Repair/hide or replace lining paper?

ChasingtheWelshdream

Hi folks, 

I’m in a dilemma of money vs time vs inclination.

I am finally, finally ready to tackle prep work on my hallway walls in readiness for painting. (I’ve spent weeks panelling and ceiling/coving repairing)

I have 3 storeys, so it’s a big job. The paint will cost a fair bit too.

The previous owners simply painted over wallpaper. In itself this doesn’t look too bad and could easily pass as lining paper, that I could just repaint. Except….they had a border at dado height, and so there is a visible ‘ridge’ in walls that I haven’t panelled.

So I’m wondering what to do about it, and if there is a way to hide the border without stripping everything off and putting up lining paper. (The plaster is likely in poor condition underneath.)

The thought of papering the entire hallway gives me the heebie-jeebies, as well as yet another mammoth job. But on the other hand, it may be worth it after all the other effort I’ve put in.

if anyone has any suggestions, to save me some pennies and tears, please share!

Grenage

You might be able to get away with a thin application of filler and a sand.  I'd definitely try that first.

How deep is the ridge?

ChasingtheWelshdream

Thanks, definitely worth ago. Depending on the angle of the light, sometimes it’s not noticeable. At other times it most definitely is.

I did wonder if I could maybe strip off just the border, but I suspect this would cause more damage.

(Excuse this particular bit of grubby wall, in serious need of sugar soap elbow grease!!)

Grenage

Ah, that sort of border.  I remember my parents having the same!

It's very shallow so there might not be enough depth for filler, but I'd still try in a small area first.  I'd rough up the ridge and area above with sandpaper, then apply a water/PVA mix with a brush.  You don't want the PVA anywhere you aren't applying filler.

Mix some powdered filler and smooth across when the wall has gone tacky.  Sand back with a fine grit once dry and see if it blends in ok.

You could try just sanding the paper ridge flush but I imagine the paper would ball up and make a mess.

If it doesn't work out then you can always fall back on stripping the paper - it might be quicker!

neilmcl

I'd use a fine filler on the edge and sand back to a smooth, blended finish. Get some of the continental type filling knives, they're much easier to work with for applications like this.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/harris-continental-filling-knives-3-piece-set/41601

ChasingtheWelshdream

Thanks, I'll give it a go and see how it looks. The worst that can happen is I need to revert to re-papering.....

It does need to look good, otherwise I'll kick myself that I didn't make one final push.

I'll keep you posted!

ChasingtheWelshdream

I thought I'd update as I've been working on the walls today and have found a solution - albeit a little time consuming. 

As I haven't panelled all the walls, and the border is showing as a horizontal band all along some of them.  I thought that even if I did manage to feather in the border to hide the ridge with filler, there would be a faint 'bulge' all along.

So I thought I'd see if it was possible to strip just the border. I scored criss-crosses very gently with a blunt stanley knife and damped the area a couple of times. After it had soaked in I was able to peel just the border off, piece-by-piece, leaving the wallpaper underneath. With 240 sandpaper I could gently feather the line of paint that remained where the join had been. I then sugar soaped to remove paste residue and gave it a once over with a mini roller and some leftover contract matt, and voila! Invisible border!

I may have been lucky with the small test area I tried, but even if it takes me a couple of evenings, it's still preferable to stripping and lining the entire 3 storey hall. :-D

It may not be a professional method, but I'm quite happy with the result - saving me time and money. :-D

Grenage

If it works, it's not wrong.

ChasingtheWelshdream

 I have had to strip one wall completely where there were so many holes  dents and bubbles it wasn't worth salvaging, and large chunks of plaster came off at the same time, so I'm now repairing that. Anything to avoid the same with the remaining  walls is definitely the way to go!

One day we'll get the walls re-plastered, but for now, this will do. 

I'm itching to get some nice paint on the walls and trying to be patient so I don't ruin it :-)