To skim or plaster an old house with poor walls?

I must say that every wall and ceiling needs to be taken on merit. If plaster is live then it should be removed and replaced with materials as sympathetic to the original as possible but replace lath and plaster with plasterboard. Find a nice plasterer you trust to work with you on a room by room basis

Hello. Lining paper is a good method to rid of bad walls after stripping but no guarantees it will leave a completely smooth finsh. Alternatively to skimming the walls you could sand them all down apply a mis coat of paint and use a tetrion filler or better still use a gyproc dry wall cement to even out imperfections. After sand 're coat and maybe a light fill again on some areas.

There are possible options when it come to saving money when renovating a property in my opinion there is no better way than to strip the paper and re-plaster if needed. But it's not always in budget you could try painting over the existing paper if it is in good condition although this will make it harder to strip in the future. You can also fill & sand any cracks or imperfection in the wall after stripping and then use lining paper, I would not recommend papering over them otherwise. I hope this helps in some way and if you do require a quote and some more free advice please feel free to get in touch. Harry

you cannot paper over cracks or cut corners when a major job is required,otherwise the job is not done done right, and will not last long.it is always best to complete the job properly.

Literally "papering over the cracks" is only ever going to be a temporary fix and will never be pleasant on the eye. Because of the age of Victorian houses over the years everyone has only patched where the new sockets have been put or removed and whatever else has been absolutely necessary.The best way is to strip all paper and reskim everything which will future proof the house for years to come and save time/money stripping,re-papering etc