Your experiences with lining paper?

pinkteapot

My mum had a decorator use lining paper on one of her old houses, rather than paying for a plasterer to re-skim the walls. The finish was better than I thought it'd be. The lines between the strips of paper (like you get with wallpaper) were only visible if you looked really closely at it, and the walls looked good and smooth. I don't know what thickness he used.

Twisted_Cherry

We have just used it in the kitchen, as the walls needed some work after a new kitchen was fitted. I have to admit I was sceptical about using lining paper and painting over it, but it actually looks rather good! You can't tell it's not painted directly onto the wall! We used B&Q value lining paper as well!

Mander

I'd definitely prep it well and sand off the horrible shiny white paint -- that was the previous owner's doing! Would 1700 grade be sufficient? I've seen that readily available.

I am intrigued by the polystyrene stuff. Does it actually work on condensation and/or mould?

One of the other problems with this room is that there is currently no working heat in it. There is a gas fire but it does not work and has been disconnected from the system. Consequently it gets fairly cold and the front wall has a tendency to get mouldy, although it's never actually damp to the touch. We've had some remedial work done that should stop this problem in the future but until we can afford to have a proper heat source installed I think it will still be a risk.

Back story: the house was repossessed before we bought it, so the previous owner clearly had some financial problems. Probably because of this she had some dubious work done including replacement windows that did not have the appropriate lintels above them, so not only were the walls unsupported but also water was seeping into the cavity. That's all been repaired now but some of the minor damage remains, like the mould.

cattie

Yes a 1700 paper should be fine as it's quite thick.

Be careful with some of the polystyrene stuff for putting on walls as generally if you lean on it, it will leave a dent. Somebody who owned my flat in the past put this on the outside facing wall of one of my bedrooms & it was full of holes & dents where either people or items had been leaning against it.

There is better stuff available than polystyrene for insulating internal walls, though it is quite expensive. Have a look here to get an idea of the Wallrock thermal liner rolls. http://www.gowallpaper.co.uk/wallrock-range/wallrock-thermal-liner.html

Mander

Excellent, thanks for the input, all!