How to prepare wall for painting after wallpaper strip?

[lauraer]

Hi,

I am going to be stripping wallpaper in a house I have just bought and want to know the steps I need to take after the wallpaper is down before painting. I have seen multiple things online and would love some steps I can take to tackle it! The wallpaper is quite old so I am concerned it won’t be smooth underneath.

Thanks!

[EricL]

Hello @lauraer 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us and thanks for sharing your question about removing wallpaper.

The general steps are to prepare the area for wallpaper removal; you can use painters drop cloth to protect your floor from spills and old wallpaper adhesive. If you have very old wallpaper, it would be best to score the surface first withe sings a Zinsser PaperTiger Wallpaper Removal Scoring Tool. My best advice is to score the entire surface of the wallpaper to make sure that you get good penetration once you spray it with Zinsser 650ml DIF Liquid Concentrate Wallpaper Stripper. My best advice is to give the stripper enough time to soak and activate before you attempt to to remove the wallpaper with a scraper.

Please note that the wallpaper stripper is a concentrate and must be diluted. I propose using an Aqua Systems 2L Garden Pressure Sprayer, it is an effective sprayer and is pump activated. The final step will be to wipe down the wall with Selleys Sugar Soap Wall Cleaning Wipes and wait for the wall to dry up prepare the surface for painting.

Here is a handy step-by-step guide: How To Remove Wallpaper 

Here are some handy discussions that might help:

• Removing old wallpaper by @presumed_living 
   
• Solved: Painting walls after removing wallpaper by @tmoyn 
   
• How to paint after wallpaper removal? by @Nettie 

Please remember to wear personal protection such as gloves, goggles and a mask.

If you have any other questions, please let us know.

Eric

[R4addZ]

Hi @lauraer 

From my own past experience, there is no easy way to prep a wall after removal of wall paper if you want to paint it! There will always be a paste residue that you can only dilute but can't easily remove. This is probably why wallpaper has fallen into unpopularity.

My take on doing this is not to score the paper unless absolutely necessary! Any scoring of the paper will also score the plaster behind and need filling, Hire a steamer to remove the paper and remember that vinyl papers will easily allow you to remove the top coat, revealing an easily steamable base paper. You can repeatedly wash down the walls to remove any water soluable pastes but seam adhesives that may have been used may not easily disolve. At the end of the process, you may need to let everything dry out throughly and then sand and fill the walls in order to get a smooth finish.

[lauraer]

Thank you !

[lauraer]

Thanks! I have seen lots of videos/articles say that you should use a prep and seal after filling and sanding the wall and before painting. Would you recommend that too?

[MitchellMc]

Yes, using something like Dulux 1Step Prep Primer, Sealer & Undercoat 4L would certainly be a good idea @lauraer.

Mitchell

[lauraer]

Thanks