Bath decorating requires some basic skills to get started but nothing to difficult for the average home owner. Most old town houses will be covered in wall paper and/or artex. The first job would be to strip the old paper and any other wall coverings as efficiently as possible. Note that stripping wall paper cannot be done in a rush as if it is not wet enough it will be very difficult to remove. That is why nearly all Bath Decorators spend lots of time on the preparation especially when dealing with town house decorating!
One of the best devices around for town house decorating and can get the job of wall paper stripping quickly is the steam stripper and I would definitely invest in this device to save time, energy and sore arms! However, if you are using the steamer or any other device it is a good idea to go over the wall paper surface with a scoring tool which will allow the steam or water to penetrate the surface. Also soak the wall first with a handheld spray or sponge.
means that when starting wall paper stripping is to have plenty of bags around to clear the mushy paper as you go round otherwise you will find it sticking to the feet and the paper soon piles up. Dust sheets are required on the floor to protect the carpet from the water and soggy/ mush wall paper. If using a steam stripper I would have some marigolds (rubber gloves) for protection. For safety make sure all electrical sockets, switches are covered with plastic and switch off the electric box when steaming near electrical points.
So you have the wall stripped bare. Before underdoing any painting have a look for any cracks, dents, holes or gouges in the walls and replace and fill in with interior decorating filler. Some town house decorating can have awkward places such as such as cracks along wall and ceiling joints, and between walls and woodwork can be sealed with a mastic which you apply with a mastic gun. For deep cavities around pipes that go through a wall a foam filler is required.
If you are painting any doors use a wood filler to fill in any holes and sand down smoothely. The doors will have to be sanded down before painting which is known as to key the door.
Finally, before painting you may need a preparatory coating to make sure the walls are stable and sealed. For areas such as bathrooms, kitchens it would be a good idea to apply a fungicide which kills off any mould built up in the condensed atmosphere. For plaster walls, new wood or metal a primer paint can be used to seal the surface. The preparation phase for any town house decorating is the most important phase of the whole process. Get this wrong and you could be regretting it later with cracks appearing and worst of all peeling paint. Bath decorating provides an excellent service for town house decorating and will have all this covered as a matter of course.
Town House Decorating
by James Stewart
Bath Decorators
