Home decorating - to strip or not to strip...

Emp_Fab

...that is the question.

My man cave is a small bedroom that was once wallpapered (plain, smooth).  Before we moved in a long time ago, it was painted over in magnolia.  I want it white.  The wallpaper is old and is starting to lift slightly at the joins.  I'm assuming it's just plaster underneath.

I could approach this one of two ways - either I get the wallpaper stripper out and steam every last bit off, fill in any accidental gouges and sand it all smooth then paint directly onto the plaster.  Or.... I try to paste / sand down the raised edges of the existing paper and then paint over the top of the lot.

Would you strip it or bodge it ?

munckee

How old are the walls?  If you strip you run the risk of having to fill lots of holes and deep holes, if you are handy with filler or can knock up a bit of plaster it would probably look better. We had a decorator fill all the wallpaper joins and paint over it once and you couldn’t tell it wasn’t plastered. 

wibble

You're renting aren't you? I would bodge it

duotone

Personally I would avoid stripping it. 

TTony

Ahhhh, stripping wallpaper.

I was worried for a minute.

Danny1969

I would stick the lifting joints down with decorators caulk ..... unless you fancy 3 days of stripping off paper and 2 days filling ?:)

SteveRobinson

TTony said:

Ahhhh, stripping wallpaper.

I was worried for a minute.

We'll it would save getting emulsion paint on your clothes

Musicwolf

How old is the house.  In my first house, built c1900, the layers of wallpaper were the only things holding the walls together.

ronnyb

Leave it and play guitar.

ESBlonde

I would advise against stripping the old paper, the horrors underneath are likely to be like painting the forth bridge. BUT if you choose to proceed, the paint will impede the moisture/steam and have you gouging out chunks of ancient plaster. Get an old wood saw, lay it almost flat on wall so the set of the teeth are resting on the paper and drag it across the surface leaving small scratches into surface. Do this all over and then wet the wall all over with a moist sponge. Perhaps wet it again an hour later and a while after that start using your steamer as normal. Good luck, you're gonna need it. 

Lodious

If you strip it, you either need to seal it with something like Zinsser Guardz or remove all the glue, otherwise you may find you paint it, the paint will react with the glue, and it will bubble and look nasty. 

Emp_Fab

You've all convinced me - it's bodge time !

WezV

I have just stripped a small alcove in my house.

It's an old terrace, but some one has put a lot of love into it at some point and it has all been re-plastered and decorated to a high standard... Just not all to my taste.

Stripping was the easiest I have ever found it to be in any of the 4 old houses I have owned and decorated.

And yet..... There was still a surprise waiting under the wallpaper.   They had removed wall lights and papered right over the top of the old wires.   Leaving a hole right in the middle of the wall!

Not terrible I suppose, but not what I was expecting. It also explains the switch that doesn't do anything.   

https://i.imgur.com/0Vi7OLE.jpg

There is always a surprise waiting, even when you think things are in good condition.

In every other house I have just accepted I'm probable going back to brick once I start stripping paper 

viz

Danny1969 said:

I would stick the lifting joints down with decorators caulk ..... unless you fancy 300 days of stripping off paper and 200 days filling ?:)

Corrected. 

Sassafras

Strip it.
What else are you going to do in lockdown?
Wallpaper's horrible stuff, it's a breeding ground for all kinds of nasties.

boogieman

Musicwolf said:

How old is the house.  In my first house, built c1900, the layers of wallpaper were the only things holding the walls together.

I had the same in my 1930s place. The plaster had blown and virtually turned to dust under the wallpaper. I eventually stripped the whole room back to bare brick, only took a couple of hours. I did it with a shovel, most of it just fell off. 

JAYJO

go over it with lining paper and then paint. Cover the old joins with new paper. 

Emp_Fab

That's not a bad idea....  I am however, monumentally lazy.  There is also the issue of the previous occupants having papered a horizontal strip - a wallpaper border, I believe their called, about two feet down from the ceiling.  That's been painted over too (see pic).  I think lining paper would hide that wouldn't it ?  It's no more than 0.5mm thick.... I can see it clearly now, but it's only got a few microns of paint over it.

boogieman

If the border is stuck on top of the paper then yes it’ll still show through lining paper. But like somebody else said, it’s a rented house isn’t it, so why are you bothered? I’d just stick another layer of lining paper over the whole thing, just don’t use the same drop lines or eventually it’ll all lift along the seams. 

Emp_Fab

Why am I bothered ?  Because it'll annoy the hell out of me if I can see it all the time :-)  I'm very irritable most of the time  

chillidoggy

Anyone up for a sweepstake as to how long this job will take to complete start?