Trying to paint bathroom with uneven walls

[Adam Preble]

I removed a base cabinet and wall cabinet from my bathroom awhile ago since they seemed cramped in there. The prior exposed space had a sand texture paint, which I think I need to redo. Beyond this, there is some old wallpaper in place that I suspect the prior owners just kind of painted over. So there is quite the texture issue with the drywall.

To recap:

1. Where the cabinets are removed, the drywall is exposed, sunk in to the wall where it has never had wallpaper nor paint.
2. There are scattered bits of wallpaper messing up the texture.
3. There is some boundary from where I removed the wall cabinet earlier and tried to paint.

I'm trying to figure out what to do. Can I fill the slightly recessed portions with something and paint over it? What about the wallpaper pieces?

My plan was to basically spread some spackle where the wall was covered by the cabinets, but I fear getting it smooth. But I guess sanding that in to the existing paint should take care of most of it. It sounds like a steamer would take care of wallpaper, or perhaps an iron applied handily--I don't think I'm that handy.

Should I abort and hang new drywall first? I think some of the backing film came off while peeling away some wallpaper. Is this an issue?

[Joe]

Best to give up on the patch work and just redo the bathroom drywall. This would be a good time to get rid of old drywall and replace with the newer mold resistant type. Check the manufacturer's directions for preferred type of mud, as maximum mold resistance could require the setting type compound. When you're done the job will look far better than the patch work that was first considered. HTH

Joe

[Steve]

Adam Preble wrote in news:4844050a$0$12908$ [e-mail]:

If you have only a small area to patch, fill it with wallboard compound, sand it smooth, prime, and paint.

If you want it Done Right®, strip off the wallpaper, smooth, prime, and paint. You'll still have to use wallboard compound to fill the gouges from removing the wallpaper and to even out the area where the cabinet was. It sounds like you have only small pieces of wallpaper, so it won't be such a large job. Buy a random-orbital sander (ROS) and use it to smooth out the mess. Suck up the sanding dust with a vacuum hose.

Replacing the wallboard will be a much larger job than any of the above.