I knew this new crystal chandelier was precious the minute I walked into the dining room …
Because it was the first thing the homeowners pointed out. Even before showing me the beautiful wallpaper I would be hanging there.
The textured walls needed to be smoothed , and that meant there would be lots of dust from sanding.
Drywall dust is fine and sifts everywhere. I looked at those shiny crystals and knew that there would be no way to clean them to remove dust . So, to keep dust off, I covered the light fixture with painter’s plastic. Only thing is, the light bulbs get hot and would melt the plastic. Which sticks and you can never get it off. Yes, I could have turned off the lights. But I didn’t want to work in a dark room. So above, you can see I took a scissors and cut slits in the plastic to allow the light bulbs to slip outside. This way, the glass fixture was protected, nothing hot touched the plastic, and I had plenty of light to work.
Previous installer broke just about all the rules, but the paper has held up wonderfully for nearly 25 years.
I’m going to hang new wallpaper in this hall bathroom, and first must remove the existing paper. But – surprise! When I removed the outlet cover, I discovered that the previous guy hung this floral paper on top of the original paper. Ouch!
Here’s a better view. You can clearly see that other paper underneath there.
An interesting side note … the original paper looks a whole lot like the pattern I had in my powder room for many years. I loved it.
Anyway, both these papers are solid vinyl material, which is, essentially, plastic , and has a slick surface. Wallpaper paste won’t adhere well to this shiny surface. Even without taking the time to strip off the original paper, a primer should have been applied over that vinyl. Yet, as you see, this paper has hung on well for two decades.
He used regular paste, too – not something formulated to stick to a slick surface (which we call VOV or vinyl over vinyl ). Again – amazing that it stuck. And very glad that he didn’t use VOV – be cause that stuff is near impossible to get off!
Another problem with hanging wallpaper over old paper is that the seams of the bottom paper will show through the new paper.
1990’s paperhanger didn’t prime the wall , either.
To remove this wallpaper, I stripped off the top vinyl layer of both layers of wallpaper. That left the paper backing of the original wallpaper still adhered to the wall. Here I’ve soaked that backing with water , using a sponge and bucket of warm water, applied over and over again, until it soaked in and reactivated the paste. 30 year old paste!
Here I am gently scraping it off the drywall . As you can see, no primer was applied to the drywall. Gee, folks! A primer formulated for use under wallpaper should always be applied, to any surface, before hanging new paper. I like Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime . Besides providing an appropriate surface for the wallpaper paste to bite into , easing installation by allowing slip , and withstanding the tension caused when wallpaper paste dries and the paper shrinks and tugs at the wall (which could cause seams to come loose ), a primer will seal the drywall and ease removal of the wallpaper when you redecorate down the road.
Without a primer, it’s common for wallpapers to “bond” to uncoated drywall , which makes removal nearly impossible. Like I said, I got really lucky with this one, because the original paper did come off relatively easily and with no damage to the wall surface .
Considering that this previous installer broke just about all the rules of hanging wallpaper , his job looks good, seams are tight , and it’s held up for 20 years . This is one of the typical materials we were hanging back then, a pre-pasted , paper-backed , solid-vinyl wallcovering . Not my favorite material at all (often curling at seams , especially in bathrooms and/or when installed without proper wall prep ). Thankfully, they’re not very prevalent today, outside of the lower-end market. Anyway, these are usually fairly easy to strip off the wall . All you need is water , a putty knife , and patience .But here’s a wrench in the works – the previous installer hung this vinyl paper over existing wallpaper . A big no-no! You can see the original stuff peeking out around the light switch. That original wallpaper was installed by the builder in the ‘90’s , and almost always you can bet it’s been hung directly on un-primed / un-sealed Sheetrock . This can be very difficult to get off, without tearing up the surface of the drywall. If that original paper is paper instead of vinyl ( plastic ), sometimes it’s OK to leave it on the wall , prep it correctly, and hang the new wallpaper over it. So that was my original plan. Strip off the vinyl and its paper backing, and then prep the bottom layer and hang new paper over it. But, as you can see if you look closely at the edges of the bottom wallpaper, that fuzzy manilla paper backing is telling us that it, too, is a solid vinyl material. No matter how you might prep it, we don’t want this thick , slick , plastic stuff under our new wallpaper.Back to the topic of stripping wallpaper . Done properly , it’s not a horror show. All you need is water and patience . The theory is to reactivate the old paste with water , and it will let go and the paper will come off the wall. But water won’t penetrate the vinyl / plastic layer (and it won’t penetrate the thin acrylic coating on other types of wallpaper, either ). So, the first thing you need to do is remove that top layer. These solid vinyl materials are pretty cooperative. Simply get under the vinyl with a 3” stiff putty knife and then use your hands to pull it away from its paper backing . It usually separates and comes off in fairly large pieces. The same process works for thinner paper wallpapers , too, but it helps a lot if you sponge the surface first with water , as this seems to strengthen the fibers somehow, and you’ll get that top layer off in larger chunks (instead of 1” bits). Sometimes works better pulling from bottom to top, or from right to left…. experiment and see what works best.Next use a sponge and a bucket of warm water …… to wet that paper backing . You’ll want to go over each area several times , to be sure it’s thoroughly saturated . The idea is to get it wet enough that it will reactivate the wallpaper paste underneath . Be sure to cover and protect your floor and vanity countertop .Once that paste has softened , you should be able to use your 3” stiff putty knife to gently scrape the paper backing off the underlying surface . If you’re really lucky , it will release easily and cleanly and all you’ll have to do is pull with your hands.Here you can see the original layer of wallpaper underneath. Since this turned out to be another paper-backed solid vinyl material, it also had to be removed , following the same process outlined above. Once that top decorative vinyl layer was removed , the paper backing was left stuck to the wall. I wetted it , let it soak until the paste was soft, and then gently scraped it off the wall. Doing so revealed that – what did I tell you?! – yes, the builder’s wallpaper hanger didn’t prime or seal the wall before hanging the paper. This is usually disasterous, because the wallpaper will often actually bond with the drywall surface and be nearly impossible to get off. So I was really surprised that I was able to scrape this off with absolute no damage to the drywall . No peeling surface , no gouges , not even much paste residue (I did sponge off what I could). Once all that water evaporated and the Sheetrock dried , I did some minor prep touch-ups , sanded lightly , and then applied my wallpaper primer . I like Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime .
The existing wallpaper in this sink / vanity room of a hall bathroom is unique, because instead of coming in rolls, it came in pieces of torn paper, each about the size of a paper plate, that were placed on the wall in random ways, with the pieces overlapping each other. This was a fairly popular wallpaper option back in the ‘90’s. I’m to hang new wallpaper in this room, so my first step was to remove the torn paper. This started out seeming easy, because the paper was literally falling away from the wall – but only around the top, and only the top 5” or so. The lower areas were stuck nice and tight to the wall. What’s going on?The original installer hung his wallpaper directly on new drywall / Sheetrock , with no primer and no other prep. Turns out that, under this wallpaper, there are actually several different types of wall surfaces related to the new drywall. The main part of drywall is grey in color . But here you see a band of white running along the top of the wall, under the ceiling, about 5” wide. This is where the joint compound was applied , to smooth over joints , drywall tape , and nail heads . But the curious thing is that the wallpaper is adhering to the drywall – but not to this white band of joint compound below the ceiling line. The reason? After the drywall guys sanded this area smooth, no one wiped off the dust left over from sanding . Thus, there was a layer of dust on the wall, between the wall and the wallpaper. Well, the wallpaper paste wants to bite into a solid surface, and it can’t get a grip on dust. That’s why you see this top portion pulling away from the wall. I have a lot more prep to do in this room. But before moving forward, I took a sponge and bucket of water and wiped the dust off that top portion of wall. Now I’m assured that any smoothing compound or primer or wallcovering or other that is applied, will stick . For reference, here’s a shot of the un-primed drywall being uncovered as I strip off wallpaper in another area. This picture shows the sections of drywall , joint compound , and also paint (from overspraying the woodwork ). Wallpaper adheres to all these different surfaces in different ways. Another reason to always use a wallpaper primer – it will adhere to just about any surface, and will create a uniform coating for the wallpaper to adhere to. I like Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime.
The homeowner’s contractor’s guy hung this accent wall in an under the stairs powder room . He did a good enough job. But there were some bubbles / wrinkles . Depending on where you’re standing in the room, and where light is coming from, the bubbles were somewhat noticeable , even with this busy patterned wallpaper . It bugged the homeowner , and she wanted it to look better. Dry-stripping the wallpaper resulted in this. The paper came off in an intact sheet, as the mfgr promises. But it took some of the primer along with it. Let’s examine this. It’s a good thing, at least, that the previous installer used a primer, and hopefully one made for use under wallpaper. But, to be honest, a wallpaper primer is designed to let go of the wallpaper when you start to strip it off the wall. So maybe this is just paint, or a paint primer . Second, I have a suspicion that, after skim-floating and then sanding the wall to smooth it, dust was left on the wall , and then trapped between the wall and the primer. That’s a likely reason why the primer / paint pulled away from the wall so easily. Nothing sticks to dust! So it’s imperative that, after vacuuming , you take a damp sponge – rinsed frequently – and wipe down the entire wall, and then let dry , before priming. The primer also has to dry completely, before wallpaper goes up. I switched to wet-stripping the remaining wallpaper, and had less damage . But was still left with a wall with lots of irregular and un-smooth areas . So to prepare it for wallpaper , I first sealed loose or dusty areas with GARDZ , which is a penetrating and hard-drying sealer for torn drywall or other unstable surfaces . It’s pretty cool stuff. After that dried, I applied a very thin skim coat of joint compound (which we call mud ). Once that was dry, I sanded smooth , vacuumed , wiped off residual dust with a damp sponge, let dry, and then primed with Roman Ultra Prime Pro 977 and let dry. Here’s what it looked like when I was done with the prep .And here it is with the new paper up. I switched to wet-stripping the remaining wallpaper, and had less damage . But was still left with a wall with lots of irregular and un-smooth areas . So to prepare it for wallpaper , I first sealed loose or dusty areas with GARDZ , which is a penetrating and hard-drying sealer for torn drywall or other unstable surfaces . It’s pretty cool stuff. After that dried, I applied a very thin skim coat of joint compound (which we call mud ). Once that was dry, I sanded smooth , vacuumed , wiped off residual dust with a damp sponge, let dry, and then primed with Roman Ultra Prime Pro 977 and let dry. This single wall was a bit of a challenge, for many reasons. For one thing, we really didn’t have enough paper. Luckily, the previous guy had kept the left over scraps, and I did need to use some of those. It also was OK to mis-match the pattern when necessary, as the design is very forgiving. The rounded bull-nosed edges around and over the window are a PITA. This pattern was forgiving in that respect, too, as well as the layout of the area over the window. There were also some printing defects , which will be addressed in a future blog post . Oh – and I, also, got bubbles ! In fact, I hung this same brand a few weeks ago and got bubbles then, too. Some I got rid of by making a tiny cut with a razor blade and then pushing the air out with my plastic smoother . But, usually, with these pre-pasted materials, once they get good and dry, small bubbles dry flat and disappear. Not sure why the other guy had problems with this. But I will say that the bubbles were larger than typically show up with these papers.Close up.The pattern is called Brownstoner , and is by Flavor Paper . I am not a fan of their vinyl products, and definitely not their peel & stick . But I do like their EZ Papes , which is a pre-pasted material . Not crazy about the bubbles, though. The home is in the Eastwood neighborhood of Houston . installer
Looks nice, huh?But these rounded edges , especially arches , have been a thorn in the side of wallpaper installer s since they became popular more than 10 years ago. Hanging paper on them and trimming neatly at the right point is difficult. Because the paper is hanging over the edge blocking your view of where you need to trim . A level or laser level don’t always work because the home’s framing isn’t always perfectly plumb . Metal straightedges / trim guides are useful, but can slip and mess up your cut. The arches present their own challenges because a straight edge won’t line up with them . A colleague in the Wallcovering Installers Association ( WIA ) invented this gadget , which is a huge help. This is a 1.5″ section cut off from the 10′ length of bull nose corner bead used in the drywall construction of these edges. Then you cut notches in it at the point on the corner where you want to trim your wallpaper . Some installers place a trimmer blade in the notch and slide the gadget along the edge, trimming as they go. I find that the thing wobbles too much for an accurate trim, plus it’s difficult to hold the blade while you’re sliding the thing down the wall. So I put a pencil point into the notch and draw a line along where I want to trim. Then I can use a straightedge and trimming blade , or a scissors, to cut along the line. Makes a nice, even, straight cut! Note that I like to wrap it about 1/3 of the way around the rounded edge.OK, so you’ve seen how I trimmed along the edge to the right. Now here’s another trick that I’m going to use on the edge to the left, as seen in the photo. The wallpaper strip is 20.5″ wide. But I trimmed it vertically so that the piece over the arch is 10″ wide. That correlates to the point where I want to trim the strip that will land on the rounded edge going down the wall. Note that I have not completely trimmed the part under the arch on the left side, because I want to be sure the cut edge lines up with that on the next strip I’m going to hang. The blue plastic tape is there to keep paste off the wall paint . It will be removed after the piece is trimmed to fit. Now here I’ve placed the remaining 10.5″ wide left section of the strip of wallpaper. You can see how it’s falling perfectly along the bull-nosed edge – saving me from having to use a blade or straightedge or gadget. Note that this works only if the edge is perfectly plumb , and that the piece above the arch is also perfectly plumb, and my new strip is hanging perfectly plumb. This paper is a non-woven material, and is somewhat stiff and unbending , so not really amenable to twisting or tweaking into place. Plus, you want to keep that left edge straight, because your next / subsequent strip will need to butt up against it. Trust me, I did a lot of measuring and shooting the laser level before I pasted or hung any paper! Now that it’s in place, I can go back and trim that remaining bit under the arch, making sure that it meets up in the corner with the edge of this piece .Here’s another shot of it finished. Closer up.This tree branch foliage pattern is called Twining and is by Graham & Brown . I like most everything they make. The non-woven substrate is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece , with no damage to the wall , when it’s time to redecorate . This home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks / Heights neigborhood of Houston .
This wall has a texture on it that will look bad under the new wallpaper, and it will also interfere with adhesion. So the wall needs to be skim-coated / skim-floated to smooth it. But the current paint on the wall is glossy, as you can see on the right side of the photo. The smoothing compound is sticky stuff, but it (like many coatings) cannot be trusted to adhere to a shiny surface. I say it’s like the toy Colorforms … the new material will kinda stick – but not really stick . But if the surface is dull , or matt finish , the new coating will be able to grab ahold and adhere . To make this wall surface dull , I’m rolling on a primer that will dry with a flat / matt finish . There are various primers out there that will adhere to a glossy surface and then dry flat. But I’m using my trusty wallpaper primer , Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime . Yes, this is a wallpaper primer . But it also checks all the boxes … it sticks to just about anything , it dries quickly, especially with a fan blowing on it, and it dries with a matt finish that wallpaper paste – and smoothing compound – will adhere to. At $70 or more per gallon , yes, this stuff is expensive . But it works , it’s low odor , it’s already on my truck , and it saves having to carry around an assortment of of primers and materials. Here’s my smoothing compound. Sheetrock brand Plus 3 joint compound used for working with drywall . Note that quick-dry formulas , nor spackling compound , are not suitable and won’t hold up under wallpaper . You can search here for my other posts to see more about the smoothing process for textured walls .
I’m getting ready to skim-float this accent wall in a master bedroom , to smooth the textured wall . The texture on the wall looks a little odd to me. Also, it is more concentrated in the center of the wall , and less so as you get close to corners and window moldings . This is leading me to think that this texture didn’t come with the house . When homes are built and texture is wanted, the painters or drywall guys come in with spray equipment and shoot the joint compound onto the wall. This gives a pretty uniform coverage , and also coats every surface, up into corners and molding. Not sure, but I think this one I’m working with might be the after-market kind that you can buy in a spray can from Home Depot . It does seem pretty uniform, too. You can do a search here to read more about the skim-floating / skim-coating process , and smoothing textured walls , to provide a smooth and attractive surface for the new wallpaper .
Here you’re looking at a laundry room, under the counter, and behind the sink. I’ve got to put wallpaper back there. Even though nobody’s going to look under here or scrutinize, I want it to look perfect. Good thing that I’m small, because I can fit under here and maneuver fairly well. Still, working around these pipes is really taxing. You have to make a lot of relief cuts , and other measures, to get the wallpaper to fit around the pipes and then lie against the wall. Additionally, usually the drywall guys were not able to get the wall perfectly smooth in these areas. Escutcheons (decorative plates) will hide a lot of wall bumps, imperfect cuts, gaps, overlaps, and other normal occurrences in situations like this. Only thing is, the plumber “forgot” to put escutcheons around the water lead lines and the drain pipe under this sink. I think that I was able to trim neatly enough that no escutcheons are needed. 😊 This wallpaper pattern is called Frutto Proibito and is by Cole & Son . It’s a non-woven / paste the wall material , easy to strip off the wall when you redecorate , and easy to hang (except for cramped areas under sinks ! )
This window had leak issues ( rain , sprinklers ) some years back, which have been solved by replacing the window, and doing other repairs. In the photo, I’ve applied my light blue wallpaper primer to the top half of the wall but not yet the bottom portion, so that’s why the color differenceEven though the leak has been stopped, vestiges of it are still appearing. Water that entered the wall left vertical streaks on the drywall . All these years later, after the paint and texture have been removed , the stains remain.Water stains , along with some others, such as blood , rust , ink , marker , grease , oil, cosmetics , and the like, will bleed through joint compound , primer , paint , and wallpaper , creating new stains on the surface . It may take a couple of months , but they will make an appearance . In this photo, I’ve already applied my blue primer. It only took a half an hour for these stains to work their way through. This is the top right corner of the window , where the bracket for the mini-blinds is attached to the wall. Note the stains on the underside of the window . To prevent these stains from working their way through the new coating / paint / wallpaper , it’s imperative to thoroughly cover them with a stain blocker . And – trust me – water-based products won’t work, despite what the label claims. You need an oil-based product like this KILZ Original , or a shellac-based like BIN by Zinsser . Both are prone to splatter , so be sure to cover your floor and baseboards with dropcloths . KILZ has strong fumes and can make you high , so ventilate or wear a respirator mask . It’s a hassle cleaning the liquid out of the brush , so I use a cheap-ish disposable “ chip brush ” from Home Depot or Sherwin-Williams . The products usually dry pretty quickly. Note that wallpaper paste won’t stick to most oil-based primers , and shellac is too glossy for good adhesion , so I’m going to go over the stain blocker with my usual Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime wallpaper primer , which sticks to just about everything , and creates a good, matt finish surface for the wallpaper to cling to.
The Wallpaper Lady's Blog 