Wallpaper off - next prepare wall for paint

[Chris B]

In the process of house restoration the boss has decided that tatty wallpaper has to come off and if walls suitable paint applied instead. (New Wallpaper is to be considered only as a very last resort, if the walls turned out to be in very poor condition). As it is hall/stairs/landing if it needs paper it is probably not a DIY job.

I have removed the old paper and underneath the walls seem quite sound and crack free. However in large areas about half of the original wall paint (ie it was under the existing paper) has come off attached to the paper and a lot of what remains appears flaky round the edges.

On the picture is worth a thousand word motto here is a long shot

and here a close up.

Clearly a quick wipe over with sandpaper will remove the obviously loose flakes, but if I do that and paint over will other bits of the original paint just let go?

Is there any way to stabilise this layer so that it will take an overpainting of emulsion, or is the only real solution lining paper and then paint?

Advice appreciated.

[nothanks]

Painting it with Stabilising Solution (e.g. Everbuild 406) should solve the flaking problems. Before doing that, feather-back any hard edges or they will show through the new paint. Before painting with colour, paint with a diluted matt white emulsion - this will show-up any defects and will give a consistent background for the colour coat. If the finish is too bad you could consider getting it skimmed or using lining paper.

[Robin]

You may well be right if you don't like working at heights. But if it is more a matter of past experience with paper I suggest you consider Wallrock Fibreliner. I have sung its praises based on my experience of using it on walls and ceilings: in a nutshell, it's paper-for-Homer-Simpson* :) I have dropped a 4 m length while doing stairs and picked it up and hung it without tears or creases. I've had it wrapped round my head. I've left it half-hung on the wall while I answered the phone and come back to finish hanging. Even if you paste the paper instead of the wall it doesn't seem to stretch or tear.

• well the 2 sides are a bit different so it is possible to have a do'h moment

[newshound]

Did you just peel off the old paper, or remove it after soaking / steaming?

If the former, you may find if you spray or paint it with water (perhaps including a little bit of washing up liquid) that many of the apparently well stuck on bits curl up and tend to flake off after a bit. (I have had this happen after putting a coat of emulsion on a surface like this even after what I thought was a good rubbing down).

[Chris B]

I got it off with the help of a steam stripper.

[tabbypurr]

soak or steam strip again then

It's not hard to put a wooden platform up that can't move. You've got walls on 2 or 3 sides.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

Some paintstrippers (I use one called Enviromose) will soften up emulsion; but it's still a tedious and gooey job. I only do it because I'm a bit mad/obsessive.

[Andrew]

You need a proper flat blade scraper to remove all those paint fragments. keep the angle between the scraper and wall to about

30 degrees and you should be able to remove the paint shards without gouging the plaster.