Can you just paint over wallpaper?

It can be done on paper that is firmly stuck down with no lifting seams, but it is rarely the right answer. The water in latex paint can soften the old paste, and the seams and pattern often show through. If the paper ever has to come off later, it is far harder with paint on top. Removal is usually worth it.

Why is my wall bubbling after I painted where the wallpaper was?

Usually one of two causes. Either adhesive was left on the wall and the new paint reactivated it, or the brown paper face of the drywall was torn and the water in the paint soaked into it. Both are fixed the same way: scrape back the bubbles, seal with the right primer, smooth and repaint.

How do I know if my wallpaper is strippable?

Lift a corner at a seam and pull slowly at a low angle. Strippable paper comes away whole and leaves a clean wall. Peelable paper leaves a thin backing layer behind that still has to be soaked off. Traditional paper tears into small pieces and needs scoring and soaking from the start.

Does wallpaper removal add time to a paint job?

Yes, and how much depends on the wall more than the paper. Paper over primed drywall can come off in a morning; paper hung on unsealed drywall decades ago may need patching across the whole wall afterwards. A spot can be tested at the estimate so the plan reflects what is actually under there.

Removing Wallpaper Before Painting

Wallpaper should come off before a wall is painted, and the paste must come off with it. The paper is tested to see how it releases, scored or soaked only as much as the wall underneath can take, and every trace of adhesive is washed away. Any torn drywall paper is sealed with a solvent-based or shellac primer before patching, or the new paint will bubble.

Wallpaper is the one interior surface where the work you cannot see decides the result you can. A room painted after the paper came off looks perfect for a week or ruins itself within a month, and the difference is almost entirely what happened between the last strip coming down and the first coat of primer going on.

Many San Diego homes still have it somewhere: a 1980s kitchen border, grasscloth in a dining room, a vinyl paper in a hall bathroom, or several layers in an older home in La Mesa or one of the early neighborhoods of San Diego. Here is how it comes off properly.

First, find out what you are dealing with

There are three kinds of paper on most walls, and they come off in different ways:

Strippable. Pulls off in whole sheets and leaves the wall clean. The best case.
Peelable. The decorative top layer pulls away but leaves a thin paper backing on the wall, which has to be soaked off.
Traditional. Tears into small pieces, and has to be scored and soaked from the beginning.

A corner lifted at a seam tells you which one you have. It is also worth finding out whether there is more than one layer, because in older homes there often is.

What is under the paper matters more

This is the question that decides the job. Wallpaper hung over drywall that was primed first will release without much drama. Wallpaper hung directly on new, unsealed drywall, which happened often in tract building, has fused to the drywall’s own paper face. Soaking it off risks soaking the drywall too, and pulling it off can peel the brown paper face away in sheets.

Plaster walls, more common in older homes, are tougher. They tolerate soaking much better, though the paste can be stubborn and old layers can hide cracks in the plaster itself.

How the paper comes off

Protect the room. Floors are covered with absorbent drop cloths over plastic, because this is a wet job. Outlet and switch covers come off and the openings are taped, and the power to those circuits is considered before any water goes near them.
Strip what will strip. Dry stripping first, so the least water possible goes onto the wall.
Score only where needed. A scoring tool lets the solution reach the paste through vinyl and coated papers. Pressed too hard, it cuts into the drywall face beneath, so it is used lightly.
Soak and wait. A remover solution or warm water is applied and given time to soften the paste. Rushing this step is what tears drywall.
Scrape with the right tool, held at a low angle, working with the wall and not against it.
Wash every trace of paste off. The paper coming off is not the end of removal. Paste left on the wall looks like nothing when dry, and then reacts with the next coat of paint.

Why does leftover paste ruin the paint?

Wallpaper paste is water-soluble. When latex paint, which is mostly water, goes onto a wall that still carries a film of paste, it rewets it. The result is a finish that cracks into a fine crazed pattern, or one that wrinkles, peels or never feels fully dry. Washing the wall with clean water until it no longer feels slick, and letting it dry completely, is the only remedy.

When the drywall face tears

Sometimes, despite every care, the brown paper face of the drywall comes off with the wallpaper. That surface cannot be painted as it is. Torn drywall paper is porous and fuzzy, and water-based primer or patching compound will soak into it and lift it into bubbles.

The fix is to seal it first with a solvent-based or shellac-based primer that does not wet the paper, then skim-coat the area smooth, sand, prime again and paint. On a wall that tore everywhere, that means skimming the whole wall, and it is honest to say so at the estimate rather than discover it halfway through. Bigger drywall repairs are part of stucco, drywall and wood repair.

Bathrooms and kitchens

Wallpaper in a bathroom has been through years of steam, and the wall behind it sometimes shows mildew or soft spots once the paper is off, especially behind a toilet or along a tub. Those are looked at and dealt with before anything is painted. The paint chosen for these rooms afterwards should be one made for humid rooms, from Dunn-Edwards or Sherwin-Williams, in a finish that can be wiped.

Older homes

If the home was built before 1978, painted layers between or over the wallpaper may contain lead, and scraping and sanding them is different from working on plain paper. Many of the older homes in National City and La Mesa are from that era. It is worth testing before work starts. Ebenezer is EPA lead-safe (RRP) certified, so if a test finds lead, the old layers come off under those rules rather than by guesswork.

Wallpaper removal is the kind of preparation that nobody admires once the room is done, which is exactly why it has to be done right. Ebenezer is certified in wall covering through his union apprenticeship, so he knows how paper is meant to go up and how it comes down cleanly. He will look at your paper, tell you what is likely to be under it and what the wall will need, and fold it into a free estimate for the room. Read more on interior painting or ask for your estimate.