What's the better option: painting over wallpaper or stripping it and starting anew?

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Please share your experiences. Wallpapering can change the appearance of a room so wonderfully. What worked best for you...papering over the existing paper, or stripping it off first, and then doing the priming etc? Anyone have a REALLY effective way to remove the old paper. That's the part that can be SO discouraging. Thanks. Stef.

-- Stef (sbrogers@csonline.net), October 15, 2001

Answers

I just posted re: this a week or so ago. To be honest after spending 8 hours removing paper from a small bathroom, I would vote for anything that didn't involve it being hung ever again!

I finally had the greatest success using a wet (not damp) sponge and covering a small area and then doing another small area, by then the first was ready to be peeled. It is a fine line between wet and too wet. Take your time in peeling.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), October 15, 2001.


If the paper is tight to the wall I would say paint, We have done it and it has turned out fine. IF you want to strip use a heat gun, that works best

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), October 15, 2001.

After several experences with having to remove wallpaper from several houses we bought to use as rental property we came up with the following rule in all lease agreements. Installing any wallpaper or trim paper will result in loss of any damage deposits. Some times it will come off easily, some times it removes part of the surface it is applied to. Now we require our permission in writting of any painting or surface coating of any type. We have had people to paint bedrooms dark purple, try covering that over, wallpapering bathrooms to look like jungles, what were they thinking. Me or the wife ever want to see wallpaper again. Course if its your house then its your choice.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), October 15, 2001.

I've only stripped one wall of "wallpaper" -- actually, it was coated with plastic, to make it "scrubable" I guess. It was the pits to get off. I scored it and sprayed it with vinegar & water, and let it stand. Didn't want to come off!

I ended up renting a wallpaper steamer, and that was the only thing that got it off. This steam consists of a unit that sits on the floor, and makes the water you pour into it so hot that it becomes steam. There is a largish "plate" with steam holes in it which you hold to the wall and release the trigger -- steam flows up the tubing and out the plate onto the wallpaper. It was about 10 years ago, so I don't remember what the rental cost. I know I thought it wasn't cheap at the time, and we made sure we only had it for one day's rental. It went better with several of us taking turns. You need to be careful you don't hold it in one spot too long with too much steam, or you'll damage the wallboard, but really, that isn't too hard to do.

A friend bought a house with paint over the wallpaper in the bathroom. It always looked kind of weird. But perhaps that was just the paint or the paint job.

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), October 16, 2001.


If you finally decide that you don't want to strip the paper and it is paintable, you might consider sponge-painting the wall. It's easier than you would think (my first attempt, I always figured out that if it was hideously bad, I could always paint it solid and not tell anyone). The nice thing about it is that it hides a whole lot of flaws and uneven spots in the walls so you don't even notice them.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), October 16, 2001.


Hi Stef, If the wallpaper is sealed nice on the wall,there is a special kind of wallpaper primer you can use right over the paper. Then all you have to do is hang the new paper. We have a friend who was in the wallpaper hanging business,who told us about it. I've bought paper and still haven't got it hung.

-- Jo (farmerjo@kvalley.com), October 16, 2001.

I would recommend stripping the paper unless it is the textured kind that is meant to be painted. Once it is stripped you'll never have to mess with it again. Paining is simple and cheap and you can do all kinds of things with paint now-a-days. I sponge painted the baby room - it was painted bright yellow and then I sponge painted over it with white and it turned out great. My bedroom is a sky blue color, and I painted my sons roon an off white color the same as I painted the living room.

-- anita in NC (anitaholton@mindspring.com), October 16, 2001.

Julie I DID have to sponge paint since the paper was either VERY stuck to the wall or peeling. Ended up with some drywall damage. It turned out pretty well overall. I figure it looks better than the stained, faded peeling paper did anyhow. And I did it myself-that's me standing there proudly. ;)

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Any idea what kind of walls you have - plaster or sheetrock? If they are plaster, you might have a big mess if you take off the old paper. We have a couple plaster walls where the paper is the only thing that is holding them together!

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), October 16, 2001.

Even if you think you'll be in the house forever, remember that you might have to sell it for some reason, and a bad paint job can be fixed much easier than a bad wallpaper job. A buyer would look and say well, it's going to cost me x amount in time and money to redo this, so I'll offer x amount less. Neutral wallpaper isn't so bad, but people don't seem to go for neutral--they want to make a statement, and besides, when wallpaper is ruined, you often can't get the pattern you need to fix it properly. Paint is much better.

There is something called a "paper tiger" that is supposed to cut through the surface so that the remover (steam, hot vinegar, I've even heard a solution of fabric softener and water will work) can get in there and do its job.

Depending upon the room, another option for really awful walls is texturing or even shirring with fabric on a rod. Check out Christopher Lowell on the Discovery Channel--he has some good ideas.

Me, I like white walls. Why? It reflects any daylight coming in through the windows, so I don't have to turn the lights on until evening. One room in a house we owned at one time was painted a light milk chocolate brown, and even though the room was 50% window, it was dark and dreary. Any color we want comes from pictures, objects, etc.

Just a thought.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), October 16, 2001.



Strip it and start over. It is easier to remove without paint on it.

-- Patricia Ramsey (WOOLSPIN@AOL.COM), October 16, 2001.

I found the perfect answer to dreaded wallpapering.....We have a discount store here where you can buy fabric for $1.00 a yard. So many colors and patterns to choose from! I wallpapered two of our rooms with fabric. It comes in 45" widths instead of 18", like wallpaper. I put a jelly-type wallpaper paste on the walls with a paintbrush, start at the top with the fabric and just smooth down as you go. It dries hard, covers ever UGLY crack and flaw perfectly and you clean it by putting a soft brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner and vacuum the walls. I'm getting ready to do my son's room next. It will only take 14 yards = $14.00. Harmony

-- Harmony Bullington (harmonyfarm57@hotmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Harmony, what's it like to remove when you want to change it?

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Don't know Anne, It's so beautiful and durable I don't know if I'll ever change it....I imagine it would be easier to cover over it again, than try to remove. (?) Harmony

-- Harmony Bullington (harmonyfarm57@hotmail.com), October 20, 2001.

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