UKH

We all know DIY is one of the worst things to do at the best of times, but decorating takes the biscuit. 

After spending several months of income on a disappointingly small pile of decorating paraphernalia, filling in all the holes from the previous owners who used Edward Scissor hands to remove there furniture, sanding everything down until I had the lung capacity of a 60 a day smoker, getting paint everywhere (especially on the floor so I can walk in it and get the rest of the house covered in paint too) I am rewarded with patchy walls and plaster that has decided to bubble up and peel off despite being quite happy for the last X amount of years. 

And that was just the under coat. 

Bugger this. 

I have now given up and always use a dedicated sealer/primer appropriate for the surface for that very reason.

I feel it might come to this, thankfully the peeling is only on one wall so I re-plastered it last night and sat there for a few hours cursing it and making sure it didn't do anything funny while my back was turned.  If it gets worse I think I will need to. 

I feel your pain. We had some of our walls replastered recently to get rid of some cracks that opened up in dry weather a couple of years ago - we live in an old house in an area prone to heave and shrinkage. One month later, half of them opened up again.

Not helpful to you, but worth noting modern gypsum plaster is more brittle than older lime plaster, and that older houses move more than modern ones.

If the plaster on walls was put on in the 80s or if the ceilings are artex/swirly/textured -- stop doing anything that might disturb the plaster and get an experienced decorator to take a look

You know what I'm warning about as a possibility that needs checking, don't you?. My kitchen is a good example of "don't disturb". Thanks Redbridge council!

Shhhhh don't mention the A word......

Thankfully the previous owners decorated not that long ago so its in reasonably good condition, the main problem is they made there colour choices based on a bad 1970's acid trip.  Also 'he' a self proclaimed DIY expert had a fetish for silicon (and not the good kind)  which I found out when I banged my head on the door frame and it all fell down.... 

A former colleague had an almost identical rant to me one Monday morning several years ago. 

When asking why he was bothering if he hates it that much the reply was:

"I don't know. [Colleagues wife] decided it needed doing so I had to get painting"

Decorating's a trade like all others. If you want a job doing properly  get a professional in. Being an ex decorator myself  there's nothing  where than seeing DIY  decorating dune badly. Regarding your bubbling, is it plaster or the paint. if its paint the likely hood is you re coated the walls  without letting the first coat dry property or you have painted on walls that once had wallpaper on  and the excess paste was not washed of property before painting.

cheers loz

When are you free? I can't pay you but I make a grand cup of tea and the biscuit tin is full. 

In serious though I do agree with you, there is certainly a lot more to it than you think.  For me its cost prohibitive to get someone in at the moment, but if there was more prep work or a bigger room I would certainly look into it. 

I am not quite sure, its about the top 1-2mm.  There is solid plaster under it and it looks like at some point it might have been skimmed over at some point and its that layer.... or its 60 years of paint? 

I have plastered / filled over it and I will leave it for a few days before sanding so its really dry. 

Or, put more effort into research and practice and be willing to do it again if you get it wrong. The above only works I think if you enjoy DIY, are willing to invest in the correct tools and have the time to dedicate to it.

If you do you can get excellent results.

I suspect problems occur when you want to do something cheap, with limited time and you hate doing it.

I feel your pain. Ceilings being the worst.

I have a toddler who thinks it's great fun to undo all my hard work on the house generally (and to be fair it probably is fun), so I'm on a decorating hiatus. I'm on a gardening hiatus also. I recommend it.

No problem Without looking at it, its hard to diagnose the problem. if you have re plastered, let it go fully off before painting, and let it air dry no de humidifiers or the central heating cranked up. If plaster dry's out to fast it can case all sorts of problems likewise   if you paint wet plaster.   You can buy  base coat paints that act as a ceiler, before putting your top coats on but most decorators apply a misted coat first, which is watered down white mat   emulsion  - like a thin  soap constancy . Once you have dune this apply 2 to 3 top coats    and follow the drying times and re coating times on the back of the tin, I leave 4 hour between coats as it will cause bubbling and only do 2 coats in one day as a rule of thumb

Instead of going through all of these decorating woes is it not simpler, and quicker, to move house?

Move into a new house every time, specify to builders/developers what your colour scheme is, move in and be content for a few years - then, when decor is tired move - hopefully your house will have increased in value so allow you to buy somewhere nice the next time and cover all the legal costs etc.

Lol I agree I hate  decorating to 

I know. Unfortunately a previous owner replaced most of the lime plaster with gypsum, and we were only touching it up.

Papering old walls with 800-1000 gauge lining paper disguises a multitude of sins. Available at decorators or B&Q in quadruple rolls.

That has always been my strategy when I want a painted surface on the walls. There's a little bit more faff but as you say, it covers the cracks. A little caveat - it's surprising how even very small lumps and bumps will show through, so it is important to ensure a very smooth surface before hanging the paper. 

We bought a place from one of them.... the twit tried to stop leaks in the roof by sealing the ruddy slates together... should anyone wish to try it, this doesn't work!

When you say replastered do you mean completely rip down the old paster or just skim. Skimming wont fix cracks in plaster in old buildings you can try digging out and filling first, but the more persistent cracks will require taping (mesh, paper etc)

Bit of both - most of the walls were quite dinged and had cosmetic damage, so we had those skimmed, but where the cracks were they took out the damaged section (not quite to bare brick though) and filled it.

I knew a woman in north London who painted the inside of her house every week. I must have seen a couple of hundred different colours on her walls over the years. 'Do you like it?' she'd ask. I'd say I didn't actually mind the last colour but that yes, it was very nice. I always had a feeling she really wanted to move house, among other things.

Wire wool was the favourite of the last owner of my place. Including around the hole in the ceiling where the electricity cables went through...

We also found the lintel holding up the chimney where they'd put and door was being help up by nothing on one side...

I've done my entire house like this, including the ceilings. I got very good at wallpapering! It still looks good 16 years later, cos the cracks in the plaster can open up all they like and it doesn't show.