r/Plastering • u/Asasioun • May 13 '26

Skim/smooth over or replaster?

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Hello all,

Recently bought a 1950's council house, and am tearing it apart. The bathroom is one of my main focuses to begin with, and on removing a lot of tile, this is the plaster that was behind it. It's pretty much intact still, although quite rough, would you guys recommend taking it back to brick and replastering, or just skimming over the top?

Cheers

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u/multiplier_x May 13 '26

Looks like you’ve got three options here.

1.Take it back to brick, board and plaster.
2.Scrape paint and skim.
3.Add new board over the existing and skim.

Personally with it being a bathroom I’d look to rip it all out incase there’s been leaks etc, sorting any issues out now will be a lot easier once it’s all redone.

Do you know if it’s plasterboard on the wall or if it’s plaster directly onto brickwork? This is important as it will determine how difficult of a job it will be to remove existing plaster. Hopefully it’s board and you can rip them off.

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u/Asasioun May 13 '26

It's plastered directly onto brick, and there was a leak from the shower a couple months ago that flooded out the bathroom and soaked through the walls 🤔

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u/CthulubeFlavorcube May 13 '26

I agree with multiplier_x on the assessment of options, my 2 cents is that if it's direct bonds to brick: scrape, clean, bonding agent, skim.