Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 4/3/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

After peeling off the wallpaper I discovered horsehair plaster through out my house... How could I paint over the plaster to make the paint look smooth

thanks

ANSWER: Hi anthony, if the walls are too rough you may need to skim coat the walls with setting drywall compound or woncoat plaster.  You can even use regular drywall mud.  Use the biggest drywall knife you can find and trowel the mud on the wall and cut it tight leaving as little drywall mud as possible, filling in the voids only, on the first coat.  After that coat dries, use your blade to knock off any ridges etc.  and then skim the wall again.  This time you can leave a little more mud on the wall, keeping it as smooth as possible.  When that coat dries, you will need to sand it using either a 100 grit sand paper or I prefer to use a big sanding sponge or grout haze removing spongs, wetted down, to sand drywall without dust.  Repeat the above until your wall reaches the smoothness you want.  

Another option is to cover the entire wall with 3/8" drywall and then tape and finish that..

Another option is to shoot texture on the wall and knock it down with a trowel if you want a knock down finish, or do an orange peel texture...I hope this information helps feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the response so quickly. Which options do you recommend that is cost and time manageable.  

Also there there is lanoleium on the floors with hardwoods under it. What do u recomened to use as a tool to tear up the lanoleium so I do not scrach the hardwoods.

Answer
Hi again anthony, only you know your own capabilities.  If you are a good drywall finisher than the skim coating of drywall mud is probably cheapest but manually the most time consuming.  Having a drywall contractor or stucco contractor come in and texture the walls is probably faster but will cost more.  There are linoleum removal tools you can rent at tool rental stores.  They are like a scraper but powered by a motor.  They work great for large projects.  But nothing will remove the linoleum without scratching.  You will have to scrape up the linoleum and then run a floor sander with 80 grit paper to get down to the wood then you use the sander with varying degrees of sandpaper to remove the scratching....I hope this information helps feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com