Ballpark Cost to strip Wallpaper and Paint?

mothermachine · 2 Sep 2013 at 08:46

Hi folks,

The missus and I are about to buy our first house together (very excited... and nervous!) and we'll be looking to strip all the wallpaper off the walls (and ceilings!) in all the rooms and hallways etc (apart from bathroom). Standard 2 up 2 down terraced house.

Any ideas roughly how much it would cost to have a professional (or a team) strip the wallpaper and paint? I'm guessing there will be some holes revealed (or created) in the process which will need filling too. Any ideas as to timescales? As I say fairly standard 2 up 2 down plus hallways etc. No idea at all of how many layers of wallpaper or state of repair of the walls etc.

With 2 kids and tough work schedule DIY is probably unrealistic.

Thanks!

mothermachine · 2 Sep 2013 at 08:48

Also, any ideas as to general cost to move a boiler (combi I think) down from upstairs room to downstairs kitchen? Assuming gas already piped into kitchen.

Cheers!

mothermachine · 2 Sep 2013 at 11:19

Thanks folks! Great info and advice so far.

I'm definitely thinking of having this done by a pro. No time to do it myself, especially with the kids etc.

I have no idea how many layers of wallpaper there are or what the underlying wall quality is, but the couple living there have been there for 40 years, so I doubt there would be too many because of that. Most likely 2-3 I'd guess? Will find out soon enough.

It's a low-priority job but if we're looking at around £1500-2000 or so as a ballpark that's not too bad I guess.

The main one for me is moving that boiler down into the kitchen. It worries me a bit why it's actually upstairs at all, and why it's in one of the bedrooms on the other side of the house from the kitchen and bathroom.... survey happening today so might find out about that.

mothermachine · 2 Sep 2013 at 11:57

Nightglow said:
Would also be worthwhile having electrics fully checked, unless it's been rewired in the last 10 years or so.

Apparently it will be, as part of the Full Structural Survey. Or it should be anyway!

Cheers

mothermachine · 2 Sep 2013 at 13:38

Nightglow said:
A Full Structural Survey is only a visual inspection of the visible electrics, ie sockets, consumer unit, etc I believe.

It won't cover earthing or bonding,Insulation resistance, earth-fault loop impedance tests,etc.

Ah. Well perhaps I'll get someone in to give it all the once over after we've moved in. Would prefer to make sure that's all sorted before we're in for obvious safety reasons but what can you do!

Thanks,

mothermachine · 2 Sep 2013 at 14:57

Aye it's not massive but not small either. 2 double beds, 1 small single/office, a living room and dining area (quite long) and a hallway plus stairs. Maybe we should realistically be looking at more like £3k here?

mothermachine · 3 Sep 2013 at 10:46

I think we'll have to get someone pro to do it - we will be in a rush, since it will have to be done before we move in, so a matter of 6 weeks give or take.

I've also just discovered that these walls are actually most likely not regular wallpaper but the dreadded Artex.... which means that they might well be asbestos.......... yikes. I think we're going to be looking potentially at a total asbestos Artex removal here, along with plaster and paint job after. Would all need to be done professionally of course, and in under 6 weeks....

That said, the only way to find out if it's asbestos or not is to have it tested, so fingers crossed. There's a small chance it was put in after mid 80s/early 90s, which would mean it would be clean. Or it's not actual branded Artex but some alternative which should also be clean.

This is looking like a big job...

mothermachine · 3 Sep 2013 at 12:40

pitchfork said:
If it's artex have a plasterer come in and skim it instead of removing it.

Trust me, last time I went to remove artex I contemplated burning the house down so I wouldn't have to deal with it because it was just such a horrible pig of a job. Not to mention if you strip artex you'll almost certainly need to plaster after anyway because of how ****ed the surface underneath gets in the process.

Asbestos isn't an issue that way.

This is what I'm thinking might be best. However, if it's just the ceilings covered and the walls are just wallpaper then I think I'll just have it removed... comes down to cost I guess. Will hopefully get this survey back in the next day or two and we can have a closer look at what we're dealing with.

mothermachine · 3 Sep 2013 at 16:33

pitchfork said:
Yeah, I've seen artexing on the walls on occasion but it's pretty rare to see nowadays, most people realised it looked crap and got rid.

More likely woodchip, and thats an absolute pain in the ******** to strip as well. Commonly used in council houses of old to cover up shoddy plastering.

Ceilings will almost certainly be artex though.

I've got all my fingers crossed that this is the case! I honestly don't care about the quality of the plaster so long as the artex is only on the ceilings.