Bad walls and ceilings old DIY job

[anothercanofworms]

Hi all,
Fairly handy around the house, have painted a few walls in my time. What was meant to be a quick paint job in the living room has turned into a bit of a nightmare. Previous terribly prepped and executed DIY job from the looks of it.

Two main issues:

1) bulging in walls and ceiling. Painting over previously peeling paint, badly filled holes, etc. Pics attached. Ceiling, see 2) below...

2) cracks in walls and ceiling.
MESH TAPE. It was applied terribly and filled over even worse so it bulged our really badly. I tore into it and now I don’t know if I should just fill with polyfilla all purpose (as planned) or use something else and/or if I need to use tape at all? Cracks in middle of the wall and ceiling not on joints as far as I can see. Same for the wall but no tape. Cracks look scary so I’m concerned...
Any help or advice really welcome! Thanks!

 

[Tombstone]

Big dirty job, all plaster needs to be removed. Replaster or replace with drywall.

 

[Silentrunning]

If you are planning on living in the house for years to come you should remove the plaster down to the lath. This is NOT a diy job because it probably contains asbestos. Another option would be, as mentioned above, to drywall over it. A third opinion would be to get a professional plasterer in to repair the walls to their original condition. Good luck.

 

[He who knows]

There's no evidence that it's lath & paster, but OTOH there is clearly some evidence that plasterboard is being used. It's getting on for nearly 100 years since we stopped using L&P.

As for asbestos, I've never heard of it being a possibility in plaster. Textured coatings like Artex, yes, but not in basic plaster. But it's evil stuff, so better safe than sorry is the apposite approach, and the OP should do some research.

But a plasterer should know how likely it is, and I think a plasterer is what's called for....

 

[He who knows]

Hi all,
Fairly handy around the house, have painted a few walls in my time. What was meant to be a quick paint job in the living room has turned into a bit of a nightmare. Previous terribly prepped and executed DIY job from the looks of it.

Yup.

1) bulging in walls and ceiling.

The ceiling could just be sagging P/B from mechanical damage or water leaks. See below.

The only wall "bulge" I can see is under that beam/steel (I hope...) where I guess a wall was removed? Probably they just didn't chip quite enough away and thought that once plastered nobody would know. Guess what. Overboarding with dot'n'dab would probably hide it. But see below.

MESH TAPE. It was applied terribly and filled over even worse so it bulged our really badly.

It's meant to be used on joins between taper edged boards and then filled or skim-coated over:

You look to have square-edge boards, so filling is always going to stand proud. Even with T/E though you're on a hiding to nothing if you just want to paint the walls - even a really good job of filling will show. If you paper you'll be in much better shape. If you want to paint, put up some heavy-duty lining paper first But see below.

I tore into it and now I don’t know if I should just fill with polyfilla all purpose (as planned) or use something else and/or if I need to use tape at all?

Assuming square edged boards, if you just fill and paint it will crack. Heavy lining paper you have a good chance of working. Tape will stand proud if the edges are square. See below.

Cracks in middle of the wall and ceiling not on joints as far as I can see. Same for the wall but no tape. Cracks look scary so I’m concerned...

Well, you're there and I'm not, so if you say so, but all those cracks in straight lines and 90° bends look so much like they follow the edges and corners of boards.... If so, no worries - see below.

The diagonal one might be a real crack - you won't know until you strip it back to brick and then see if it's moving. See below.

Any help or advice really welcome! Thanks!

I can't help wondering if you know what needs to be done, but are hoping you're wrong....

Below.

It's carp, basically, and you aren't going to be able to un-carp it by applying anything on top of what's there. You need to get a plasterer - polyfilla ain't going to hack it. Maybe the ceilings need replacing, maybe they don't. Maybe it would be easier and cheaper to replace or overboard anyway. But your plasterer can tell you.

Ditto the walls. It all looks pretty straightforward from the photos, no catastrophes there, (subject to what's under that diagonal crack) but it needs taking back to basics and plastering/boarding/skimming to a proper standard.

Sorry.