In getting a room ready to repaint, I decided to remove the wallpaper border that was at the top of the wall by the ceiling . I used sizing under the border before I put it up. When I started removing the border some of the paint pulled off with the paper. The worst happened on the outside walls. It's not just the last applied layer of paint that peeled but goes down to a color I don't recognize as one I painted. This is a house that is 50+ years old. There are a few places where the paint came off below the border but not many. I have a mess! What do I do now in order to get the walls ready for repainting?

frustro

 

You will first of all need to remove all the old sizing, using a product like DIF. I've also heard that fabric softener works pretty good. You need to remove all that old texture that is left behind. That's step one.

Depending on the surface that is left, you "might" need to apply an oil primer (if the paint surface seems very hard and slick, it is likely an oil based paint). Oil primer will help with the adhesion of your next layer, whether that be paint or drywall joint compound. It sounds like this might be the reason some of the paint layers came off unexpectedly.

If it's the rough texture of missing paint layers that you are worried about, you would need to float the walls with joint compound to get rid of the rough texture that the missing paint layers have left behind. You'd use a wide knife, and you could use the premixed mud that comes right out of a bucket or small pail. If you want it to dry quickly, you could buy one of the dry mixes, like Durabond 20 or Durabond 45 but if you do, be sure you buy the bags that say "easy sand". After you apply a very thin layer of mud and it dries you should be able to sand it down with a sanding sponge until it looks presentable. If you think it needs another coat, you could do that.

But if your walls have some sort of texture on them (most walls do, since paint rollers leave an "orange peel" type texture) don't expect that upper portion to ever have the exact same texture as the rest. But multiple coats over that smooth patched area (only) with a 1/2" nap can help build up some texture, so that once you repaint the entire wall, it will somewhat blend in.

Marksr is one of our resident experts on painting and textures so he will surely chime in before too long.

 

Good advice above
The orange peel from many coats of paint can be mimic-ed by thinning down joint compound to paint like consistency and then either rolling it on or for smaller areas patting it on with a sponge. If it doesn't come out to your satisfaction it's an easy job to sand it down and try again. Durabond doesn't have an easy sand version but USG [I think] has a brand name called 'easy sand' None of the setting compounds [powder you mix with water] sand as easily as the regular j/c that comes premixed.

almost forgot welcome to the forums!

 

Yes, I misspoke, sorry. I meant to say lightweight setting compound.



image credit: uk usg dot com