Stripping wallpaper and repainting plans

[David Perkns]

Our house is around 13 years old and when we moved in we went a bit OTT wallpapering the majority of the rooms. We now want to strip the wallpaper and revert to painted walls.

All wallpaper is on a couple of coats of builders magnolia.

After searching the archives, I plan to use a 'paper tiger' to pierce the paper prior to using a steamer.

Assuming the walls are in good condition, would I just use sugar soap to remove any excess paste, or am I likely to need to sand the whole room? Ideally, I'd like to avoid having to use lining paper.

Thanks

David

[Andrew Gabriel]

That's normally only necessary if the paper is waterproof. Always try without doing this first, as if it works, you will get the paper off in larger sheets, sometimes whole sheets, which makes the job much faster, and you won't have damaged the wall behind.

Just sugar soap and then rinse off.

[William Gould]

I was told by a professional that hanging 1400 grade lining paper improves acoustics, stops any cracks showing and has a better overall result. After

1) painting a skimmed wall and 2) painting a wall covered in1400 lining paper I'd agree that lining paper is the better option. It looks 'flatter' in my opinion. Just a thought. But yeah, just sugar soap and water, and all the glue comes off. I found the best cloth for this job was an old towel ripped into cloths. No need to sand. Will.

[David Perkns]

I'll get the wife on to it straight away ;-)