Cost to remove flaking wallpaper, seal, skim coat, sand a wall

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timmmay

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#196678 8-Jun-2016 21:07

I have a wall with some flaky wallpaper that needs to be fixed up. The area that needs doing is around five square meters, just below the window.

I have a good painter who's here doing something else. He says it will take a couple of hours to get the old wallpaper off (which will take the outer layer of gib), then seal it with an oil based sealer, skim coat, and sand. They're saying $450 + GST for this, or $700 + GST if we want it painted too.

All the estimates I've seen for skim coating are a lot lower than this, but I guess this job is three visits at least: one visit to do the wallpaper and seal, then another to skim, then another to sand. They may have to coat and sand again too.

Is this price reasonable? Doesn't seem toooo bad, but it's not cheap either.

Update: NB: I don't really want advice on doing this myself, either with gib or plaster. I want it done quickly and well, and I have a dodgy shoulder at the moment.

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#1568290 8-Jun-2016 21:32

If that includes the materials, seems pretty reasonable to me (even if not, still reasonable-ish).

IME, there's a large variation in quality among painters. And it does correlate with price. So if you know the guy is good, that's worth something rather than taking a punt on the next guy who might be a bit cheaper and making a mess of it.

RunningMan

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#1568294 8-Jun-2016 21:36

It may be quicker and less work (ie cheaper) to just re gib that section. It's cheaper and easier to plaster new gib with a better finish.

timmmay

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#1568309 8-Jun-2016 21:47

It includes materials. Painter is typically very good, good form with many guys.

Putting up new gib might be quicker if I had a builder, which I don't, but that would need plastering anyway.

Linuxluver

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#1568330 8-Jun-2016 22:47

timmmay:

I have a wall with some flaky wallpaper that needs to be fixed up. The area that needs doing is around five square meters, just below the window.

I have a good painter who's here doing something else. He says it will take a couple of hours to get the old wallpaper off (which will take the outer layer of gib), then seal it with an oil based sealer, skim coat, and sand. They're saying $450 + GST for this, or $700 + GST if we want it painted too.

All the estimates I've seen for skim coating are a lot lower than this, but I guess this job is three visits at least: one visit to do the wallpaper and seal, then another to skim, then another to sand. They may have to coat and sand again too.

Is this price reasonable? Doesn't seem toooo bad, but it's not cheap either.

Cut the GIB out and put new GIB up. A bit of plaster on the joins....sand it at your leisure. Do the plaster again if you cock it up. Paint.

Job done.....for a sheet of GIB and a small bucket of plaster and a trowel....and a sanding block.

If you've NEVER done that before....what a great time to learn! Will save you hundreds and thousands.

A newby can do a great job, with lots of care, in only ten times what it takes a professional.....at 1/10th the price.

So what's it going to be? Your time or your money? :-)

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tdgeek

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#1568358 9-Jun-2016 07:34

Flaky wallpaper

Spray bottle of white vinegar. Spray on, wait 5 or 10 minutes, off it comes, its great.

Sand wall with rough sandpaper, say 80

Skim coats are easy. You don't actually aim to add a thin tradesman-like plaster layer, you do a level 5 skim. Put excess plaster on an area of say a few square feet. Thick, really thick. Take it all off. You are removing all the plaster, except what fills up imperfections. Do it again if need be.

Seal and paint.

Vinegar is cheap, plaster is about 35 a 10 litre pail, you don't need anywhere near that much, sealer and paint. Bit O sandpaper.

tdgeek

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#1568361 9-Jun-2016 07:48

Linuxluver:

timmmay:

I have a wall with some flaky wallpaper that needs to be fixed up. The area that needs doing is around five square meters, just below the window.

I have a good painter who's here doing something else. He says it will take a couple of hours to get the old wallpaper off (which will take the outer layer of gib), then seal it with an oil based sealer, skim coat, and sand. They're saying $450 + GST for this, or $700 + GST if we want it painted too.

All the estimates I've seen for skim coating are a lot lower than this, but I guess this job is three visits at least: one visit to do the wallpaper and seal, then another to skim, then another to sand. They may have to coat and sand again too.

Is this price reasonable? Doesn't seem toooo bad, but it's not cheap either.

Cut the GIB out and put new GIB up. A bit of plaster on the joins....sand it at your leisure. Do the plaster again if you cock it up. Paint.

Job done.....for a sheet of GIB and a small bucket of plaster and a trowel....and a sanding block.

If you've NEVER done that before....what a great time to learn! Will save you hundreds and thousands.

A newby can do a great job, with lots of care, in only ten times what it takes a professional.....at 1/10th the price.

So what's it going to be? Your time or your money? :-)

Yep. Im doing the kitchen at our old place. But buying a hawk, wide hand held scraper/trowel and a trowel, and a corner edger it all adds up.

But for a small job, I'd recommend just a 8" wide scraper, easier to use, I find the normal hand trowel grabs as you trowel, albeit Im just a DIYer, taught by Youtube.

I also lubricate the trowel in water and a quick water spray to do the final trowel after applying. A tradesman would have the plaster viscosity just right and have the skill so I make up for that as described.

timmmay

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#1568364 9-Jun-2016 07:58

Linuxluver:

Cut the GIB out and put new GIB up. A bit of plaster on the joins....sand it at your leisure. Do the plaster again if you cock it up. Paint.

Job done.....for a sheet of GIB and a small bucket of plaster and a trowel....and a sanding block.

If you've NEVER done that before....what a great time to learn! Will save you hundreds and thousands.

A newby can do a great job, with lots of care, in only ten times what it takes a professional.....at 1/10th the price.

So what's it going to be? Your time or your money? :-)

Appreciate the suggestion, re-gibbing might be a good idea in some situations, but not this one.

It's around a window with a complex window sill.
It would be two or more sheets of gib
Because it's paint over wallpaper it would need a skim coat to join to the rest of the wall, and probably means more work
I have a dodgy shoulder after hurting it at the gym last year, two cortisone injections later it's still not right, so I can't lift anything heavy, so I'd need someone else to do most of the work
I have no way to move gib to my house, so I'd have to pay for delivery
My wife really, really wants this done quickly and the painters can start today

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

timmmay

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#1568377 9-Jun-2016 08:01

tdgeek:

Flaky wallpaper

Spray bottle of white vinegar. Spray on, wait 5 or 10 minutes, off it comes, its great.

Sand wall with rough sandpaper, say 80

Skim coats are easy. You don't actually aim to add a thin tradesman-like plaster layer, you do a level 5 skim. Put excess plaster on an area of say a few square feet. Thick, really thick. Take it all off. You are removing all the plaster, except what fills up imperfections. Do it again if need be.

Seal and paint.

Vinegar is cheap, plaster is about 35 a 10 litre pail, you don't need anywhere near that much, sealer and paint. Bit O sandpaper.

Thanks for the advice. There's wallpaper with about 7 layers of paint over the top. Some is just pealing off without any tools, some is super stuck. Vinegar won't do much to paint I don't think. When it all comes off it takes off the cardboard coating on the outside of the gib, which the painters says needs to be sealed with an oil based sealer.

Yes I could probably work out how to skim, and I may one day. Probably not today though.

Tockly

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#1568379 9-Jun-2016 08:14

Added bonus if you re-gibbed you could add insulation at the same time.

I did that and it made a massive difference.

timmmay

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#1568380 9-Jun-2016 08:15

Already insulated, foam pumped in a few years ago. It's not the best insulation but it was low impact. As we have to open up walls I replace it with fibreglass insulation.

tdgeek

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#1568381 9-Jun-2016 08:17

timmmay:

tdgeek:

Flaky wallpaper

Spray bottle of white vinegar. Spray on, wait 5 or 10 minutes, off it comes, its great.

Sand wall with rough sandpaper, say 80

Skim coats are easy. You don't actually aim to add a thin tradesman-like plaster layer, you do a level 5 skim. Put excess plaster on an area of say a few square feet. Thick, really thick. Take it all off. You are removing all the plaster, except what fills up imperfections. Do it again if need be.

Seal and paint.

Vinegar is cheap, plaster is about 35 a 10 litre pail, you don't need anywhere near that much, sealer and paint. Bit O sandpaper.

Thanks for the advice. There's wallpaper with about 7 layers of paint over the top. Some is just pealing off without any tools, some is super stuck. Vinegar won't do much to paint I don't think. When it all comes off it takes off the cardboard coating on the outside of the gib, which the painters says needs to be sealed with an oil based sealer.

Yes I could probably work out how to skim, and I may one day. Probably not today though.

Ah ok, it wont remove paint, no. All in all, wife wants it now, best to avoid the DIYing and just get it done. Sometimes, the money is the best way to go

timmmay

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#1568393 9-Jun-2016 08:46

Yeah, she's not even keen on me doing the painting myself, especially the new window frame, as she doesn't think I'm a careful painter. She's probably right, I'm pretty fast but not always that careful, so I'd better do this one properly.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1568554 9-Jun-2016 11:10

Check out www.builderscrack.co.nz. You can list a free advert for the work you need done, and tradies with applicable skills are instantly notified. Just make sure you list as many details about the job as you can, and select the types of trademen you need. They will then chase you for the job - no need to ring dozens of tradies only to find they are too busy. You'll only get responses from tradies who have the time to do the work. You can review their feedback to select the one based on their price as well as their customer feedback.

I think it's a fantastic service and have used it may times for different sized jobs. It's saved me a LOT of phonecalls and running around over the last few years.

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

timmmay

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#1568638 9-Jun-2016 12:56

I know about builders crack thanks, I use it often enough. I just wanted a quick opinion about whether the quote I was given was reasonable.

KrazyKid

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#1568671 9-Jun-2016 13:50

I ended up paying about $3500 to re-line, insulate and stop an entire room last year (Dunedin prices - no idea how they compare nationally).

I recall the price to strip & skim vs new gib was about the same.

The room was about 16m2 in floor area (35-40 m2 wall area).
We then painted it ourselves

So $450 to strip for an area 1/8 of the size seems ok.

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