I’m stripping wallpaper off a celiling and the bad stuff looks like its been put on top of a previous layer of paint and paper. This is all in good nick and I’m hoping to paint straight on to it, except for one corner where I stripped too much off when I got started. I now have a patch about 60cm x 40 through various layers of paint / wallpaper through to plaster. Its only a millimetre or so deep but looks unsightly.

Rather than remove all of it to get a uniform ceiling to paint, I want to just make this small section good and then paint the rest. There are also a number of little holes in this paint / paper layer that I have accidentally nicked with the scraper elsewhere.

Can I build up hole with some thick paint like polycell basecoat? Can this also be used to fill the hairline cracks in coving as well?

i wouldnt because propper filler job actually giv a more reliably good finish ime.

Problem is as the hole is so shallow, i think filling it will look just as bad as leaving it.

filling it with thick paint will look worse than leaving it

a propper job with the propper filler product (i dont mean polyfilla in a tube from the diy store) should not be visible at all.

As I see it my options are –

1) Scrape off all the remaining paint / paper mix to the bare plaster to be skimmed (lots of hard work – the top layer of paper came off easily.
2) Lining paper the entire ceiling
3) Fill the hole?

I’ll get the plasterer round (neighbour) to see what he thinks.

oh i misread that .

if you just want any kind of decent finish then you either will have to lining paper over what you have(if your feeling bodgy) or strip it back to the bare roof and either skim & paint/liningpaper&paint IMO

painting over wallpaper always looks like you have painted over wallpaper. ( ive done it in the past as a stop gap to stripping it off later – i didnt manage to live very long with it as is)

Easifill is the win in these situations, put it on with the biggest float/tool you can lay your hands on. just pull it tight and gently sand it back

Skim plaster is exactly what you’re looking for and cheaper than Polycell et al.

Can apply it with a brush or roller.. as it dries out buff it with a damp float or sponge and you might not even need to sand it.

Lining paper does cover a multitude of sins though.

exactly scaled.

highly recomend getting yourhands on the propper premix gyproc promix – that is a peachy coloured tub stuff over anything bnq do … having worked with a few of them the gyproc is much easier to work with if only a little harder to find. i have to get it from travis perkins.

iirc 20 quid plus vat.

http://www.travisperkins.co.uk/p/gyproc-promix-lite-joint-cement-17-litre/348129/3893472

and hand it over to your tame plasterer 😀 if hes really a plasterer a celing wont take him long at all but the end product will be infinately better than anything you have suggested so far if you can budget the difference its worth it….i know its only a celing but unless its just the spare room and you spend no time there it will piss you off everytime you look at the half job.

What’s the possibility of skimming on to the paint, think its vinyl silk as its shiny and was like latex when warmed up form the steamer?

I’m happy to pay to get it skimmed, but not sure if that would neccessitate getting all this old paint off first.

youll want to get all the old paper off first.

if the walls are painted below that then no issue but you dont want to be skimming over old paper.