Wall Skimming
Wall Skimming or Skim Coating, is a technique used to smooth over walls or ceilings upon the removal of wall paper or texture. It is also used when walls or ceilings have many imperfections, bumps, and damage to most of the surface area.
It is important when removing wall paper or texture that an oil based sealer undercoat is applied to the walls or ceilings. This helps to seal in any damage that has occurred to the GIB® Board paper. It also acts as a stain blocker against the glues used in wall papering and ensures no other stains such as mould growth come through. GIB® Site Guide also recommends the use of an oil based sealer when skimming over previously wallpapered walls.
The next step is to tape all the joints. This is essential to having aesthetically pleasing walls that are resistant to cracks. In almost all New Zealand homes that were built prior to the 1990's, a coat of plaster with no tape was applied. This was to smooth out the wall joints in preparation for the wall-paper to be put on. Hence why you can see small or sometimes large cracks running all along the joints once the wall paper is removed. Even if a crack is not present, one will likely appear in time if the joint is not taped
We choose to use a combination of fibre tape and paper tape when skimming walls or ceilings. We use fibre tape on all wall joints and paper tape on all inside corners. We also apply new metal corner trims to all outside corners as well. One of the strongest reasons why fibre tape is opted for on the wall or ceiling joints is that it sits flatter to the wall. This makes it easier to conceal resulting in a more aesthetically pleasing surface. We ensure that all joints are taped using a chemically setting plaster. These are recognised by plaster manufacturers as having stronger bonding properties and well as being more crack resistant than air dry compounds. It is also ideal for taping as chemically setting compounds are not water soluble meaning that once set, it cannot be made soft again via water.
After taping is completed, two skim coats of an air drying plaster are applied to the entire surface of the walls. Air drying compounds are the optimum choice for this step due to their ease of sanding. An important consideration too is that paint will not adhere properly to chemically setting plaster and is only designed to be applied to an air drying plaster.
Sanding is performed after each skim coat is applied with the use of a dustless sander to minimise dust in the house, followed by hand sanding around all architraves and final touches. At the end of the job all remaining dust is cleaned up.
Check out our sample video below and photo gallery to see samples of our work!