An old house with uneven walls & ceilings does it need replastering or just skimming

Hard to say exactly without actually seeing the condition of everything but will do my best. If you have lath & plaster ceilings,they could be over-boarded first then skimmed. (do not let anyone skim directly onto lath & plaster ceilings) If the ceilings are quite badly bowed they may have to come down or you might be able to fix new batons onto existing joists first & then board & skim. If the walls are good and sound,then they can be prepped & re-skimmed although you will still run risks of new skim developing cracks on old plaster. You can tell if it's pretty sound by knocking it with your knuckles in various places. If it's sound,it will feel like you are knocking on the brickwork itself but if it's loose you will hear the plaster knocking back against the bricks you may even see the plaster move in which case it may have to all come off & then re-plastered. As previously said though,you will always run the risk of re-skims cracking on old plaster,no matter how sound it may appear. Also,as it's an old house might be an idea to check for damp as well. I suppose it all boils down to what your budget is,it can be false economy just having old walls re-skimmed; might be alright for a year or two then you might start developing cracks and you will be left wishing you had it all re-newed in the first place. Best thing to do is get sound,professional advice from a plasterer. Put your request on Post a Job & you will receive interest from local plasterers who will request a site visit. Check any feedback they may have and make sure they have up-to-date liabilty insurance. If you want to know anything else,please don't hesitate to ask. Hope this has been of some help to you. Carl.

You have had some good advice, especialy from Carl, very well explained. Totally agree.

skimming will be no good,only 3 to 4 mm thick,need to re coat,bond,as for ceilings overboard is the way to go,as what you have will probably be have up there is lath and lace,this is not a good material to replaster on,yours chris.

hi ..depends how uneven the walls and ceilings are{and your budget} ..a skim coat could be used to smooth out minor defects but if the walls are very uneven then you can bond and skim ..my opinion ..skim all the walls and ceilings to get out any minor defects and use a matt emulsion as this stops any light reflecting on bad areas and im sure you will be happy with the results{as long as you use a decent plasterer and decorater } good luck with your wobbly house

A plasterer needs to view if the walls and ceilings are of lathe and plaster in my experience they need to be stripped back to the joists denailed and plaster boardsed and leveled out if possible with bonding and then plaster applied. phil

Carl has explained this very well , also do u want to keep the old look on your walls because a old vintage property might want to keep some of the old shapes of walls to keep the old building feel instead of stripping back and havin every wall dot and dab'd and have perfect new build leveled walls , all depends on you preferance Carl CT plastering