I will answer this one in 2 parts. 1) If you have plaster walls, then your home was most likely built prior to 1978. It depends on the area, I suppose, but the majority of homes built Pre-1978 have dangerous amounts of lead in the paint. Because of this, I highly recommend either getting a lead test before DIY-ing it, or hiring a professional company that's certified to do lead abatement and lead maintenance repainting. If you scrape/sand/etc over lead paint with children in the house, then unfortunately, asthma and allergies will be the least of your worries. Lead has been shown to cause severe birth defects in fetuses of pregnant women, as well as learning deficits, lowered IQ, organ damage, ADHD, and other serious problems in children. It also affects adults, although to a lesser extent. Lead dust/chips, when inhaled or swallowed, stays in the bone marrow for decades and slowly releases into the bloodstream, where it damages organs including the brain, liver, heart, etc. ================================= 2) If by plaster you really meant to say "drywall", then unfortunately, the only way to hide this defect is by applying joint compound, sanding, oil priming and painting. If your son has asthma, a way to counter this is, ironically, doing the same thing a lead abatement company would do: Quarantine the area off with plastic and painters tape (they use duct tape and 6mm plastic for lead, but you dont need all that), turn off the AC/Heat and plastic the vents and return system, and completely box in the area sealed tight. Then, once he is done, have him do the "TSP sandwich"- clean the dust up with TSP mixed with water (8 parts water, 1 part TSP), then have him use a HEPA vacuum to vacuum all of the area, then wet-wipe again with the TSP/water combo. At this point, have the area air scrubbed with a HEPA filter (air scrubber preferably, but a lower strength one will do), then remove the plastic and immediately bag it. Problem solved. ALSO, one more thing:Even if a self-leveling paint could cover this ridge(which it wont, self leveling doesnt work over obvious ridges like that), then you would still need to clean the walls with TSP and water and then apply an oil primer before doing the self-leveling paint, in order to clean and then prime over any remnants of, the wallpaper glue. If you just put the paint over the ridge as it currently is, it would probably start to peel due to the wallpaper glue or glue remnants.

Yes Tinker.... You're one of the waaaayyyy too many victims of the "Realtor-induced" Paint-the-trim-and-sell-it phenomenon. I REALLLY WISH most sellers would leave well enough alone. Slapping-up a quick coat of paint usually causes MORE headaches for the new buyers. Sure....it looks good for a bit right before a sale, but then the reality of NO PREP sinks in! Latex paint IS RUBBERY for quite some time! That's the major advantage....flexibility. If it was as hard as Oils, it wouldn't breathe. The Truth/Remedy can be a b*tch....peel-off/sand-off/strip-off the existing paint. The existing paint not peeling now soon will be. And yes, obviously, choose Top-notch 100%-Acrylic paint in a Satin or higher sheen. Once the old oil paint is thoroughly scuff-sanded with 100-grit paper & all dust removed...you're at last ready for 2 coats of your new paint. Priming...wellllll....never hurts, but if you sand well, AND get real good paint, you're good-to-go! Faron

You have to decide how you want it done and then agree to pay the painter's wages to accomplish it. Any painter worth his salt will always abide by the customer's wishes, as long as the customer is fair and a good paying customer. To sand,wash, prime and two coat a wall should cost about $3.75 - $5 per sf. (depending on products) Is that in your budget? I worked differently when I sold residential repaints. I washed, sanded, primed and two coated. It was my company philosophy and there were no short-cuts. I didn't have to chase work, it came to me. I never had to hurry up and get to the next job because the current job was a well paying job. There's a difference between a painted room and a professionally painted room. When a room is just painted with the least prep, people don't ask about it. When it's painted with maximum prep and high quality paint, people ask, "who did your painting?" A painter's career is also steered by his clientle. If he falls prey to the shopper who doesn't think a painter should make at least $25 per hour, then his career is a struggling one. If a painter seeks to build his business with professional clientle who value quality work, products and true professionalism, he'll find himself becoming one of the highest paid painters in town, with less work on his schedule. :) This doesn't hold true with everyone, but my experience was that auto workers making $30 per hour somehow thought that I was only worth $10 per hour. As I grew older, I was painting the homes of my customers children. I no longer pursue that vocation. I've let it go for another adventure. I've had many offers to sell for my former competition. However, when I see their presentation and their work ethic, I choose to remain apart from them. I know that's more than you wanted to know, but I feel like talking today. :) Michael

I've been applying the poly with a brush and with a synthetic pad (Cannot get lambswool where I am). It was a grueling day. Took many hours to do one coat. I don't think I can do this again for the second and third coat, it was just too hard. I found this mirofiber roller--is this ok to use with oil poly? I need something to go on more fast for the next coats.