Can I hang embossed wallpaper over old embossed and painted paper?

JustLikeThat

For many, many years we have been happy to paint over the embossed paper in our large lounge. However, we now want to remove old disused hot air vents and will not be able to match the very old paper. Stripping it all off would be a challenge given the times it's been 'emulsioned' and opinions are that the plasterboard would also come away and would need replacing and plastering.
So... do you think we could hang another embossed paper over the old - neither are or would be very 'raised'. I hope someone with experience or knowledge of this can help rather than guesses.

Silver-Surfer_2

No, strip it off and re paper.

spadoosh

You can, theres a product called wall doctor (wallpaper roll) thats suitable for going over textured papers. Naturally will depend how texture yours is but have a google for it.

Of the philosophy though of if your going to do something like wallpapering you might as well just do it properly. That'd mean stripping it back. Not sure how old your house is but weve pulled paper off thats been up for 50 years and our walls are near perfect, most weve been able to strip, fill a few cracks and paint directly on.

Hoploz

Strip it off and start again. It sounds like you've had your money's worth from the old lot. Time to roll your sleeves up and do the job properly. Or get someone in.

PasturesNew

Strip it off - wall probably needs replastering anyway.

cajef

When I removed old disused hot air vents it meant prising them out, filling the hole with block and then plastering to make good which meant removing old chipwood paper that the previous owners had papered with and then painted over in every room before I could decorate again, did it all myself but it was not an easy a job.

no1catman

You can do anything you like.
But is it a good idea - no. You probably know that really don't you.

27col

JustLikeThat wrote: »

For many, many years we have been happy to paint over the embossed paper in our large lounge. However, we now want to remove old disused hot air vents and will not be able to match the very old paper. Stripping it all off would be a challenge given the times it's been 'emulsioned' and opinions are that the plasterboard would also come away and would need replacing and plastering.
So... do you think we could hang another embossed paper over the old - neither are or would be very 'raised'. I hope someone with experience or knowledge of this can help rather than guesses.

Yes! You can do anything that you like.
But whether it would
A) Stay on the wall
Look anything other than a complete lash up
Is extremely debatable.

JustLikeThat

Thanks for all the responses. The only reason I considered it was because the room is a double - 29 feet long and quite wide. Experience elsewhere in the house tells me that the plasterboard which is on 3 sides will come away as well if we wet and scrape at it. The original embossed paper is fairly flat, both by design and from painting.
If the opinion is that papering over will not be a good option, how much is it likely to cost (very roughly) to plaster such a room? Would we then best paint the plaster and not bother with new paper?

chocomonsta

Hi

I have papered over slightly embossed paper and it looks fine. The new paper I used is a good quality and has a pattern which may hide the underneath paper!

Why not paper over a small section of the existing wallpaper and see if you are happy with the finish? I would think that the wall nearest a window would show any imperfections due to the light?

best wishes

dirty_magic

You might be surprised, our living room was easy to strip and that was vinyl embossed painted about 10 times. Get a steamer and it makes it about a thousand times easier.

We also had to strip the ceiling which had 3 layers of embossed paper, that was even easier than the walls. It came off almost in the strips it was laid in.