Removing wallpaper paste / preparing old bare walls

Why not kill two birds with one stone and hang lining paper?

It's just a matter of scrubbing away at it. Lots of cloths, a couple of pails of warm water, sponges, cheap scouring pads, steam stripper. Try not to damage the wall, that's why a good scourer isn't a good idea! The flat things which don't work too well on pans are OK, but really you should just use cloths... soak the stuff, give it a quick warm up with the steamer, wipe away, rinse rags, when one pail of water is gungy use the other.... it just takes time. Go easy with that scourer if you do use it! Sponge off last. When you've finished, the wall should not feel slippery. When it's dry, rub it over with a dry cloth to remove small balls of rag, sponge, etc.

Make sure the wall's OK by looking for cracks, dents, by looking along the wall. Changing the angle of lighting may help (inspection lamp). Mark areas needing filler with a pencil. Fill, using a broad blade such as a float or drywall filler. The aim is to whizz on the runny filler so that a lot of rubbing down is not needed. Deeper holes need thicker filler (2 stages). Use good emulsion, I would not bother with Polly Sell Base Coat, it can cause more trouble than it fixes, & it's expensive.

The above may seem awful, but it doesn't really take long if you get stuck into the job.

'Cos it ain't fashionable

You can't tell that it's there if it's hung properly!

We used a big old towel and wiped the wall down immediately after removing the paper so that it was still liquid from the steam.

If it's dried you can use the steamer again to liquify it. I also found using the wall paper scraper helped get a lot off so lengthening the useful lifespan of the towel.

Don't think you can wash the towel and slip it back into the bathroom without anyone noticing though...

Thanks for the ideas - guess what...I'm going to hang lining paper.

Trade-off against all the elbow-grease needed for washing-down seems OK. should do it in a day or two.