removing wallpaper in old house

[toodarnhilly]

Second question of the night...

Just into a new house after having it rewired. It's Victorian. Most of the walls are wall papered and the channels for wires obviously took off large chunks.

I am so tempted to remove all the rest, worried about state of plaster beneath. We can't afford to replaster it all now. Or for a good dew years. Am I right in thinking that if it's too crap to paint I could put liner paper up and paint that?

To be 100% honest it depends on how bad the plaster is, lining paper does not cover all. If there are bad parts and you can't replaster the best option is to use thick, plain wallpaper.

Strip the main living room and whatever else you could afford to get replastered if necessary.

We have used lining paper and painted over when we had no hope of affording a plasterer, but you can only do that up to a certain level of crapness in the plaster. And until you strip it, you don't know how crap it will be. Another option is to paint the wallpaper that's currently there. It's not ideal, but neither is painting lining paper covering a bad plaster job, and you avoid (or rather postpone) the risk of completely wrecking the plaster and having to pay out for a plasterer. Might be an option for bedrooms etc while you save up.

Thanks all, we'll definitely paint over the patches in most rooms for now. Its just hall and living room where the wall paper is now peeling off in big chunks that Im tempted to remove it. It peels away like dried skin, so hard to resist!

Would I be better off using sponge and water if I do strip it, rather than a steamer?

I think that a steamer is a bad idea if you are unsure of the state of the plaster and are unable to replaster. You need to go gently.

If it comes off easily then follow your nose - it shouldn't bring anything else with it.

There will be bits that stick - wet them with a damp cloth and procede as before.

I'm doing the same at the moment - we had a few channels for the electric and I've removed the paper up to the next join (score down with a stanley knife and a metal ruler, where the original lining paper joins on - or wallpaper if you think you can match it)

that way you don't end up stripping the entire room. I'm planning just to fill/sand and re-line the bits where I took it off. The rest is Ok.

It's unlikely that huge amounts of plaster will just fall away. If any bits do crumble then fill them with artex easy fill (big tub, B&Q, £16-) for the time being, then buy yourselves a few rolls of lining paper and go for it (you can get different thicknesses of the paper depending on what you need)

If you fill and sand any spots you shouldn't need a very thick grade of paper.

Sponge, warm water and washing up liquid. Soak it and do something else, then come back and strip it.
We had the best luck with a giant plant sprayer filled with warm water/ soap, but a repurposed spray bottle would do too.

Lumps in walls show if the light is shining along it, ie the wall is 90 degrees to the window, or if the ceiling light is shining down the wall and highlighting it. Perhaps practise with a torch see if you think stuff will show.

My hall has little direct light - the unlevel areas don't show unless you point them out to someone. in fact there is the shadow of a dado rail all the way round the hall but you can't normally see it.

'has little direct sunlight', I should have said. The ceiling lights are far enough away not to highlight flaws in walls.

You can stabilise old plaster by giving it a light coat of Unibond mixed with water, before putting lining paper on.

Buy the lining paper that has a white paintable side.

Ah thanks JT, we did a uni bond/water coat to stabilise some.dodgy plaster in a bathroom in previous house, had forgotten that. Then we did a Mist coat and just painted on top. If the plaster here is good enough I guess we could do the same rather than put up paper