Remove Wallpaper before painting or not

[Kendall]

Is it safe here to confess that in 23 years of marriage we have never personally painted an interior wall? I'm too busy schooling kids to care about what the house looks like. But the time has come. There is one layer or wallpaper. Should we paint over it or remove it? Is there a wallpaper removal for dummies website? Or a painting over wallpaper for dummies website?

 

I guess I shouldn't ask for opinions on color from people who haven't seen the house... but feel free to offer some! Floors are either wood or neutral carpet(beige) color.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Kendall

[Mejane]

I know some people paint over wallpaper, but we don't. It can bubble up and make your paint look awful. I say remove it. You can buy a product that helps strip it, or steam it off. Do you have a Home Depot near you? You can do it; they can help. :001_smile:

[Belacqua]

I agree with Mejane: ideally, you do want to remove the wallpaper. However, sometimes it's just welded to the wall and trying to get it off takes weeks and gouges the heck out of the wall.

 

After several failed attempts to remove some 30-year-old paper in my bathroom, I gave up. I used a coat of primer and then painted, and it doesn't look half bad. Not perfect, but good enough.

[Truscifi]

I would try to remove it first. You can rent one of those wallpaper steamer thingies - they make it super easy, especially with one layer. If that fails then you can just paint over it, but it won't look quite as nice.

 

When we bought our house we started removing wallpaper to find that there were up to 4 layers in some rooms. :001_huh:

[Ellie]

If it's at all possible, please do.

 

Out of desperation, we painted over wallpaper in our bathroom. That's because it was original to the house and had been applied directly to the wallboard without any priming, such that removing it also damaged the wall.:glare: Before we painted, Mr. Ellie painted with an oil-base primer, then we did our finishes over that.

 

Someday we'll want to paint our kitchen-breakfast nook. That wallpaper is also original to the house, hung on the wallboard, but we will remove that wallpaper, even if it means we have to pay a professional to do it. I have seen way too many home improvement/decorating shows where layers of wallpaper have to be removed, and I'm not gonna go there.

 

So, yes, if it's at all possible, please remove the wallpaper. You'll thank yourself later.

[Shelly in VA]

We've done both, but I would definitely TRY to remove the wallpaper first. If it was hung properly, it should come off, but if not, you can damage the wallboard trying to remove it. When we have been unable to remove it, we score it with a wallpaper removal scoring tool, then lightly sand, prime and paint. It's kind of a pain, but not as tedious as painting a room with damaged drywall. Ugggh.

 

Colors - I like yellows, colonial-type yellow. I think they make a room look sunny and inviting. That said, my dining room is a mustard color on top with a dark burgundy underneath, my kitchen is an olive green, and the vast majority of the rest of my house is beige. But I have every intention of painting some sunny yellow soon, and we actually just painted the entire basement yellow while we are in the process of finishing it. I'm very happy with that.

 

Good luck; I HATE dealing with wallpaper!

 

Shelly

[SailorMom]

Remove, remove, remove.....

Otherwise, you'll be repainting in a few years.

[sheryl]

Is it safe here to confess that in 23 years of marriage we have never personally painted an interior wall? I'm too busy schooling kids to care about what the house looks like. But the time has come. There is one layer or wallpaper. Should we paint over it or remove it? Is there a wallpaper removal for dummies website? Or a painting over wallpaper for dummies website?

 

I guess I shouldn't ask for opinions on color from people who haven't seen the house... but feel free to offer some! Floors are either wood or neutral carpet(beige) color.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Kendall

 

 

Well, we've been married almost 30 and have painted, but have NEVER wallpapered. My cousin wallpapered our one wallpaper room...dining room. My sister and friends, all but one, have told me it's outdated and MUST go. But, I liked it alot.

 

I would NOT paint over it. I'd strip.

 

Anyway, we were clueless. My 2 friends encouraging us to take it down were helpful. One friend and her dh, good friends of ours, came over and provided an in-home tutorial. They should us how to do it.

 

VERY SIMPLE.

 

1. Borrow OR buy the wallpaper removal steamer.

2. Fill reservoir with water...according to product's instructions. Our friends's unti became hot and steamy IMMEDIATELY, so be ready.

3. Get a large old, used bath towel that will catch drips of water and glue run off. Maybe 2 towels...one for floor and one for hand.

4. Start at the TOP....the steam will run down and it will be more efficient.

5. Beforehand get a scraper

6. Large trash bag

7. Place one towel on floor directly under you

 

Now you're set. On your chair, with unit filled with water, plugged in and NOW turn on......towel in one hand and in a few seconds steam! Now, keep it there...for maybe a section the size of a piece of paper go side to side, up and down, rotate. Run across slowly. Each row and colum for that size may take 30 seconds. Repeat for several sections. Don't let it dry again. Take a break and scrap off. Repeat.

 

Tip: DO NOT hold steamer for TOO long as it will interfere with sheet rock. So, you wouldn't hold it for too long on any row/column. You'll know if you're getting too much water....shorten each stroke. Or, not enough steam, as the paper won't scrap off, so just apply for a few more seconds each stroke.

 

I thought I couldn't do it, but I took down all our wall paper in the d.r. and all together it only took maybe 3 hours. That was doing it to the nth degree. You'll need to go back over again and loosen anything you don't get up.

 

Next, it's time to remove the glue "residue" that was left from steaming.

 

HTH. Sheryl <><

[Krista in LA]

When I decided to pain our kitchen/eating area/hearthroom that had been wallpapered, I tried to remove it first. I tried all of the different methods that were supposed to work, but the paper had been applied directly to the wallboard with no primer. After damaging part of the wallboard and having to repair it, I chose to paint over the rest of it. Try to remove it if you can, but if not, make sure to prime with an oil-based primer (latex can make it bubble) - I used the oil-based Kilz and it worked well. You will also need to putty up the seems to make sure you have a smooth surface. We used a textured paint on top of the primer which made it look awesome - can't tell that we painted over wallpaper. We used the Ralph Lauren suede paint from Home Depot which I don't think they make anymore, but there are other textured paints out there that would probably work just as well or you can add texture to any paint or apply texture prior to painting.

 

GL

[gingersmom]

If you own the house I would definitely remove the wallpaper first.

 

That being said I lived in a rental house with an entire room coated in gold wallpaper. I painted over it and it was fine for the 5 years I was there.

[MaMa2005]

Try to remove it first.

 

We had a room that we tried to remove the wallpaper from. We had one of my DH's high school students helping us. He went in, and just started pulling the paper from the top to the bottom. We went in after about 10 minutes and he had the whole room stripped! The problem - the backing from the wallpaper had become one with the sheet rock.

 

After a trip to the hardware store and some sage advice, we primed the walls with OIL BASED primer and let dry for two days. It permanently adhered the backing to the sheet rock. We then painted and the room looks great. It has a nice texture from the backing of the wallpaper.

 

We have had NO problems with this room. Our saving grace was that we hadn't used a 'paper tiger' to score the wallpaper. If we had, there would have been a million little pinpricks all over the wallpaper backing.

[2cents]

Removing is a must. I cringe whenever I watch those makeover shows and they paint over wallpaper. (shudder)

[Pink Fairy]

I agree to remove it if you can, but if you can't, painting over it should be fine. If you prep it correctly, it doesn't look any different than if you had removed it.

 

How do I know? :tongue_smilie: Picture a bedrroom covered in shimmery gold butterfly wallpaper, 70's style, and impossible to remove. We tried it all--a steamer, different chemicals, homemade solutions--and finally gave up. The wall we'd been working on had to be repaired, then we just used a good, oil-based primer. It's been 8 years, and the walls are fine. We painted the entire interior of the house, and there is no visible difference between our bedroom and the other rooms.

[eaglei]

PLEASE remove the wall paper first!!! (If at all possible)

 

When we painted, we thought we had only one layer of wall paper to remove. Turned out the former owners had SEVEN layers (that we could actually count) of wall paper and paint mixed. They wall papered over the paint, and painted over the wall paper - and they did NOT patch any holes from where they had hung pictures. So every layer we went down, the walls were more and more riddled with little holes. So I would also say, patch the holes, too!!!

 

Now, this may sound strange, but the guy at a Sherwin Williams store actually told us this and it worked. To remove the wall paper use warm water and vinegar . . . but I am sorry to say that I do not remember the ratio . . . only that it worked!

[Kendall]

You all have been so helpful. I'm feeling encouraged. And for the record-we have never wallpapered either. The house came that way. We've been in it 11 years and the house is 45 years old. I don't think any of the paper is original. I have lots of labor (3 teen boys!) so I'm hoping that we will actually do this. You have made it sound possible. There is a small bathroom that I am sure was papered the same time as the living room and kitchen so I think we'll start there trying to remove it and see how it goes.

[Scarlett]

I just bought a house that had some wallpaper....a border and the btm half of the kitchen...border only in master bath and floor to ceiling in the hall bath. Also all hung directly to wall board. It was brutal to remove. Just be aware that it will take time and patience. I got a spray bottle and used hot water to spray it down....I tried gels but didn't think they worked any better. What worked best for me was taking off the top layer of wallpaper....the print basicallly...and then going back later to remove the backing of the wall paper. Also be prepared to do a little texturing work on the walls where wallpaper was applied directly to wall board.

 

I'm thrilled I took the time to do it though. It looks wonderful.

[Scarlett]

You all have been so helpful. I'm feeling encouraged. And for the record-we have never wallpapered either. The house came that way. We've been in it 11 years and the house is 45 years old. I don't think any of the paper is original. I have lots of labor (3 teen boys!) so I'm hoping that we will actually do this. You have made it sound possible. There is a small bathroom that I am sure was papered the same time as the living room and kitchen so I think we'll start there trying to remove it and see how it goes.

 

Get a good scraper with a fairly sharp edge and show the boys how to use it without gauging into the wallboard. It is important they not get carried away. Patience is the name of the game. Took me 8 hours to do my small kitchen breakfast nook.

[Kendall]

Thanks for the advice. I am really hoping that this was not put directly on the wallboard. I don't think the paper is as old as the house so maybe there is hope.