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xtremeski2001

Wallpaper Mess

xtremeski2001
10 years ago

Hi All,

Bought a house in 2013, built in 1992. Previous owners created a few interesting situations that have me frustrated, but I'm a first time home-buyer and didn't see this situation prior to purchase. Here we go:

- There are rooms where it appears there used to be wallpaper. Someone tried to remove it, but not very well and if you look at the wall right it looks like they painted over the sticky paper/backing.
- There are some rooms where someone straight up painted right over the wallpaper.
- There are rooms where I've started to peel away the wallpaper and am finding it's attached directly to sheetrock.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist so the above is going to be a significant issue. Aside from replacing all the sheetrock, what's my best and most efficient bet to resolve the situation and have smooth/clean walls? Will perspective home owners pass up on a house if they see wallpaper was painted over?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

Comments (9)

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    10 years ago

    try this see link
    but it sounds as if replacing the drywall might be your best bet
    if it was applied without proper prep, then it is for the most part now part of the wall
    the installer should be hung by the thumbs

    for days

    Here is a link that might be useful: stripping

  • debrak2008
    10 years ago

    My DH is also a perfectionist and drywalled over all the existing wallpaper in the house we purchased. All except the bathroom where the paper came off easily. The other rooms he knew it would be impossible to get the walls smooth enough to meet his standards.

    As for your question about perspective buyers, you did.

  • Vertise
    10 years ago

    debrak, how did you handle things like the door jams when adding an extra layer of drywall?

  • Faron79
    10 years ago

    "Hung by the thumbs..." YEP...that should've been done to the paper-hangers here...LOL!

    I too usually come down on the side of "rip out the damn drywall & do it over"!!!!
    Believe-it-or-no...it's usually faster, & the end result is better.

    (unless you want endless passes over the wall to remove paint/old residues, cleaning/rinsing, priming/Gardzing, the patchings/skimmings/sandings, dust-removal, final priming....)

    Planned correctly by the right trades-people, in 2 days you could have beautiful newly-rocked walls!! Especially if the HO's can do the demo.

    Faron

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    10 years ago

    snook, you really need to tear the old stuff out to the studs, adding over top is just creating more work( for a carpenter)

  • tuesday_2008
    10 years ago

    I covered up badly damaged sheetrock with 1/4" new sheetrock (long story...paper applied over raw sheetrock and mud; walls damaged from removal of glued paneling, etc). The thing that made it easier for me was that I was installing all new trim and doors.

    I had no problems with the electrical outlets - most cases just used longer screws for the covers, etc. A few needed some "tweeking".

    If you have fairly thick trim, you could actually butt the 1/4" sheetrock against it and caulk the edges with a good quality paintable caulk vs mudding. My guy did that around my kitchen cabinets and you cannot tell the difference.

  • graywings123
    10 years ago

    Short of ripping out the sheetrock, you remove the wallpaper by whatever method you choose and then repair the damaged sheetrock.

    I did it by priming with an oil-based primer, then mudding with drywall mud, sanding, then priming again with oil-based primer. The oil-based primer puts a waterproof layer between the sheetrock and the water-based drywall mud so that it doesn't soak into the drywall.

    As a DIYer, I can do this. I can't replace sheetrock by myself.

  • lam702
    10 years ago

    I sympathize. I have removed more wallpaper than I like to remember. Its a tedious, miserable job. When selling my mothers house for her, she had many rooms with old, peeling wallpaper on walls that had not been primed, it was very difficult to remove. Some rooms we just put 1/4" sheetrock over it, yes, its an extra expense but saves a lot of time and aggravation and then you have a new, clean wall. We did have some adjustments in the wall and doorway trim, but even so, much less hassle than tearing all that paper off. I would not say I wouldn't buy a house that had painted over wallpaper, but I might question what other shortcuts the owners did, instead of doing things the right way. Sorry, no easy choices here - either strip it or sheetrock it. I hate wallpaper and will never use it again!

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    10 years ago

    quote "I hate wallpaper and will never use it again!"

    It is that bad attitude that almost put me out of business. Just because you had a bad experience( because some hack did not prime the walls; a very simple task) does not mean that you have to hate wall coverings. It means you need to get rid of the hacks