Fixing overlapped edges of ceiling lining paper

[nothanks]

When some previous owner put lining paper on the ceiling of the room I'm decorating they overlapped several of the edges by a couple of millimetres. From looking-around it seems the accepted fix is to cut-away the overlaps with a scalpel and fill any resulting gaps but, having tried it, I can't see how that could be done on a ceiling without lying on a platform like Michaelangelo. I switched to sanding using a

150mm random orbital sander with 120g paper and that worked well, but sanding a whole ceiling when supporting a few kilos of sander and extract hose has caused a few aches today. There has to be a better way ... ?

[nothanks]

Now that SWMBO has painted the ceiling I'm not so pleased with my attempts to hide the overlapped joints by sanding. I think a future job will need to be cutting the overlaps and filling the resulting holes, but HTH do you do the cutting overhead?

[R D S]

When my brother in law (who once worked as a decorator for some years) did our bedroom he lining papered horizontally with an overlap as you describe then wallpapered over that so in the right light you can see the lines in it.

I never understood (or got around to asking him why).

[alan_m]

Did you use a matt emulsion - which can hide many imperfections? Something like a satin emulsion will show differently between the paper and filler. If the latter you may have got away with overpainting the filler and sanded paper with a sealer paint (or oil based undercoat) before repainting the whole ceiling.

If the ceiling paper was not embossed or woodchip you should have got away with no or minimal sanding by not applying to much filler. Apply one coat to be flush with the paper and let it dry and/or shrink before applying a second coat.

If the poor result was poor sanding then after initial sanding a light coat of fine filler (to fill the scratches) and a light run over with a fine grade "sanding sponge" by hand.

found much cheaper in "pound/discount" shops)

[nothanks]

I didn't use any filler. I tried to sand the overlap rather than cutting it away. It looked good until it was painted but now the lines are as obvious as they were before. When I get time I'll cut away the overlap and then fill, but doing that overhead seems like a horrible job.

Thanks

[Chris Bacon]

Rub it down and paper over the top. Butt the seams.