I removed wallpaper in our bathroom. It had been on about 20 years or so. I found out that the wall had not been primed first. Now I need to fix the walls. Some of the paper came off the drywall. I tried to use joint compound and fill in and smooth so I could paint. What happened is on the edges the existing paper warped (is wavey) I NEED HELP!! How can I fix it? thanks

 

Hello nitenurse and welcome to the forums.

By existing paper I'm thinking you're talking about face paper on the drywall? If so I'd suggest cutting the "wavy areas" back with a sharp utility knife, to where the rock is solidly intact. Now the key to drywall finishing is the same as with painting, coats & patience.

Don't try to put too thick a coat of mud on at once. Also what type of mud are you using? If it's all purpose, (black labeling usually) it'll need to be thinned considerably for use as a skim coat. We generally only use this for initial pre-fill. For skim coating we use "Lite" joint compound, (blue box or bucket lid) again thin it down some with water. You need to get your mud to a creamy consisyency w/o getting it too thin.

You can mix small batches by hand, but I'd recommend getting a elec drill & a mixer paddle available from big box or local hardware stores to mix your mud with.

Good luck with the patch job, post back if you have more ?'s & let us know how it comes out.