Stripping Wallpaper

Hi all,

I'm stripping wallpaper at the mo and I'm hoping to paint the walls when I get it all off. What is the best way for me to get rid of the gunky wallpaper paste residue before painting?

Thanks loads, Shay

Reply to
Shay
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Wash down with sugar soap, rinse twice. If you don't paint won't cover properly. Trust me - BTDIGTTS.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

=================================== Whatever you use as 'solvent' - plain water or sugar soap solution - use a rough floor cloth rather than a sponge to do the wiping and rinsing. Rinse the cloth frequently. Use one hand to do the actual cleaning and the other to keep sliding over the surface to feel any slippery spots which may not be visible but which you'll easily feel.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

When I did this a couple of years ago there was so much paste that there was still a gunky coating after thorough washing with sugar soap and scouring pads. The Crown support centre advised using International alkali resistant primer. The room stank to high heaven for a week after putting two coats of primer on but the emulsion went on OK and it's still looking fine.

Of course I'll never know if it would have been OK without the primer but it was probably less effort and mess than if I'd had to clean it all off and start again.

Reply to
Mike Clarke

I'd forget the sugar soap and just use hot water with a squirt of washing up liquid. It used to be trisodium phosphate but is now some other weird surfactant which I'd rather not have penetrating the plaster

Reply to
Stuart Noble

I've just finished the painting bit of this, I didn't have much trouble with residue, perhaps I steamed it very well or the paper didn't have much gunk on it. I also sanded all the walls with variously a third sheet and a random orbit sander. It got washed hard with ordinary detergent and a rough cloth after that. It then got a coat of polycell base coat for walls which I would thorougly recommend. It filled difficult bits like small thin gaps between wall and ceiling, at corners and between wall and skirtings. On one wall the previous paint had come off or been taken off in circular patches. A precoat of the basecoat over the patches prevented it showing. The paint went on over it like a dream.

Some walls were of course more problematic and my plastering skills are now much better. I sincerely hope your walls are not anywhere near as bad those two of mine ;-) Though the end result is worth all the effort. Preparation, preparation, preparation is what underlies a good finish.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Ashby

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