Renewing wallpaper is a fairly easy DIY task, until complications arise. One of them is to lift the paint from the wall when you pull the paper. If this has ever happened to you and you don’t know what to do, don’t miss this step-by-step tutorial where you can see the solution that I personally gave to this problem.
It’s been 5 years since I decided to put wallpaper on the headboard wall to renew the decoration of our bedroom. In the following link you can see the before and after updating the bedroom. Although it was quite a timeless wallpaper, I wanted to change it to bring more light to the bedroom.
This paper was placed over the first painting that was given to the bedroom wall. In other words, when the house was purchased more than 10 years ago, the walls were plastered and unpainted, so we hired a professional to paint it completely.
When removing the previous paper the problem arose: part of the paint also came off. What to do then? How to solve it? The following video tutorial will help you solve these doubts:
What must be taken into account to place wallpaper correctly?
at the time of put wallpaper on the wall the following must be taken into account:
- The type of wallpaper that we are going to place, since depending on the material with which it has been made, the glue will be applied to the wall or to the paper. Normally, the necessary indications come on the rolls.
- There are different types of glue depending on the paper that we are going to use. We must make sure to use the correct one.
- The wall on which the wallpaper is to be placed must be dry, clean and level. Otherwise, we run the risk that the paper does not adhere correctly or does so irregularly.
How to prepare the wall before applying wallpaper
If we are going to place the paper on a smooth wall that is already painted, first of all we will make sure that the paint is well enough adhered. If it is not, the surface will be sanded to remove the paint and level it. It will also be necessary to caulk all the cracks and holes that the wall may have.
When the wall is previously wallpapered, it will be necessary to take off the paper by pulling it little by little, soaking it beforehand to dissolve the glue and avoid dragging the paint. If there are remains attached, they can be removed in these two ways:
- Applying steam on the wall, either with a steam cleaner or vaporizer, or with an iron. We will verify that in a short time the paper softens and can be removed without problems.
- With a specific product to remove traces of wallpaper. The spray will be applied to the surface following the manufacturer’s instructions to remove the remains easily.
What to do when the wall is very deteriorated
In my case, after removing the wallpaper that was on it, I had to take the following steps to make the surface uniform:
- Remove the remains of paper with a spray product that will eliminate them
- Scrape with a putty knife where the paint has peeled off and sand the wall so that there is nothing left that is not well adhered
- Pass a dry cloth to remove the remains of dust that have remained on the wall
- Putty the damage with Aguaplast Express. To do this, I mixed the powder with water following the manufacturer’s instructions and stirred until a homogeneous paste was obtained.
This putty sets very quickly, so it is convenient to mix only the amount that we are going to use in a period of about 30 minutes (maximum 45 minutes). If we are going to use a longer time to carry out the repairs, it is advisable to make a new mixture so that the putty does not harden. In addition, it must be taken into account that you cannot add more water or powder to try to recover it once it has started to set.
To apply it I have used a spatula and I have smoothed it with the trowel. The maximum layer thickness per laying must be about 5 cm. If we have greater depth, we must cover them with different layers, that is, apply one layer and let it dry to apply the next.
Once all the flaws are covered, it is left to dry. After three hours, you can sand and apply a primer to improve the adherence of the new wallpaper. One of the advantages of Aguaplast Express is that it is not necessary for the internal parts to be completely dry to apply a new layer or paint, because its hardening occurs by setting, not by evaporation.
Sanding is a fundamental step if later we do not want to find imperfections in the paper that we are going to apply on top. With a fine sandpaper we can perfectly smooth the entire surface.
Finally, I would like to point out that before painting it is advisable to prime for several reasons:
- We achieve a better performance of the painting, which produces considerable savings
- We ensure a better anchoring of the painting
- We unify the surface avoiding areas with different shades
If we are going to place paper on top, as in this case, instead of painting, the primer will ensure a better anchoring of the glue.
Have you ever had the problem of paint lifting when removing wallpaper? How did you fix it? In any case, I hope my solution has helped you and, if you liked this post, you can find many more guides and tricks on DIY and decoration at .
