Skimming over wallpaper...

[Arthur]

is this a vile sin?

I've just started stripping a room that has one layer of paper on it but its a hell. The paper is quite dirty (I lived alone for many years and didn't look at it) and after wetting it, a top layer comes off (agonisingly) leaving what looks like backing paper but is actually a sub layer of the wallpaper. The sublayer comes off easily after a little soaking.

The room is probably going to need skimming anyway so I could cheat and remove the ragged parts of the papering and treat with pva then hire a plasterer to skim.

Is this method a common skive?

Thanks.

Arthur

[Andrew Gabriel]

It's not a good idea. When the paper has been supporting wet plaster for an hour, you may find it all comes away from the wall.

[Brian G]

Try hiring (or buying) a wall paper steamer, this makes things a lot easier, especially if you 'score' the wall paper in a diamond pattern before using the steamer on it.

Not a good idea, the weight of the plaster will be taken by the wallpaper and this is liable to peel off after a short while - besides, any half-way decent plasterer will refuse to do this job, or if you insist on it, he will make you sign a disclaimer so when the plaster falls off, you can pay him to do the job again the right way.

No, there are many shortcuts but this one is a definite no-no.

Brian G

[Ian Stirling]

Result, either way :)

[Michael Mcneil]

Yes.

Break and old saw in half or buy a short Stanley Jet Cut (That's all they are good for) and use tha to score the paper. Set yourself a target of so many square feet per tea-break or you will soon become discouraged.

Wet the paper with wallpaper paste then squirt it with a pop bottle full of water. (Drill a small hole in the top.)

By the time you have cut the new rolls to size, the old paper will be ready to peel off.

Q. With a large pattern you might get something like a foot or so waste if you cut the next length from the roll to match. Would you be better off matching alternate strips?

[Andy Dingley]

Yes.

Get a perforator roller, a cheap steamer (my Earlexs are favoured "twenty quid well spent" tools with many uses) and some good thick Marigolds to keep the steam off your hands.

Then you'll find that wallpaper stripping is now a doddle.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I suggest only scoring the paper if you really have to (i.e. it's waterproof, or has become so due to lots of overpainting). In your case where the paper comes off easily with wetting anyway, you will find it much easier without scoring, and with a steam stripper, you will probably pull the sheets off easily in one piece, providing you didn't score it.