Q re painting after wallpaper removal
#1
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Q re painting after wallpaper removal
I stripped a room of wallpaper and the bottom layer remained on the wall except for a couple of places where it lifted. The wallpaper was a vinyl and the bottom layer seems to be a sort of non-woven film. The surface is very smooth with a soft feel. Do I need to remove this layer before paint or can I prime and paint over it? I'm sure I can feather in the few places where the material lifted.
#2
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Welcome to the forums.
Wallpaper is not a good substrate for paint so you want to remove all of it you can. If you paint over it and the wallpaper starts to lift down the road
Wallpaper is not a good substrate for paint so you want to remove all of it you can. If you paint over it and the wallpaper starts to lift down the road

#3
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Normally the underliner part of wallpaper comes off the easiest. Did you try getting it wet to see if it will scrape off? Whenever you must paint over wallpaper it's best to use an oil base primer first ..... but as Mitch mentioned, it's best to remove it.
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Maybe I wasn't clear - the wallpaper was already removed but what remained was the under liner, a thin non-woven layer. I think I could have painted over it but I sprayed it with water and it stripped off easily. The only problem is that now I have to sand the walls because of the rough wallpaper paste residue. My one-day project is turning out to be three or four - typical.
#5
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Often when you peel off wallpaper the vinyl face separates from the backer. Getting it wet usually allows it to be scraped off. It's best to wash off as much adhesive as you can. After sanding you should coat the walls with either an oil base primer or Zinnser's Gardz as it will lock down any remaining adhesive to prevent it from affecting the finish paint.
Removing wallpaper never makes anyone's top 10 list of jobs they like to do
Removing wallpaper never makes anyone's top 10 list of jobs they like to do

#9
Forum Topic Moderator
When you contract the work you need to make sure you make a profit
so you get after it and pray it won't take longer than you estimated. Don't remember any of my personal homes having had any paper to strip ...... not going to hang any either

