Thread: Stripping wallpaper and painting walls

Originally Posted by McBrain

Could someone let me know if this is the right approach to remove the wallpaper and paint my hall? I would appreciate a check of the list of things I should do.

Walls are covered with old vinel-type wallpaper. Plasterboard beneath is the old-style fiberous plasterboard.

1. The paper comes off pretty easy leaving the paper backing from the wallpaper behind.

2. Wet the paper backing with warm soapy water and remove. (I've tried this and it comes off pretty easy).

3. Scrub wall with sponge dipped in warm soapy water to remove any glue.

4. Do I need to use any special glue-remover? The glue seems to have all come off with the soapy water.

5. The plaster beneath seems to be smooth, bare plaster, with no paint (a green lining?) which has been painted with a thin, semi-transparent coating (to seal the plaster?)

6. Fill any cracks with filler, sand back. Do I need to seal this filler or just paint over top?

7. Check that wall surface is oil-based or not?

8. Undercoat (2 coats?).

9. Top coat.

I'm pretty handy but I've never done this before so you're talking to a novice.

Cheers
Nick.

G'Day Nick,
I have removed my fair share of paper (I don't like it), I found that in your step 3. I would use liquid sugar soap, as this removes any remaining glue and is a good pre-work cleaner. Then in step 8. I would use a quality undercoat/sealer (2 coats) as it is a good finish for the top coats. I try to do first coat in the morning and then the second in the afternoon, the next day, repeat with the top coats. Don't forget to mask-up as this saves a lot of clean-up time, remember when removing the masking tape have a sharp knife handy as there will be an overlap of 4 coats of paint and if you just try to rip it off you may take some of the paint with it. I have just finished my whole house, 2 story and 5 bedrooms halls dunnies etc, etc..Have fun

P.S. Hope this has been of some help.

Thanks Eric, that's very useful.

The reason I didn't want to use sugar soap straight away was because I was worried that I might take off more than just the glue. But I guess you need to be sure that all the glue is gone.

Is it important to apply the topcoat the day after the undercoats? If so, I'll need to make sure I don't slack off for a week, I'll get it done all on those two days.

How long did it take you to paint your house (just the painting, not the stripping)? I've just got the hallway to do so I guess just a few hours for each coat?

Cheers
Nick.

No problem Nick, make sure to follow the instructions for the correct solution for the sugar soap as I think it is caustic from memory, and glue is slightly alkaloid, so one counter's the other and breaks it down.

As far as the time between coats, I just like to give it time to dry properly, as you don't want to waste expensive paint or think after "Geez!.. if only!..."

How long to paint my place, too bloody long if you ask me, 2yrs I know it sounds a long time but there was a lot of other stuff going on at the same time. Reno work, additions health prob's etc....you know anything and everything to stop you having a clean shot at a job. But it looks good now that it is 99.99% complete.