We bought a house built in 1981. The previous owners were also the builders. Every room of this house has floor to ceiling wallpaper including the 2 story entry. Whrn i started to remove the walpaper i didnt find drywall like i expected. Its sort of like paper. No texture no real color. I tested a section with paint to see how it would react and it covered fine its just a weird texture (or lack thereof). Does anyone know what this could be and if i can paint over it or if i need to put something else on the walls first. Im drowning in 1980's wallpaper. Someone help me!!!!!!!

 

Welcome to the forums! It certainly would help us give better advice if we could see what you see. Maybe posting a couple of pictures of your wallpaper peeled back would give us better insight. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html

 

A wallpaper backer is often used on old walls [mainly plaster] to give a good base for the wallpaper but that doesn't sound likely in your case. You might be able to paint over it with the right primer but we really need to know what you have before we can give any good advice, pics should help.

 

How did you remove the paper? Did you just peel it off dry? You may have just pulled the printed face off leaving the paper backing on the wall. It may also be a layer of paste or sizing you are seeing. Wallpaper removal almost always involves the use of water or steam at some point in the job. It's always a messy and unpleasant task.