Ok, I'll admit that I'm a relative newbie, but I've done a fair amount of research and am still stumped. My wife and I just purchased our first home, a 1960s rambler with what I am assuming is original wallpaper in the bathroom. Other than the wallpaper from the top third of the wall, the rest of the bathroom is tile.

So, the first thing that wallpaper removal sites tell you to do it just grab and pull and pray. So, I did, and the wallpaper was nice and vinyl and pulled right off. But, I have NO idea what is underneath it. It's not drywall. I am guessing that based on the ceramic tile in the rest of the bathroom, that it is backerboard. Is that right? If so, how would I go about painting it? Do I need to use drywall mud to skim coat it and then sand? Or am I going about this the wrong way?

Thanks for any suggestions....

Here are a couple of pics. The bottom pic is the whole bathroom, and you can see where I started to peel. The top pic is a picture of what's underneath the wallpaper as I pull up.

 

Welcome to the forums!

What happens if you get it wet and gently scrape? Often the face of the wallpaper will separate from it's backing during removal. The backing is usually easy to remove once you get it wet. Do you know if you have drywall or plaster?