Painting Over Wallpaper Ask An Expert

How to apply paint to walls without stripping wallpaper -- Ask an Expert

Q: I am tired of stripping wallpaper and have a bedroom where I would like to paint over it. The wallpaper has a raised vertical pattern that looks like ribbons of string. What is the best method to do this? What should be used as the base coat? Can I use glazes over the paint or would it be too much for the wallpaper?

Matt Jaworski, owner of Jaworski Interiors & Exteriors Painting and Decorating says "First, the good news: You can paint your bedroom, bathroom or any other room with out stripping the wall paper. "

Now, the bad news: Because the wallpaper is textured, it will require more prep work. The walls will need to be primed and coated with joint compound and sanded before you paint.

Wallpaper removal and striping can be a time consuming job If there are several layers or wallpaper, or the wallpaper has been installed over an unprepared wall, you plainly cannot remove it without doing serious damage to the plaster or drywall. There's an easier way. It is possible to paint over wallpaper, if you do it correctly and with a little work, you can hide all the seams too.

Here are the steps to painting walls with textured wallpaper to achieve a smooth finish:

1. Protect all trim with painter's tape.

2. Apply an odorless, oil-based primer to the walls. Make sure the room is well ventilated and that you wear a respirator. Do not use a latex- or water-based primer, as it will deactivate the glue under the wallpaper and create bubbles.

3. Once the primer is dry, apply the joint compound. Roll the joint compound onto an 8-by-4-foot area, then smooth it out with a trowel. Continue working around the room in sections until all the walls have been coated.

4. Allow the walls to dry for 24 hours.

5. Scrape the walls with a scraping tool to smooth out the joint compound.

6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for a second coat.

7. After the second coat has dried, it needs to be sanded using a 180-grit sandpaper or sanding sponge. Have a lot of light in the room during this step so you can see fine lines, scratches and nicks, which can easily be sanded out. Again, make sure the room is well ventilated and wear a respirator.

8. Clean up all the dust created by the sanding.

9. Now you apply one coat of primer and two coats of paint or more until full coverage is achieved.