My bedroom is about to receive mahogany paneled wainscoting. Should the wallpapered walls above it be painted over? After all of the paneling work, I don’t see why the walls should receive less attention. As I removed all of the dust and grime this evening, some of the wallpaper kinked up and left the surface of the wall. I’m really worried about the paint adhering to the paper where it has been disrupted. I may need to demand that the wallpaper be stripped. I know that this is a big disruptus gluteous maximus. What is your opinion?
Should the (disrupted) wallpaper be painted over, or should I try and plaster it down (and then paint it), or should the wallpaper be stripped entirely?
Hate to tell you this…strip it off. Latex or enamal paint will do more than wrinkle your wall paper. Depending on what kind of wallpaper you have, you may need to get a special stripper to loosen up the self-stick kind. Read the instructions on the container closely, you usually have to score the paper before application of the stripper. If you have the older glued on type, it is easiest to rent a steamer.
Taking paper off isn’t all that hard. Don’t forget to oil prime the walls before you paint. ANY glue residue will make your paint blister and crack unless if you don’t put on a coat of oil primer. (try coverstain)
If you have to repair the walls, put the primer on first to kill the glue, and then spackle them the next day.
Ok, so I guess it is a pain in the ass, but it’s always better to do it right the first time. It only becomes more of a pain in the ass to fix it the second time around.
C’mon, Zenster, this is a no-brainer. Painting over old wallpaper while accenting the rest of the room with classic (and costly) mahogany wainscoting is an outrage. It’s like wearing flipflops with your tux at the opera.
You are a gifted individual, tsunamisurfer. Anyone who can conjure up the image of wearing flipflops with a tux has got to have one hell of a great imagination.
Quite to the contrary. One of my first jobs was as an interior painter. In fact, my older brother who got me the job was fired and I was retained due to my productivity and quality of work. I know few people who are better painters than myself, I just find the job mind-numbingly boring. Because painting over wallpaper goes against the grain of everything that I was taught, it is specifically why I posted this question. I suppose we shall treat it as a great debate for the nonce.
It is my penurious landlord that wants to paint over the wallpaper and not me. This is why I’m polling the boards on this topic, as I have always stripped off the offending paper before repainting. Howevermuch my landlord reassures me that merely painting over the wallpaper will work, I do not subscribe to such short cuts and wanted some proof to present to him on this topic.
I appreciate the feedback and will use this to argue my case with him.
Well, you can paint over wallpaper. And as you undoubtedly know, there are even wallpapers out there that are designed to be painted over. (These are often used over irregular walls.) The caveat is that the existing wallpaper must be extremely well-attached to the walls, or else it will peel. Yours isn’t well-attached, so you must strip it.
Well, the landlord is here and the first test patch of paint has been applied to an area of paper. The real painting won’t start in earnest until tomorrow. This should be enough time for the paper to pucker if it’s going to.
We shall see.
Actually, the paper is in pretty good shape so I’m hopeful that it will take the paint all right. I’d rather the paper was removed but I’m getting the mahogany wainscoting so I can’t gripe too loudly. Oh well.
The only time it is acceptable to paint over wallpaper is if the person who applied the offending wallpaper adhered it SO convincingly to the wall that removing it will cause the wall to look like swiss cheese when it’s done. Or worse, if the house pre-dates dry-wall, the plaster comes off in huge chunks. If that is the case, you’ll inevitably have to choose the lesser of two evils if you simply cannot afford the time or money required to patch the wall after removing the wallpaper.
Otherwise, don’t be a melvin and take the time to do the job right.
One of the unspoken (or unadvertized) downsides of wallpaper is the issue of removal. If the wall was prepped -correctly before the wallpaper was originally applied, chances are removal can be done quickly and with little hassle.
But God help you if the wall wasn’t prepped and the underlying coat of paint is the original cheap-o stuff put down by a skinflint contractor. (I’m talking the kind that’s slightly thinner than skim milk on a summer afternoon in Phoenix.)
Have you ever seen those “wallpaper tigers” (whatever) designed for “E-Z” wallpaper removal? This wicked contraption consists of several aligned razor blades that are covered with a handle by which grip and then slice and dice the offending wallpaper until it’s literally cut to ribbons. I can’t even imagine what the drywall/plaster looks like once this process is completed, but it has to be a hell of a mess.
If the landlord is cheap, why is he putting in mahogany wainscoting? Paper is a lot cheaper anyway.
Besides, if it’s already coming off, how hard is it going to be to strip anyway?
Be sure to apply sizing to the wall before putting the new paper on, so it won’t be too hard to peel in the future. It may be too late for you, but some future renter will appreciate your effort.
Well, my landlord primed the wallpaper. Guess what?
It’s puckered like a nympho at a kissing booth! Not everywhere, but enough to make sure this is going to be a nightmare. I tried… sigh. Thanks to all of you for trying to avert this agony. I’m sure he’ll want to remove only those areas that puckered… sigh again.
The problem with painting over wallpaper arises when you have damp spells. The paper will absorb moisture and puff up or sag. Not a problem for the paper, which is held on with flexible paste, itself softened by moisture. But very much a problem for the brittle flakiness of paint.