Plaster wall covering

[upand_at_them]

I just finished removing wallpaper from one room in my house. Now that I'm done, though, I wonder if it really was wallpaper or...is there something that goes over plaster?

• It had a pattern, but it was only noticeable under the outlet and switch covers and in the corners where the paper overlapped.

• It was also on the ceiling.

• Now that the walls are bare, they're....BARE; there's no paint that was applied to the plaster and you can see the metal corner beads around the windows and door. If this was wallpaper it was put on when the house was built and the walls were plastered 50 years ago.

• I'm pretty sure all of my rooms are wallpapered, or whatever this is. But I removed an outlet cover from the hallway and the paper pattern was different than the other room.

Did I do something bad by removing something that should be over plaster to keep it from cracking?

Mike

[Ken]

No, you probably did nothing bad. The house was probably just wallpapered when it was built rather than painted. The printed pattern had probably faded, but didn't fade under the outlet covers or the overlaps.

Ken

[tbasc]

The pattern in the alegid wall paper probably faded over time. It didn't fade where it was protected. The pattern is different in different rooms, whidh is not unusual. TB

[upand_at_them]

That's good. Now I get to do the rest of the house. Ugh.

Mike

[m Ransley]

Canvas was common in old quality construction to keep cracks from showing, not uncommon for 100 yr old homes with Canvas to have perfect walls and ceilings. I never remove it unless water leaks have ruined it. Now you may have unfinished brown coat cracks and may need to repair cracks and skim coat it or re paper. Kind of hard to say for sure we cant see it from here.

[m Ransley]

If its thick and you see canvas , it will rip like canvas and have strings when ripped , leave it if its in good shape. The seams and loose areas should determine what you do. Just because it is there does not mean just remove it.

[scott21230]

I removed all of my wallpaper (even from ceilings). Yes it's very ugly to paint over wallpaper. You will have to patch the walls for all the imperfections and cracks, but the result is a million times better than the painted over wallpaper. Almost everyone in my neighborhood does this.

[upand_at_them]

Okay, now I'm not sure again.

It was painted over...I forgot to mention that. This wallcovering and then many layers of paint. Made it real easy to remove. The papering job was done very well, though. No bubbles or anything. But the paint had cracked in a lot of places; that's one of the reasons I want to remove it.

The paper is pretty thin, but it is stringy when I rip it. That there is different patterns in different rooms (all painted over) leads me to think that it's wallpaper. If this was something done during construction (my house was built in 1953) I would expect the material to be the same in all of the rooms. And I wouldn't expect any of it to have a printed pattern.

Mike

[3rd eye]

but it is stringy when I rip it.

That line suggests it is a cloth backed vinyl. Comes off in sheets?

You're lucky.

_IF_ it doesn't damage the wall when it comes off.

It all depends on.

1. What adhesive was used.
2. What was it hung over.

Doubt it was hung it 53. Cloth backed vinyls were popular in the 70's & early 80's

That there