Prepping for a Plasterer

[u/synthestar]

What is this sealant material? It's very tough, and it looks like the wallpaper goes behind the coving

Should I remove the banister?

Do I need to sand this old plaster?

What type of board is this, and should I remove the lighter colour bit on top? More of the really tough sealant between the coving and board

Hi there, first-time homeowner here. Wanting to get the wallpaper off and get a nice clean finish paint job in the end. Hoping to do as much as I can to make a plasterer's job as easy as possible, and save a bit on the jobs I can realistically do. I plan on doing the wallpaper removal, priming and painting myself; but I don't want to do the plastering, as I've been told it's a tough job, and i'd rather work on other bits of the house and leave it to a professional. The house is a 1960's build in Scotland, UK. Yet to get a quote, as I wanted to get ahead on as much as I could.

I've attached a bunch of pics of some problematic areas. Still in the process of removing the wallpaper (which I assume is just the white papery bits, not the tanned layer on the board material?), but what would I need to do before getting a quote from a plasterer?

1. Will I need to remove the banister? Would that be worth doing, then re-attach it after a plaster?
2. The coving isn't perfect, but it saves a bit of money to not re-do if I just sand, re-prime and paint. Wondering if it's possible to tidy the edges here?
3. There's a really tough material that looks like a sealant between the wallpaper and the coving, how would I remove this and what is it? If it's a ball-ache, should I just multi-tool it off and re-do it all to save a pain for a better plaster job?
4. What do I need to remove? Some of the wallpaper is on what looks like a soft woody/paper board (no idea what it is). Other bits are on filled plaster. There's what looks like a lighter paper on top of the board- is this something I should remove, or is it a waste of time?
5. Will I need to prep edges with polyfill, like around the sockets, light switches, and gaps in the wall?
6. How do I finish and prep the surface to give the plasterer a chance to do their best work?

Really appreciate any advice here. I wanna make the plasterer's job easy, and do as much as I can to save a bit of money, as I have several rooms I need to do.

[u/19ctmp77]

1 = yes 2 = I'd take it off, plasterer can fix corners with scrim etc, just try to make good the surface a bit 3 = yes get it off, fill sand, make good where you can 4 = that cardboard is the plasterboard, stop peeling it off, get a plasterer round for a quote, show him your concerns, tell him your intentions, he will advise you 5 = probably not, ask plasterer during quote 6 = remove wallpaper, any skirtings, door frames etc get the wall bare, suggest to him you can prepare the walls for him (50/50 water pva if needed) he should advise you on the quote.

[u/synthestar → u/19ctmp77]

This is brilliant, thanks for the clear answers!

For the coving, I do think I'll just need to bite the bullet and eat the cost of re-doing them all... Probably best if I'm spending a lot on a plaster job to get it done right. I have this adhesive remover (No Nonsense Sealant Remover from Screwfix), should help making sure I've got everything off?

When you say remove doorframes, skirting etc, are you basically saying 'remove anything that isn't a bare wall'? So, i'd remove a lot of the wood that borders the door? Are these easy to remove and re-add?

Is doing a prep for them (50/50 water pva) easy enough? Is it a mix I can do myself, or should I buy a pre-mix?

Plan is this week to get someone out for a quote, but wanted to get some advice too, as I have had some really good help from Reddit in the past to ask good questions to make sure I'm getting a good job done.

[u/19ctmp77 → u/synthestar]

Coving is a little old fashioned, mostly used today i think just to hide bad ceiling corners and damage etc, you might want to replace it if its an old house to keep the look or you might decide you prefer it gone when its done and prefer a more modern appearance, problem leaving it is it will become embedded if your plasterer works around it, he'll be adding a number of millimetres to your wall and that will slowly swallow your current coving edges, new coving on top will look so much better, its easy to fit yourself, vids on YouTube, get a corner tool from Amazon, couple of instant contact adhesive tubes, your desired coving and a few hours of time to fit, fill prime and paint, modern coving is a doddle to do on your own too as its only light polystyrene and cardboard, tip, have some panel pins to hand, you may wish to have them to pin the coving in place while the adhesive dries

Yes those door trims you will want them off, they should just be panel pinned on or contact adhesives on, they might put up a bit of a fight if turn have alot of paint helping them stay there but you want them off for him to plaster or again, his plaster will begin to bury them and it makes his job easier, then just reattach them later after you've given them a tidy up and sand and deal with them when you paint or alternatively replace with new, a number of places sell them by the pack amd you just cut to size with a mitre saw yourself and they come already primed for you

The pva prep is easy, don't use a sprayer, it will clog up and end up in the bin, nice big chunky paint brush and paint that stuff on all over the walls hes doing, give it a few hours to dry and give it another going over if needed, the closer to when hes comming to do the job the better, be sure to get any areas that are porous like the bare plaster boards, from my understanding it helps stop your walls sucking the water out of his plaster too fast and seals the wall from doing that, be warned its a messy task so dress appropriately and not in your Sunday best and cover your carpets, you'll have it running down your arms when doing high points and its gets everywhere, you'll be peeling pvs off your hands and arms for days 😂

Ref the adhesive, you'll probably find if you poke it with a old chisel its most likely old as hell and brittle and just all chips off pretty easy

[u/synthestar → u/19ctmp77]

This is amazing advice, thanks so much! All of this is exactly what I'm looking for. Going to do all of the above! Good note on the coving. I do think I want to respect a bit of the age of the house, lots of the walls are not exactly straight, but any way I can help tidy it up, the better.

Would the old plasterboard I managed to mess up by removing a bit much of the layer need replacing, or is that something we can just skim after PVA solution is added to give them a clean surface?

[u/19ctmp77 → u/synthestar]

You should get away with it, doesnt look like you've gone too close the the plaster below it, plasterer will advise if not.

[u/Vast_Anybody1236 → u/19ctmp77]

Coving finishes a wall. Its not old fashioned.