Different wallpapers and walls in kitchen, what to do!

honeybee1234

I moved into a council house a few months back. It's an old terraced house and in fairly decent, liveable condition.

However I'm having a right time of it with the wallpaper! Had a nightmare removing washable wallpaper from the living room, and the kitchen is another matter altogether!

On one wall there's painted over, embossed wallpaper. On another, someone has peeled back the wallpaper on a corner where I can see at least x3 layers of wallpaper, they've peeled a layer off on part of the side of the chimney and left it. In the chimney alcove and over the fronts, there's an almost anaglypta-style wallpaper in a large rectangular pattern. Then another wall with painted over plaster.

Add to that there's a host of marks on every wall and I don't know what to do. Every door frame and skirting board has been painted numerous times in gloss, some have been half-painted in the wall colour and they're awful. 

I honestly don't know where to start or what to do with it. I don't know if it's easier to try and remove all the wallpaper but risk it a) taking the plaster with it or b) it taking forever to remove. Should I paint over it? Wallpaper it with lining paper then decorate? Secret option c)?

I'm at a loss, my mental health is bad atm, I'm terrible at DIY and I don't know what to do!

Any ideas welcome. 

Ebe_Scrooge

In general, removing wallpaper isn't too difficult.  Wet it, using either a sponge or a steamer (to be honest, I once borrowed a steamer from a friend, but found an ordinary sponge and bucket of water to be just as good).  If it's painted, then score it first with a Stanley knife to let the water penetrate, give it a few minutes to soak in.  Then strip it off using an ordinary wallpaper stripper, re-wetting as you go if necessary.  Take it steady, and hopefully (!) it'll come off without bringing the plaster with it.

If the plaster does get damaged, but not too badly, you can patch it up with some ordinary filler and give the whole lot a light sanding to get a reasonably decent surface.

Painted doorframes - can be a right pain.  The usual options are:

1.  Nitromors and a scraper.

2.  Heat gun and a scraper.

3.  Remove and send them away to be dipped.

4.  Bite the bullet and replace them.

Depends on how thick the paint is, how much time you're prepared to spend, how much money you're prepared to spend, and how good you want the finish to be ("good enough" or "perfect").

Overall it's usually not a difficult job, but can be very time-consuming and messy.  But hopefully this may give you some ideas to be going on with.

honeybee1234

Ebe_Scrooge said:

In general, removing wallpaper isn't too difficult.  Wet it, using either a sponge or a steamer (to be honest, I once borrowed a steamer from a friend, but found an ordinary sponge and bucket of water to be just as good).  If it's painted, then score it first with a Stanley knife to let the water penetrate, give it a few minutes to soak in.  Then strip it off using an ordinary wallpaper stripper, re-wetting as you go if necessary.  Take it steady, and hopefully (!) it'll come off without bringing the plaster with it.

If the plaster does get damaged, but not too badly, you can patch it up with some ordinary filler and give the whole lot a light sanding to get a reasonably decent surface.

Painted doorframes - can be a right pain.  The usual options are:

1.  Nitromors and a scraper.

2.  Heat gun and a scraper.

3.  Remove and send them away to be dipped.

4.  Bite the bullet and replace them.

Depends on how thick the paint is, how much time you're prepared to spend, how much money you're prepared to spend, and how good you want the finish to be ("good enough" or "perfect").

Overall it's usually not a difficult job, but can be very time-consuming and messy.  But hopefully this may give you some ideas to be going on with.

Oh I've been burned by removing the washable wallpaper in my living room! It took me days to get the chimney free of it, scoring it then repeatedly going over the same part with wallpaper stripper solution, and hammering the scraper to get under it.

I'm not sure what to do with the door frames and skirting boards... I'd love to replace them but that's not an option. They're not even, there's bits missing which have been replaced with random bits of wood, and the walls are uneven so in places you can see all of the door frame, then further up the wall the frame has nearly disappeared into the wall, I'm assuming due to someone doing something to the wall. 

ariarnia

nitromors is good stuff but it stinks so you need a sunny day so you can have the windows open. important things is to not to do too large an area at once, be generous with it (really put it on thick) and add more when if it's dry or if you scraped all that layer off. took two hours to strip three stairs then we started using more/thicker coats and letting it to the work rather than scraping so hard and the rest of the stairs were done in no time and with much less effort. 

FreeBear

ariarnia said: nitromors is good stuff but it stinks

The old Nitromors was indeed good stuff, then methylene chloride (the active ingredient) was banned in 2009. It took a long while for the manufacturers to come up with a new formula, but by all accounts, it is not as good as the original.  I've heard people rave about PeelAway, although it is a bit too expensive for my taste..

Hot air guns and sanding is not a good idea on old paint - Prior to ~1992, lead was one of the main ingredients in many paints.

MalMonroe

You are in a council property. If the decor is in a bad state, you could have asked the council for a decorating grant before you moved in, especially if there are marks on all the walls. You probably still could, see what they say. When any council rents a property to you, it should be in a good state of repair when you move in and you can ask them what they intend to do to bring it up to scratch when you go to view any council property.

Please don't start spending a fortune trying to renovate a council property - and certainly not on your own. If you're not happy with the state of it, you could ask the council to help or tell them you need to move for the sake of your mental health as too much work needs to be done. 

Please don't think you don't have any rights when you are a council tenant. I'm a council tenant and I do nag our council and I don't care if they don't like it because I refer to my tenant handbook - you should have one - quite a lot! They often hear me saying (when I can actually get through on the phone that is, "according to my tenant handbook, I am entitled to   . . ." 

Some tenants can get free help with household tasks from the council by way of the handyperson service, if your council has one. The handypeople can help with stripping walls and decorating. They're not allowed to be tied up at one property for more than an hour a day but doing it slowly is better than having to pay someone to do it for you. 

I feel your pain because I'm absolutely rubbish at DIY too but I do pester my council! 

If your mental health is deteriorating because of the house, you could make an appointment with your GP to ask if they can help you with applying to your council's social services department too, to see if it's possible to get you some practical help that way. It's worth trying.

But first off, I'd contact the council. If they are like our council, they have a neighbourhood officer in each council housing area and it's their sole responsibility to look after tenants in that area. If they don't have neighbourhood officers then you should try to speak to someone in the housing department who can point you in the right direction for help. You need help from your landlord The council. They're happy to take your rent money and they need to step up.

shiraz99

MalMonroe said:

You are in a council property. If the decor is in a bad state, you could have asked the council for a decorating grant before you moved in, especially if there are marks on all the walls. You probably still could, see what they say. When any council rents a property to you, it should be in a good state of repair when you move in and you can ask them what they intend to do to bring it up to scratch when you go to view any council property.

Please don't start spending a fortune trying to renovate a council property - and certainly not on your own. If you're not happy with the state of it, you could ask the council to help or tell them you need to move for the sake of your mental health as too much work needs to be done. 

Please don't think you don't have any rights when you are a council tenant. I'm a council tenant and I do nag our council and I don't care if they don't like it because I refer to my tenant handbook - you should have one - quite a lot! They often hear me saying (when I can actually get through on the phone that is, "according to my tenant handbook, I am entitled to   . . ." 

Some tenants can get free help with household tasks from the council by way of the handyperson service, if your council has one. The handypeople can help with stripping walls and decorating. They're not allowed to be tied up at one property for more than an hour a day but doing it slowly is better than having to pay someone to do it for you. 

I feel your pain because I'm absolutely rubbish at DIY too but I do pester my council! 

If your mental health is deteriorating because of the house, you could make an appointment with your GP to ask if they can help you with applying to your council's social services department too, to see if it's possible to get you some practical help that way. It's worth trying.

But first off, I'd contact the council. If they are like our council, they have a neighbourhood officer in each council housing area and it's their sole responsibility to look after tenants in that area. If they don't have neighbourhood officers then you should try to speak to someone in the housing department who can point you in the right direction for help. You need help from your landlord The council. They're happy to take your rent money and they need to step up.

The OP says the house is in a good, liveable condition, he just wants to redecorate for his own taste. Do you really think it's a good use of council tax payers money to start using the "mental health" card as an excuse to get the council to pay for your decorating or DIY needs, or rather wants.

gwynlas

Take things slowly, older houses often have multiple paint and paper layers as people just wanted to brighten things up but weren't diy savvy. You can either follow suit and just apply another layer to both or check out on line videos and blogs and do things the correct way. On line there are a number of low waged people who have transformed dull rooms using sample pots and cheap buys. It can be therapeutic peeling wallpaper if you dont put yourself under time pressure as many people think they should be able to redecorate a room in a weekend. if it takes you a month so be it, pace yourself and reward yourself with breaks doing something else that gives you pleasure. Some recycling centres offer paint, paper etc. Check if your council offers decorating grants as previously suggested, there might also be local charities that can offer help.

honeybee1234

shiraz99 said:

MalMonroe said:

You are in a council property. If the decor is in a bad state, you could have asked the council for a decorating grant before you moved in, especially if there are marks on all the walls. You probably still could, see what they say. When any council rents a property to you, it should be in a good state of repair when you move in and you can ask them what they intend to do to bring it up to scratch when you go to view any council property.

Please don't start spending a fortune trying to renovate a council property - and certainly not on your own. If you're not happy with the state of it, you could ask the council to help or tell them you need to move for the sake of your mental health as too much work needs to be done. 

Please don't think you don't have any rights when you are a council tenant. I'm a council tenant and I do nag our council and I don't care if they don't like it because I refer to my tenant handbook - you should have one - quite a lot! They often hear me saying (when I can actually get through on the phone that is, "according to my tenant handbook, I am entitled to   . . ." 

Some tenants can get free help with household tasks from the council by way of the handyperson service, if your council has one. The handypeople can help with stripping walls and decorating. They're not allowed to be tied up at one property for more than an hour a day but doing it slowly is better than having to pay someone to do it for you. 

I feel your pain because I'm absolutely rubbish at DIY too but I do pester my council! 

If your mental health is deteriorating because of the house, you could make an appointment with your GP to ask if they can help you with applying to your council's social services department too, to see if it's possible to get you some practical help that way. It's worth trying.

But first off, I'd contact the council. If they are like our council, they have a neighbourhood officer in each council housing area and it's their sole responsibility to look after tenants in that area. If they don't have neighbourhood officers then you should try to speak to someone in the housing department who can point you in the right direction for help. You need help from your landlord The council. They're happy to take your rent money and they need to step up.

The OP says the house is in a good, liveable condition, he just wants to redecorate for his own taste. Do you really think it's a good use of council tax payers money to start using the "mental health" card as an excuse to get the council to pay for your decorating or DIY needs, or rather wants.

Just want to clarify. I did get decorating vouchers, this covers paint and the associated bits like rollers, brushes etc. 

The house is in good, liveable condition. It's definitely not decorated in the sense I need to 're'decorate. I'm very grateful that I have a house, but there's no denying it's a !!!!!! tip. It depresses me. 

morhen

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-long-handled-scraper-6/87299 and also get a back of the replacement blades.

Am working my way through a whole house covered in a silly amount of wallpaper.  Multiple layers, painted over, horrible vinyl stuff etc.  If you can think off it, this house had it somewhere (including wallpaper in the bathroom)!  I tried every method I could find, best* thing was to just scrape of the wallpaper top layer, then use hot water/chemical stripper/steamer (what ever you have) to deal with the backing/lining paper left on the wall. 

It takes a bit of effort to start with the scraper, but once you do it for a while, you will find a method that works for you.  I found it best to start in the middle of the wall half way up, and scrape to the one side of the wall, then the other.  Then scrape up from the section you have removed, to the ceiling, then down to the floor. 

*obvioulsy the best method is to get your family involved and let them remove the wallpaper

honeybee1234

morhen said:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-long-handled-scraper-6/87299 and also get a back of the replacement blades.

Am working my way through a whole house covered in a silly amount of wallpaper.  Multiple layers, painted over, horrible vinyl stuff etc.  If you can think off it, this house had it somewhere (including wallpaper in the bathroom)!  I tried every method I could find, best* thing was to just scrape of the wallpaper top layer, then use hot water/chemical stripper/steamer (what ever you have) to deal with the backing/lining paper left on the wall. 

It takes a bit of effort to start with the scraper, but once you do it for a while, you will find a method that works for you.  I found it best to start in the middle of the wall half way up, and scrape to the one side of the wall, then the other.  Then scrape up from the section you have removed, to the ceiling, then down to the floor. 

*obvioulsy the best method is to get your family involved and let them remove the wallpaper

Ahhh wallpaper in the bathroom *thinks lovingly* Not got that far yet but tis a joy I will be dealing with! You have my wallpapering sympathy! 

The link you provided looks good, I shall most likely invest in one. Thanks!