Would you paint over wallpaper?

[malificent7]

Got keys for new house on Tuesday. Decided to redecorate the lounge as wall paper was not to our taste. I read it is better to take paper down first before painting...fine except it is the most stubborn paper ever. It has already been painted on so it takes ages for steam/ chemicals to penetrate it and it has taken the best part of three days to remove it from the lounge. Still got a bit to do this morning. Plus there is shit loads of work to do with sugar soap/ filler to make the walls smooth thereafter.
The dining room is also covered in said paper ....i am so tempted to just paint over it as i dont have time to spend hours chipping off stubborn paper. Annoying as i can see the seams. Any tips most welcome please?

We had our house professionally decorated when we bought it. I specifically chose to have the wallpaper in the hall painted rather than stripped because it's in keeping with the age of the house (Edwardian)

Yes. It can be used as lining paper basically and you can paint over it. However it’s got to be the right surface.

I just painted over some feature wall wallpaper. 2 coats and you can't tell the difference from the other walls.

Ours is anaglypta wallpaper so it's textured.

Yes, have done so many times.

My friend recommended something like this;
www.diy.com/departments/zinsser-3-in-1-off-white-wallpaper-matt-cover-up-paint-2-5l/1268439_BQ.prd

If it's textured it will take much more paint to cover it than just painted on a wall (in my experience). We painted over the wallpaper as a quick fix, two years on we are stripping all the walls, skimming where needed and redecorating. Should have just started with that!

If you do strip the paper off, then at least you know have done the job right for the future. Add more paint, and you're just putting the problem off and making it harder to tackle. If you have windows changed or any rewiring you will get patches without paper that are difficult to disguise. Having said that, there could be a lot of 'making good' depending on the state of the plaster, and it depends on how long you plan to stay in the house. It may not be worth the trouble.

I'm presently having to deal with a room in this house that was painted, probably in the 1940s/50s, with oil based pant over textured paper. I have tried everything, and the only way to get it off bar using a very aggressive and nasty chemical which costs a fortune for a litre and a litre does about a square metre at most, is literally to chisel it off with an oscillating chisel- very dirty, very noisy- a real mask-and-ear defender job. It takes about a man week per wall just to remove that one layer of paper, which is under another layer which has to be stripped in the ordinary way first, and after all the paper is off the walls have to be dampened and scrubbed back to the plaster (which is lime), then we have to fill (old plaster scars from when they removed a picture rail very badly, plus any scraper marks and old dents.). We did two walls over a couple of months bit by bit, filled and painted them, and then have taken a break for a few months while we do other work! I can't sand it, as I'm pretty sure the offending paint is lead based. Pricking and soaking doesn't work as the paper under the paint doesn't absorb water. Steaming is really a no-go with this plaster, and when we tried it in sheer desperation it didn't work anyway. So you can see why I'm not a fan of painted paper........

If it's textured it will take much more paint to cover it than just painted on a wall (in my experience). We painted over the wallpaper as a quick fix, two years on we are stripping all the walls, skimming where needed and redecorating. Should have just started with that!

If it's textured then thinning down the paint works well for the first coat.