Fixing Weird Things That Happen To Wallpaper

The top photo shows a stain on the wallpaper that is probably related to a rain or hurricane event a few years ago.

Water stains (and also other substances, like rust, blood, ink, oil, tobacco, tar, cosmetics, and more) will bleed through wallpaper. So, before patching the area, it is imperative to use a stain blocker to seal the problem. My favorite is KILZ Original oil-based.

KILZ will seal off the stain all right. But wallpaper won’t stick to it. So, in the third photo, you see where I have primed over the KILZ with a wallpaper primer (tinted light blue, for visibility). It’s not necessary to prime the entire wall area to be patched, because this type of wallpaper will stick to itself with just plain old adhesive.

The striped pattern made for an easy repair. I took a straightedge and sharp razor blade and trimmed along the striped design, creating a long skinny patch. See fourth photo. You can also see the strip pasted and booked (folded pasted-side-to-pasted-side).

Once that sat and relaxed for a few minutes, I took it to the wall and appliquéd it over the damaged area, going the full height.

There was a very slight color difference between the paper that had been on the wall for 20 years and the paper that had been in a dark closet. Had I placed the white area of the patch next to the white area on the existing paper on the wall, the color difference would have been noticeable. But trimming along the blue stripe gave the eye a logical stopping point, and so the color difference is not detectable.

In the finished photo, you would never guess there had been anything amiss with this wall.

I used this same technique to patch over the bug-bite holes in yesterday’s post.

And another good reminder that it’s always best to order a little extra wallpaper, in case of the need for repairs later. Store the paper in a climate-controlled space … not the garage or attic.

The wallpaper is by Schumacher, and appeared to be an old-school pulp paper material.

Treating Mildew on Walls Before Wallpapering

When the old wallpaper was pulled off, surprises were revealed! Here you see mildew (don’t worry, it’s not mold) that had grown under the paper where a water leak had lead to damp conditions, probably exacerbated by the thick, non-breathing, vinyl wallpaper.

Mildew will bleed through wallpaper, and it can also create a powdery colony that will not provide a stable surface for the wallpaper to grab ahold of.

To kill the mildew, I washed it with full-strength bleach. When that was dry, I went over it with an oil-based stain blocker. I like the product KILZ Original.

Wallpaper – Twos are Bad News

Digital Image

The homeowners were testing colors of paint for their woodwork. No problem with that. But what WAS a problem is that they labeled those choices by writing numbers on the wall with a Sharpie – in INK!

Ink bleeds through paint, and it bleeds through wallpaper. The stain might not appear immediately, but over time, the shadow of this “2” would eventually work its way through the new wallpaper.

There are sealers that will cover this (I like oil-based KILZ Original). But in this case, since the spots were small, I used sandpaper to scrub all traces of the ink off the wall.

For the record, there are other substances that will bleed through wallpaper, too. Ink, blood, rust, water stains, and any oil- or petroleum-based material, like crayon, lipstick, baby oil, cooking oil, grease, pet stains, etc.