O.T: replacing wallpaper with paint?

Liz - I've never painted over wallpaper; only panelling. Have you tried a strong vinegar-water spray to remove the paper? We found it amazingly quick to remove 20yo paper from the walls in our old house. And if that doesn't work, I'd go with sanding and painting. As you say, it can't be much worse than what's currently there! Good luck.

Helen

Liz wrote:

I used a commercial wallpaper remover, and it worked beautifully! Some people at my office assured me it would never work on very old paper, but these are people who tend NOT to follow directions for anything, so I tried it anyway. I scored the paper thoroughly with one of those handy tools they sell to score wallpaper, mixed the remover according to the recipe on the can, and waited the entire time recommended before peeling the paper off the wall. I let it dry overnight, put on a coat of primer, and then painted. Excellent results!

I had wallpaper in the bathroom here. It was okay, but a teal stripe that went with nothing that I owned. I redid the bathroom recently. I didn't want to do the work that would render the walls paintable again so went sideways.

I bought textured anaglypta paper and re-papered, then painted in pale yellow. Anaglypta paper is made to be painted and comes in all sorts of textures. I was surprised to find it here although it is common in the UK. There was even one for ceilings, made to look like a tin ceiling lol

Now that is done, anytime I want to change colours, I will just repaint it as I would a normal, painted wall. It just saves the hassle of trying to render the wall paintable once wallpaper has been applied. Plus, the bonus of texture is very attractive.

Ohh - I'm going to file the stuff away for future reference.

As to the original question - I have no clue!

Cheryl

I forgot to add, you can buy it pre-pasted or plain as well.

Liz,

I had the same basic stuff in the downstairs bathroom. Vinyl layer peeled off leaving paper layer on the walls.

I soaked the paper with a mister bottle and then scraped it off with a plastic putty knife. I had to sponge it as well, to remove the last of the glue.

Process took me about 2 days, but left the walls 100% ready to paint.

HTH,

Caryn

I've also heard that using a mixture of fabric softener and water works really well. Score the paper with that little scorer thing-a-ma-bob and sponge it on. Comes right off.

Pat in SJ

Soak or steam and scrape the paper backing off or you`ll never be happy with it.

Pat P

snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com,

Fortunately,

Make sure you mean it, though. It`s a bugger to get off! We had some at our first house.

Pat P

Liz,

Nothing to be afraid of! We removed paper and painted when we moved into our house.

Step 1: If there's a vinyl coating on the paper, score it with a paper tiger or something of the type first. Then spray LIBERALLY with any commercial wallpaper glue dissolver. Wait at least 30 minutes. I find that men have the hardest time removing wallpaper because they don't have the patience to wait! Then spray it down again and start scraping with a wallpaper scraper. Keep it wet, respraying as necessary. The vinyl (if it's that type of paper) may separate from the rest of the paper, but that's OK. Trick is to keep the paper wet at all times.

Step 2: Wash the wall with mild soapy water and a rag. Then dry.

Step 3: Spackle/sand any holes or rough spots. Clean area.

Step 4: Primer! Don't go cheap with primer. One coat will do, though.

Step 5: Apply the lovely paint color of your choice!

Best of luck and have fun!

Barbara

Liz wrote:

I just wanted a painted wall and this way was the easy route to painted, plus the extra benefit of a little texture to it. It's very small texture, almost like a linen look, not one of the wild textures. Everyone who sees it gives it the thumbs up.

If it is the paper backing of the paper that remains on the wall, I would suggest using "Dep". It is a blue gel that you either spray on the wall or use a brush to paint it on. You can get it at Walmart or the Home Depot or Lowes. It is pretty cheap too. You put it on the backing and leave it for 10 min or so. Then you can scrap with a scraper.

This has saved me lots of aggravation. Remember when borders were the rage? Well, the glue I used to put them up was like cement! This was the only thing that worked.

Good Luck. It takes elbow grease but is worth it.

Diane

Liz wrote: Does anyone know what kind of terrible

You're always best removing the paper before painting. There can be trouble with discoloration of the paint and with texture. I've seen it done in decorating shows, particularly the ones where they are getting the house ready for sale and they won't have to live with it. I've lived in apartments with painted wallpaper. You couldn't tell, except where it met the ceiling, and had started to peel away from the underwall, taking the (multiple layers of) paint with it. If you decide to paint over the wallpaper, I'd suggest you at least put on a coat of primer. Dora

Wow, what a lot of money to spend on special stuff!

I used water and elbow grease and a bit of spackle.

Caryn

Words of warning from someone who has been through the same thing. Since you have the vinyl coating off don't use the paper tiger mentioned, you will go through to the drywall! Also, do not let your husband attack the vinyl paper with the paper tiger. My DH took out his work frustrations on the paper and went down to the drywall - I had to patch huge areas of drywall that was covered in tiny holes before I could prime and paint! Suggestions: Make sure your spackel (or whatever repair medium you use) is sanded well, since it will show through on the paint. I wish I had the sander I have now, it would have been much nicer. Also, be sure to get paint that can have bacteriacide added. I purchased Benjamin Moore from Ace and they added this to both primer and paint and it really helped in our small, poorly ventilated bathroom.

Good luck. It will be worth it in the end. Margaret Midlothian, VA PS don't call a decorating show, you never know what you will get and often you get something weird. Just ask the woman with the Pullman car bedroom from Trading Spaces - or the one with feather walls, or the one with silk flower walls!

Liz,

I helped a friend remove "good" wallpaper from the walls > Thanks to all for your advice. I think I'm going to just use a squirt

tell me about it! We have two kittens (half grown) who insist on using the corners of most rooms as scratching posts! In 99% of the house that is no problem, as there are wood strips on the corners. But in our bedroom, the room is wallpapered. They have literally shredded the paper - it is hanging from the corner! AGH! And they *do* have a scratching/climbing post. Kim

-- Kim's Stitching Shop is Closing Prices Dropped Again! 6/20/05 Lavender & Lace Patterns $5.00!!

on 6/29/05 2:34 PM, Barbara Hass at snipped-for-privacy@purdue.edu posted:

Just to add to this good advice - alot of newer wallpaper is designed so that the surface separates from the backing, just by peeling. If so, then peel it, and you can just wet it with the DIF or other wallpaper solvent. If it's only the backing, you needn't use the paper tiger (scoring gadget). I think if you check out DIYnet.com, you'll find some demo on removing wallpaper.

Definitely use good primer. Even expensive primer is cheaper than paint. We're in the process of using KILZ on all the stripped walls. Works great, and gives a nice base to paint upon.

If your wallpaper isn't textured such that would show, and you just want to paint - there is a specialty primer available just for that. We bought a gallon of it - you apply it directly on the existing wallpaper, and then paint over it. We're using it in the area with the 55 yr old paper that was under the hideaous metallic foil with flocking paper from about 1974. Don't want to remove the really old paper, as we're concerned for the wallboard beneath - hence the specialty primer. It might've been a little expensive - but not horrific. The stuff we got is called "NO STRIP" Universal Wallcovering Primer - from a company named "Roman Decorating Products" . IT has a Mildew gaurd in it. Anyhow - the manager of the paint section at Lowe's suggested it - while we were buying the other 30 gals of paint, and

Ditto.

Ellice - in the midst of doing the same here so we can sell the house to people who won't have to cover the icky wallpaper.