HELP uneven walls

freyaluck

We have moved to a new house and the walls are a disaster. we have taken off one layer of wall paper to the realisation that the walls have several layers of paint over more wall paper, where we have pulled off the top layer thge walls are now extremely uneven where the paper has pulled off layers of paint and in some places gone right down to the plaster, which from what we can see is in pretty good shape.
Is there any way I can get them relatively smooth without spendind a small fortune or peel the layers back to the plaster,
I have tried lining paper on a small section to no avail and also bought a small expensive tub of smooth over which was rubbish.
any suggestions welcome
frey

tranmererovers

Did you try 1200 guage lining paper? This is quite heavyweight. Only other options are to skim over the walls (is this something you could do yourselves) or paper with an anaglypta. We had a similar problem and when my OH suggested anaglypta I nearly chocked on my vino! But actually I was quite pleasantly surprised as there are some really nice comtemporary designs out there.

ariba10

If the plaster is in good shape, borrow or hire a wall paper stripper.

They have a small tank with a heating element inside and the steam generated should take the paper off.

It might take a day or two but the results should be worth it.

If you cover up what you have there it will only make it worse for next time.

sillybean

When taking wall paper off and ive done a lot of it! The thing I do is get some warm water (no soap) and a large sponge. Then wet the paper really well till its soaking from the top to the bottom, starting at the top. Leave for 5-10 mins to let the water soak into the paper and get to the glue. Then apply another layer of water and leave for another 5-10 mins. Then glue which was originally made with water some sort of starch based glue then dissolves back into all the water you applied. Make sure the water is as hot as you can take.

Simply pull the paper off the wall, often I don’t even need a wall paper scraper. I think the trick is leaving it for a little while to soak in and then putting on another coat of water.

The thing to watch out for is plug sockets, make sure you don’t put water on above sockets. I did that in a rush by accident and ended having to turn the electricity off opening up the socket and then drying it out, what a pain in the rear end.

I do have a steamer which is quite expensive but it takes far to long the old water and sponge always works best for me.

With regards to the uneven wall, I'm never a fan of lining paper, you can always see the lines and it just annoys me. Also if you have kids, and they draw on the walls then you cant just wipe it off, as the paint goes funny (highly technical term) where as vinly silk on a proper wall its wipeable (not a real word but you know what I mean)

tranmererovers

sillybean wrote:

When taking wall paper off and ive done a lot of it! The thing I do is get some warm water (no soap) and a large sponge. Then wet the paper really well till its soaking from the top to the bottom, starting at the top. Leave for 5-10 mins to let the water soak into the paper and get to the glue. Then apply another layer of water and leave for another 5-10 mins. Then glue which was originally made with water some sort of starch based glue then dissolves back into all the water you applied. Make sure the water is as hot as you can take.

Simply pull the paper off the wall, often I don’t even need a wall paper scraper. I think the trick is leaving it for a little while to soak in and then putting on another coat of water.

The thing to watch out for is plug sockets, make sure you don’t put water on above sockets. I did that in a rush by accident and ended having to turn the electricity off opening up the socket and then drying it out, what a pain in the rear end.

I do have a steamer which is quite expensive but it takes far to long the old water and sponge always works best for me.

With regards to the uneven wall, I'm never a fan of lining paper, you can always see the lines and it just annoys me. Also if you have kids, and they draw on the walls then you cant just wipe it off, as the paint goes funny (highly technical term) where as vinly silk on a proper wall its wipeable (not a real word but you know what I mean)

I agree with your comments re soaking / steaming.

However I have lining paper in a couple of rooms painted and then 'glazed'. I'm quite picky and my OH is a perfectionist when it comes to the decorating but I have to say that the lines are not overtly visible and the addition of a glaze means it is easy clean and hard wearing (we've got 2 boisterous boys under 4!)

Added to say that OH 'cross lined' the walls with a lower guage paper first.

freyaluck

hiya
First of all a big cheers to your replies
the trouble is the wall paper is under several layers of paint. So have no idea how to get it off , the walls would be fine if we could.
Where we pulled the top lot of paper off using the method above, it has pulled some paint off in places, rather a lot of places, so has left loads of indentations. I am tempted to nitromors the paint off, but not a very practical or cheap solution.:D
any more ideas people
frey

woolley_2

I've had this same problem in several houses I've renovated - I taught myself how to skim - but admittedly it does needs lots of patience and practice.

For the paint on the plaster maybe a heat gun could help or even the wallpaper steamer mentioned earlier - just leave it on the area longer as they are able to remove artex etc with a little persuation.

As the other post said some of the blown vinyls are not bad at all and they can hide inconsistencies in the wall really well - for a ceiling I couldnt be bothered to plaster we used a very cheap B & Q one (about 3.99 per roll) without a regular pattern to hide the blemishes - once a thick coat of emulsion was applied it looked really well.

Think you are correct about that smooth over stuff - its a gimmick thats essentially an incredibly expensive skim coat which will again takes lots of practice and a huge wallet.

Mikeyorks

Regret that the only 'non botch' solution - now you've started, is to get it all off;)

Use a wall paper steamer (buy one if you decide to do the whole house - but make sure it has a large end plate) - strip off to the underwear (it gets real clammy - but watch for hot splashes!) - and go for it.

BUT FIRST - get one of the tools that cut / pierce the wallpaper layer (one type is a roller with sharp metal pins in it - the other a hand sized 'scourer' with sharp wheeled blades) and let the steam in. Essential for vinyls - but will also get the steam through the paint layers you mention. But don't get too carried away when using it - otherwise you'll gouge the plaster.

An example is at Code 63466 (21 items down) on this link. There's a steamer below it - but Homebase will do a cheaper one, on offer, at the moment.
http://www.toolstation.com/index.html?code=97065

tranmererovers

If you decide you need to get a wallpaper stripper, they can be hired - I know that Focus stores used to hire them out or you could try local tool hire places.

Ericson_2

I'm with Mikeyorks, Sound advice.

nelly_2

a paper tiger is superb for getting paint paper off

http://paint-and-supplies.hardwarestore.com/48-253-wallpaper-tools/triple-head-paper-tiger-170613.aspx
they had them at B&Q