3 minute read
Papering over the cracks
The entrance and stairs of this period home in South Wales had become tired, so the owners decided to get in a quality professional to give it an overhaul. Jason Gunter tells us about the work he carried out...
Our brief from the client on this project was really quite simple, redecorate the space to a professional standard. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige!
Preparation was slowed down by the multple layers of old wallpaper that needed stripping off, before dealing with cracked and missing plaster work.
The first job was to remove the multiple layers of old paper from the walls. The last time that new wallpaper was hung it had been done directly on top of some older paper, which was an absolute pain to remove, even with the use of an industrial Earlex steam stripper.
Once this was all out of the way, we washed down the walls to remove the remaining distemper and sealed them with a coat of Zinsser Gardz.
With all the old decorative materials out of the way, it became apparent that the base plaster needed a fair amount of work to make good. We used Toupret Interior Filler to deal with any large holes and cracks, sanded down with dustless sanding systems from Festool and a Mirka LEROS and another coat of Gardz over the top.
This provided us with a great base to install 1400 lining paper above the dado, ready for Anaglypta papers to be installed.
All the ceilings, cornice, archways and corbels were spray finished with Tikkurila Nova 2 using a Graco 390 Airless Sprayer, before we moved onto the woodwork.
The clients specified that they wanted to keep the handrail and tops of the newels in a stained varnish that they had done themselves, so we used tesa Precision to tape it off and create a straight edge to work to with the gloss.
Knotting solution was applied on bare timber before priming all the woodwork with Caparol Haft Primer due to the existing oil based finishes. As there was only a small amount of new timber, I stuck with the Haft Primer for the whole job, and after two coats we had a solid base ready for finishing with two coats of gloss.
The client picked out two papers from Anaglypta, Milford Plain was installed above the dado, and Alexander below, which were hung with Solvite paste.
Once these were dry, we then proceeded to paint the walls above the dado with Johnstone’s Trade Vinyl Matt in a cream shade, and Acrylic Durable Eggshell in brilliant white for the lower half.
We originally planned to have the job completed in four weeks, but did end up running over by three days in order to ensure the work was done to a high standard and not rushed, and the client was absolutely delighted with the results.
