about the situation. We're in agreement that replacing the drywall isn't the optimal solution. Given that the worst wall is also the smallest one, we agreed that sanding is likely the most efficient solution, so this is the path I'll be taking. The owner agrees it's a mess and that best effort will be accepted. Thanks for the suggestion, Tom. And thanks to all others that responded.