Home question: What is the best way to prep a wall

Mike682

Do you guys have any tips on painting a wall that originally had wallpaper on it.

So far, I removed all the wallpaper on the walls.

What is the best way to get rid of the glue residue that held the paper to the wall before I paint? Should I attempt to sand the wall and paint or use joint compound, sand, and paint?

Thanks

hearingimpared

Mike682 wrote:

Do you guys have any tips on painting a wall that originally had wallpaper on it.

So far, I removed all the wallpaper on the walls.

What is the best way to get rid of the glue residue that held the paper to the wall before I paint? Should I attempt to sand the wall and paint or use joint compound, sand, and paint?

Thanks

I used a good oil based primer over wall paper glue residue and it did a good job. It was expensive though but the results were very smooth. I forgot I also used a steam wall paper remover so the glue may not have been as prominant.

MikeC78

I believe you can get some kind of chemical solution at your local harware store to help take that residue off?

A good primer and a sand job on top of it is best.

MillerLiteScott

Buy some Diff at Home Depot or a paint store. You spray it on and it should dissolve the glue and then wipe off the residue with a wet warm rag. Repeat as necessary and use drywall mud to fix any damage, sand, prime ( latex or oil ) and paint your finish coat.

disneyjoe7

My method is a small hand towel as rag in Hot water / fabric softener mix rubbing wall to remove any and all paper / glue. Yes messy but it worked.


Nothing worked better for me.

schwarcw

After you do all of the above, sand it. You want the wall smooth as silk. Go the extra mile, it's worth it. It's time consuming and can be a little messy (dust). But the difference will be noticeable.

disneyjoe7

He may need to retain the orange peel effect on the wall if used on other walls, so sanding may not be an option.

opus

Mike,

Just to reinforce some of the good points. You can use a wallpaper stripper solution or gel like "Dif" or if you already have the paper off, hot water and a scrub brush works pretty darn good. I highly recommend an oil base primer as your next step. It doesn't have to cost much and will give you a good solid base to put on your final coat. Good choices are Zinser "Coverstain" or Zinser "Bullseye Odorless" primer. Both can be bought almost anywhere and can be tinted toward your topcaot color to save you an extra coat.


tip of the day- buy good lint free roller covers;)

amulford

schwarcw wrote:

After you do all of the above, sand it. You want the wall smooth as silk. Go the extra mile, it's worth it. It's time consuming and can be a little messy (dust). But the difference will be noticeable.

Get a dustless sander and you won't have to worry about 95% of the dust. Thet can be had at HD for around $60 and they do work.

Get as much of the glue off as possible. Diff works well. sand it smooth and coat with a stain killer primer, like Zinser or Kilz. Take your time, it's a process.

Mike682

Great tips guys. Thanks a million

Here's what I have been doing so far:

The room is about 10' x 14' and is being converted from a bedroom to a dining room. The room is next to the living room so I cut and framed an opening in the wall to connect the two rooms. I put up fresh Sheetrock and compounded the seams on the new(changed) wall. This wall is ready to be primed and painted.

Now for the rest of the room, I removed most of the wallpaper by peeling it off. There are some thin remains of wallpaper in some areas on the walls. The residue does not feel that sticky, maybe a very slight tacky feel is a good description.

I just bought a random orbital sander. I guess I can use this to sand the walls

opus

Go easy on that sander Mike. Those have a tendency to leave "swirlies" and not the good kind of "swirlies".:D

A nice $7 drywall sanding poll will do a fine job.

Mike682

opus wrote:

Go easy on that sander Mike. Those have a tendency to leave "swirlies" and not the good kind of "swirlies".:D

A nice $7 drywall sanding poll will do a fine job.

Great point. Thanks

I'm gonna head to the Depot or Lowes tomorrow to pick one up

unc2701

They also kick up dust like you wouldn't believe on drywall. Definitely get a vacuum involved if you plan to use it.

MSALLA

It may sound like alot but if it's going to be a dining room with alot of use, use 1/4" sheet rock to veneer the walls. If your walls are flat with alot of glue and wall paper bits, it's faster and easy to just cover it. And the walls will look new.
To avoid this problem, if you ever wall paper a room, "siez" the walls first. This makes removeing the paper a snap if you ever feel like painting it or changing the paper.

disneyjoe7

MSALLA wrote:

To avoid this problem, if you ever wall paper a room, "siez" the walls first. This makes removeing the paper a snap if you ever feel like painting it or changing the paper.

I couldn't believe a home own could screw the next owner removing paper if siezing is not done. Maybe that's why I liked the hot water / fabric softener with a small towel method as this was a nightmare removing trying to save wall underneath it all.

opus

MSALLA wrote:

It may sound like alot but if it's going to be a dining room with alot of use, use 1/4" sheet rock to veneer the walls. If your walls are flat with alot of glue and wall paper bits, it's faster and easy to just cover it. And the walls will look new.
To avoid this problem, if you ever wall paper a room, "siez" the walls first. This makes removeing the paper a snap if you ever feel like painting it or changing the paper.

That would involve taking off the base trim and window and door casings, taping and mudding the new sheetrock, then sanding ,priming and painting the new walls. And probably 2 or 3 things that I'm not thinking of.

Wow that's a lot of work and a lot of money. stick with a little warm water and a gallon of primer:p

yenoorekim

Ummm... Flamethrower??

I had the same problem after getting my new house last year... I left it dry and just used a scraper to get the big stuff, then used hot water and steel wool to get the rest. Don't use sandpaper- it just gets gummed up!! Use coarse steel wool, then a nylon scrubbing pad... The kind for washing dishes. Worked for me!

MSALLA

opus wrote:

That would involve taking off the base trim and window and door casings, taping and mudding the new sheetrock, then sanding ,priming and painting the new walls. And probably 2 or 3 things that I'm not thinking of.

Wow that's a lot of work and a lot of money. stick with a little warm water and a gallon of primer:p

One day to rip out the trim and hang the new rock. Sould be able to tape and first coat of mud by the end of the first day (fast dry mixable compound)
Next day secound coat with fast dry and last coat with pre mix, it coats smoother. You should be able to just sponge sand it if you coat it right. If you can't flow a smooth coat sand between coats. prime & paint on the 3rd day, hang new wood work on 4th day............Thats 4 days work for a room that will look brand new. Your right it's not the cheapest, but not very expensive if you keep the trim simple.

opus

MSALLA wrote:

One day to rip out the trim and hang the new rock. Sould be able to tape and first coat of mud by the end of the first day (fast dry mixable compound)
Next day secound coat with fast dry and last coat with pre mix, it coats smoother. You should be able to just sponge sand it if you coat it right. If you can't flow a smooth coat sand between coats. prime & paint on the 3rd day, hang new wood work on 4th day............Thats 4 days work for a room that will look brand new. Your right it's not the cheapest, but not very expensive if you keep the trim simple.

Yea. that is one way to look at it. Here is another.


First night after work and when the kids are finally in bed you rip out the trim. Most of it comes off easy but that one piece around the window splits because your contractor put up a cracked piece when he built the house and you did not notice it. So now you have to run and find a piece of trim at Lowes that matches your profile and then you have to match the stain color and sheen.
Second night. After work and the kids are in bed and after you have cleaned up the garage from where you spilled the minwax stain all over the concrete you start to put up your new sheetrock. This is going pretty well until your wife notices how sexy you look in a tool belt...........
Third night. Well how hard can it be. Lets see you just put a little tape here and a little mud there, sand a little .....and oh crap. Call friend who knows a guy that can stop buy this weekend and finish mudding it for a case of Busch beer.
Weekend. This guy shows up 4 hours late and hungover because the "Jaeger Girls" were at Schmitty's Pub last night. He starts working and its going pretty well until the end when he doesn't use a sponge to smooth out the wall he uses sand paper. (he has been doing this for 20 years don't ya know)
Sunday night. You spend four hours off quality time with the wife dusting the whole house to rid yourselves of the drywall dust that got sucked into the heating system that he didn't bother to seal off.
You take off Monday night and Tuesday because your tired and "worked all weekend". Wednesday is also no good because the boys have scouts and its Pizza night.
Thursday night you stop off on the way home for a few with the boys and get home a little late.
Friday night. Might just as well wait till the weekend.
Saturday morning you are at Lowes buying paint and supplies. You paint all day and actually get the trim bak up. Of course that one piece right there on the bay window doesn't match but its up.
Sunday is cleanup day. Don't forget to fill the nail holes and fix around the outlet covers where Cletus didn't get his mud close enough. Oh Yea. That bad seam that runs the lenght of the room at about waist level, don't worry about it, no one will notice it and the semigloss paint that your wife just had to have won't show it too bad.:rolleyes:

or you could just use a little warm water and a gallon of primer:D

unc2701

I'm with Opus on this one- Dif, warm water, maybe some mud here & there, kiltz the hell out of it and you're good to go. I've done the drywall thing and the wallpaper from hell thing and the drywall is a lot harder.

MSALLA

I forget,I get a little crazy working on the house. I would have purchased all new trim so thats one problem down. I'm not saying it's less work, but I find it less tedious and the end results are much nicer. I forget that not everyone has done this for a living and it might not go so easy. I used to do this kind of work when I was younger (side job)

Mike682

Update:

All the wallpaper is off, half the existing walls are spackled and sanded. Since the room was a bedroom, I took out the closet, built a wall and put up sheetrock. I also closed the entrance door and put up new sheetrock. Next is cornering, taping and compounding the new rock this week.

Then I am going to finish sanding and start priming this weekend. And then I will head over to the Christmas light thread:D

I have to finish this room in two weeks because my friend is coming by to install baseboard heat and my other friend is coming by to refinish the floor after.

All this has to be done by Christmas Eve. We are hosting this year.