Plaster or renovation fleece wallpaper: when do you choose which?

Why is renovation fleece usually the choice in a new build?

Usually not with a thick layer. A new-build home settles and shrinks during its first years. Paint-ready plaster is hard and does not follow that movement, so small shrinkage cracks come back in your plastered wall. Renovation fleece sits as a flexible layer over the wall and keeps them invisible.

If you still want a plastered wall in a new build that you can paint straight away, you can have your new build plastered. You then knowingly accept the risk of having to get cracks repaired in the first years. We discuss that trade-off honestly at the job survey.

If a new-build wall is not flat enough for renovation fleece straight away, a skim coat goes underneath instead of a thick plaster layer. What a skim coat in a new build costs depends on how many m² it has to cover. And if you already see cracks, they are often shrinkage cracks in a new build, which come with a home that is settling.

When do you choose plaster in an existing home, and when renovation fleece?

In a home that has stood for years, the risk of new shrinkage cracks is much smaller. There the choice depends mainly on the condition of the wall, the room and the look you want.

After removing old wallpaper, the question is often whether renovation fleece alone is enough. We make that choice between a skim layer or renovation fleece on an old wall room by room. If you have spachtelputz, smooth plastering over spachtelputz is the route, and wet rooms we tackle by plastering the bathroom.

Can you make a wall smooth without plastering?

Yes, in many cases. You can make a wall smooth without plastering using renovation fleece, non-woven wallpaper, glass fleece or woven glass fabric wallpaper. These are pasted onto the wall and painted, after which the wall looks even. No wet plaster layer goes on the wall, so you do not have to wait for it to dry either.

There is a limit, though. These finishes follow the shape of the wall; they do not fill it. A wall with holes, open joints or a coarse texture such as spachtelputz will not become flat with them.

If those are present, a skim layer goes underneath first, from €14.49 per m² for large areas, or the wall is smoothed in plaster after all. The alternative to plastering is therefore not another plaster layer, but a finish that goes over a reasonably flat wall.

Not sure whether your wall is flat enough? Then check how smooth a wall needs to be for renovation fleece. The same question comes up with a ceiling, except there you choose between plastering, spraying or renovation fleece on a ceiling.

What does renovation fleece cost compared with plaster?

When comparing, watch what is included in the price. The renovation fleece package includes hanging, filling the joints and one coat of paint. Paint-ready plastering includes materials, but afterwards the wall still has to be primed and painted.

Prices exclude VAT. For homes over 10 years old, VAT is usually 6%; for new builds it is 21%.

If a skim layer is needed under the renovation fleece, it is added as a separate item, from €14.49 per m² for large areas. If you want to see the individual items as well as these two totals, work with what plastering costs per m² and with what renovation fleece costs per m² and per room.

Doesn’t renovation fleece just look like wallpaper?

No, not once it is painted. Painted renovation fleece gives an even wall that looks a lot like plastered work. The difference is in the details: plaster is completely smooth, whereas renovation fleece has a fine fleece texture up close.

For most living rooms, bedrooms and hallways that makes little difference in daily use. If you want a wall with no visible texture at all, for example with a glossy paint or strong raking light, in an existing home you are better off choosing plaster.

Conversely, plaster is not always better either. In a new build that does not hold, because a smooth plastered wall actually shows the shrinkage cracks of a home that is settling.

How long does each option take, and who carries it out?

Renovation fleece is the quickest: wallpapering and painting a complete home takes 3 days, plus the drying time of a skim layer if one is needed. Plaster takes more time. A plasterer plasters on average 100 m² a day, and then the layer has to dry. According to the gypsum manufacturer Knauf, gypsum plaster can be sufficiently dry after about four weeks under good conditions. Only then do the primer and paint go on.

At Bouwsector België our own tradespeople do both: 32 plasterers and 40 wallpaper hangers in one team of 97. If you combine plaster and renovation fleece in one home, we schedule both in a single job. In that schedule we allow for how long plaster has to dry.

In your request, tell us room by room whether it is a new build or an existing home and what is on the wall now: bare wall, old wallpaper or spachtelputz. The route that suits will then already be in the free quote you receive within 24 hours. That way no hard plaster layer goes into a home that is still settling.

At the job survey we check every wall and advise room by room. After that our own tradespeople do the work, whether you have plaster applied or have renovation fleece applied.