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Texture over wallpaper

JXBrown (Sunset 24, N San Diego County)

11 years ago

The drywall guy says that he can texture over existing paper wallpaper since it is sound and in good condition. He says that since it is paper it's really no different than texturing over drywall. The vinyl WP will have to come off. The house has no unpapered walls, so this would be much cheaper for us. Has anyone had any experience with this approach?

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Comments (7)

User
11 years ago
In my experience paint can cause the wallpaper adhesive to fail and personally I would prefer almost any wall finish to textured paint but whatever you like do it right or do nothing has worked well for me.
PRO
Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
11 years ago
e drywall guy says that he can texture over existing paper wallpaper

That is nothing but a disaster waiting to happen, very, very bad idea
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He did that w/o consulting with you? He's bad. Always, always, forever consult with the person who OWNS the house. Be diplomatic and firm. Tell him that a labor adjustment is required on that room rate. Michael
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It's true it's best to remove the wallpaper, but if you have 2-3 coats of paint on top of it already and you don't have any seams popping or corners coming up, then I would say it is stuck. Generally, you will want to prime with Gardz first or an oil based primer, but again if it has already been painted over it is likely that someone has already done this. If you paint right over wallpaper directly, there is a good chance that the water in the paint can reactivate the paste and actually start pulling the paper down or cause bubbles or cause seams to start seperating, etc. I'm not a big texture guy so I hope someone else has ideas but here is what I might try. You can experiment with sand. Pour sand in the paint and roll it on, or apply with a big brush and make random swirls. I do this a lot of ceilings...hides small imperfections, but may be too rough for a wall surface that people touch or kids rub their face against. You can also try some Venetian plaster techniques....hides a lot, very random application. I have used some texture paint and this stuff will hide everything, but it is a very extreme texture that is too much for most people. I believe the stuff I used was made by Bondex. Of course, you can also do a knockdown or variation of by skim coating the entire surface and then knocking some of it down with a big drywall knife. Just some ideas.
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Do NOT paint over wallpaper! EVER!!! I have a 100 year old house with ROOMS of painted wallpaper. You can tell it is PAINTED WALLPAPER. It is a nightmare to remove once it has been painted. I have spent DAYS scraping a 4 foot space of wall to remove all the bits and pieces of wallpaper until I had to stop due to neck, back and shoulder pain. I still have to do the rest of the (bleeping) room. My walls are plaster -- not dry wall. No chemicals work to remove the painted wallpaper. The only thing that works is very hot water and scrubing with a teflon or mesh sponge. If only I could get into a time machine to stop whoever committed this decorating atrocity to my house....but, hopefully, I can stop you. I think the punishment should fit the crime and anyone who paints over wallpaper should be required to remove it and two of their neighbor's painted wallpaper as well.
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Thank you. Christopher - is cleaning unnecessary do you think? Lisa - the wallpaper in the room I want to do first is in in really good condition., The paper in the hallway is not, and there is a bathroom with awful pinkish wallpaper with fans on it, and a bright red rug, I just have no idea right now what to do about that. I doubt I'd bother to paint it as just a little coat of paint won't help it. We just use another bathroom for now because no one can stand to go in that one! Bossy - I get what your saying, but we have major things that need addressed first (we just had a huge retaining wall next to the house fail for instance), spending money and time on a cosmetic fix like drywall just isn't up there in priority right now, especially because it's complicated by really nice woodwork that could potentially be damaged by removing. However, I really don't want to look at the dark ugly wallpaper anymore and my kids really want their room decorated a way they like. This is work and money for a less than perfect solution but when I know the perfect solution is a loooong way off, it's acceptable to me. I don't want to be looking at this paper 5 years from now because we intended to get to it "soon". While I hope we can, I don't want to count on it at this point. When I married my DH the walls the bedroom in his house were painted over wallpaper. I never even noticed until he pointed it out to me, so I do have an idea of what it will look like if I can do it right.
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Jumpilotmdm
11 years ago
A simple test using water will tell you how stable that paper really is, as it is the water in the paint that makes the glue fail & release.
I agree with chris in that this is a disaster waiting to happen.
lascatx
11 years ago
It can be done, but it is rarely done well. In this house, most of the paper peeled off in long sheets, but the house before this one, we tried every trick in the book and that stuff was not coming off without taking some of the drywall with it. We sought more advise and here's what we wound up doing:

We checked for any loose corners or seams that needed to be secured and floated the seams with drywall compound -- just a little bit needed to make seams not show through) and then painted over everything with the shellac based KILZ. The shellac is better at penetrating the paper and adhering it to the drywall for good. You then treat the wall as if it were new drywall. You can texture it, but if you have a good smooth wall now, you might just want to take some of that drywall compound and address any imperfections you see through and then paint the smooth wall. A smooth wall is actually a higher end finish -- most walls are textured to reduce cost in the finishing.

If the paper is not bonded to the wall or if it has any loose areas, you are setting yourself up for a nightmare. Once you go over paper with paint, it will be harder, if not impossible, to get the paper off. The first layer of paint might be okay, but the next color or the one after that or any extra moisture in the room could be enough to loosen the paper and more layers of paint mean more weight to pull away from the wall. Once it starts to fail, you may be pulling off all the drywall and trim and starting over.

There is a reason people curse those who so quickly paint over paper. Proper preparation of the walls is the labor intensive part no matter which way you go - if done right. If not done right, the labor and materials are even more the next go around.
PRO
Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
11 years ago
shellac based KILZ.

no such critter, you mean BIN
JXBrown (Sunset 24, N San Diego County)
Original Author
11 years ago
It turns out that in the hands of a pro, it works really well. The walls are now just every so slightly textured and no more pink and green flowered wall paper. The popcorn is gone from the ceilings too.
HU-252378424
3 years ago
I have red stripped walls in my powder room and instead of sanding them someone suggested that I just spray knockdown on the walls and then paint. My son in law is very good with spraying knockdown but do you think the red will weep through? Any thoughts??

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