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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Is it really so bad to wallpaper over wallpaper?

15 replies

ReastieYuleANBU · 19/12/2013 12:19

DH and I are redecorating this week. 2 walls we are papering and the rest painting. I have removed old wallpaper from to be painted walls and prepared them but we have left the wallpaper on the walls to be papered and had planned to wallpaper on top. It seems very much well stuck on (so no obvious places where it's coming loose to pull the new paper with it).

Mentioned this to FIL this morning and he tutted and did the builders head shake with disappointed look and said it wasn't a good idea and he wouldn't do it and it might pull the new and old paper down.

Now I'm and worried.

OP posts:

NigellasDealer · 19/12/2013 12:23

if it is well stuck on it will be fine i am sure, old jossers like your FIL just love doing that head shake and predicting doom and gloom, i bet he sucked his teeth as well?

Enb76 · 19/12/2013 12:24

I wouldn't worry - the house I moved into had a least 6 different wallpapers on top of each other, stripping them off was practically archeological. I wouldn't have bothered if I was going to paper again but wanted the walls re-plastered so I could paint. Painting over wallpaper is a pain.

Original poster

ReastieYuleANBU · 19/12/2013 12:27

Phew, good to have 2 positive comments. I might fail to remember to tell DH the teeth sucking comment from FIL or he will get all funny about it.

OP posts:

NinjaBunny · 19/12/2013 18:47

When my dad bought his house he stripped off NINE layers of wallpaper.

Each one more hideous than the next!

I'd paper over paper. It's only one extra layer..!

Insulation??

Original poster

ReastieYuleANBU · 19/12/2013 19:14

Ninja sound like my friendsbathroom they are wanting to redecorate, which has at least 6 layers of different papers

OP posts:

Rosa · 19/12/2013 19:17

We had 11. When we bought it the 99 yr old had lived there pretty much all her life! It took DH weeks and weeks to get it all off even the steamer stripper thing we hired was crap...Think they had stuck it on with glue not paper paste.

Original poster

ReastieYuleANBU · 19/12/2013 19:30

they probably needed to stick it on with glue with 11 layers

OP posts:

justbecauseimalondoner · 19/12/2013 21:39

We have papered over wallpaper too. It did seem a bit harder to get airbubbles out and the glue seemed to take a lot longer to dry, so be warned the immediate result is pretty disastrous, but it looks better after a day or two.

The tricky bit is that you can often see the seams underneath unless you line up well. But a lot will depend on the thickness of what you are putting on. In the end, we took the lot off and started again with wallpaper lining and paint!

PigletJohn · 19/12/2013 21:44

what makes you think it is difficult? It will be a lot more difficult next time.

If you put on a clean pair of socks every day, how many pairs are you wearing by the end of the week?

Original poster

ReastieYuleANBU · 20/12/2013 06:41

oh no! The paper on the wall is very thin, almost papery (as in normal paper not wallpaper) whereas our wallpaper is very thick. piglet tbh we are not exactly in the money at the minute but we have planned so in 6 years time we'll have alot more disposable income so maybe we will be able to afford a decorator to deal with the next redecoration .

OP posts:

georgedawes · 20/12/2013 16:54

Why not just hire a steamer and get the wallpaper off properly? It'll surely give you a nicer finish?

Original poster

ReastieYuleANBU · 20/12/2013 19:15

FIL (the very same) advised against this should the plaster behind the wallpaper fall off by the heat of the steamer

OP posts:

Enb76 · 20/12/2013 20:00

It depends on whether the wallpaper was to cover up crap plasterwork. You can generally tell if you knock on the wall. If bits of the wall are a bit hollow sounding then the plaster underneath is likely blown and steaming would result in large chunks falling off the wall. If the plaster is sound then steaming the wallpaper off (unless it's anaglypta) should not do any harm. I'd still just paper over it though. No point in making work for yourself if it's going to be redone in a few years.

Original poster

ReastieYuleANBU · 20/12/2013 20:04

No it wasn't eb

OP posts:

PigletJohn · 20/12/2013 20:44

a bucket of warm water with half a drop of WUL, and a soft brush as used with a dustpan, repeatedly applied to let it soak into the paper, will soften it so it comes off with your broad metal scraper (start at the top)

Only of some wicked person has applied multiple layers of paper, some of them painted, is it difficult to get off and worth using a steamer. Yes, you do have to keep a steamer head moving so it does not make the plaster hot.

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