I bought a house about four years ago that has good quality wallpaper, but I dislike the patterns. Someone suggested to me that if applied Kilz to it and then painted over the Kilz, I would not have to take off the wallpaper to paint some bedrooms. Is that true, or is there some other way to paint over the wallpaper?
Thanks,
JD
Not a good idea, but is often done. Success depends on how well it was installed. Seams, lap-joints, bubbles and surface marks will all show through the paint. Any areas not well adhered, may come loose when wetted by the paint. If you ever decide the paper has to come off because of the above problems or for any other reason it will now be 10 times as difficult to remove with the paint over it.
Quit trying to be lazy and remove the wallpaper. I used a heat gun to soften the paint on top of mine then scraped the wallpaper off with a sharp edged scraper. Then wet down the wall to remove the rest. Worked for me but I had plaster. Might be more difficult if I couldn't wet down the wall.
Check rental places in your area for a wall paper steamer. This will make short work of removing the paper. Painting over the paper will look like hell.
You might want to go down to the local Home Depot or hardware store and get a product called wall paper remover. It disolves the glue by soaking the paper and works great. The stuff I used was a yellow liquid that looked suspiciously like a urine sample!...Good luck with your project, Ross
Are you selling the house within the next year? If so, just paint it and let it be someone elses problem. Otherwise you need to remove the paper and skim coat the wall with some drywall mud unless you are lucky and they actually primed the wall before it was papered.
Remove the wallpaper with a rented steamer or just use some hot water with a mild dish detergent in it and wipe down the wall with a rag while using a paper-tiger and scraper. It's a pain in the butt but get a few friends over and have a wall paper removal party and offer drinks and food. Goes a lot faster that way and cheaper than paying someone to do it.
Agree that it looks bad.
However, a cheap garden sprayer works better that a steamer in most cases.
Good info here.
I can't stress this enough. LET THE WATER DO THE WORK. If you get impatient you'll damage the wall. (assuming it's drywall)
If the paper is just paper and not foil, water works great, and you don't need the paper tiger to score the paper since this can leave marks on the wall to be patched. Put water on with a rag or sponge-do a largish area and do several applications of water. Test after 10 minutes or so to see if the paper peels off easily. If it doesn't, wait a bit longer and maybe put more water on. Generally you need put more water on/wait longer than you think you do.
Once this section begins to come off easily, start wetting down another section, and keep doing this as you take the paper off the first section. Doing it this way means you don't have to wait as long for the water to soak the paper and paste.
Sometimes you can scrape excess paste off with a drywall knife, other times, it will wash off easily. Rinse many times to get it all off before you paint.
I did a kitchen and bath the other day and it took about 2-3 hours for two men.
charles
Go ahead and paint over it! Don't risk the can of worms. I decided to take the wallpaper off of a small section of wall between a window and the front door. the first layer of paper came off easily but the second and third layers had spackle or plaster in between them. Thick, too, It seems like they used 2 different kinds of sheetrock and tried to even it out. (Maybe when the windows were replaced ~ the 80's.) What a wreck! The wall still sits in a state of disrepair while I decide what to do. I'm thinking a sheet of that white beadboard paneling. Its more than textured paint will hide.
Lordy- as cheap as drywall is, why kill yourself trying to scrape and skim-coat old sloppy work? Just rip out the section that offends you, replace it, mud it, and be done with it.
aem sends...
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