ᐅ Complete Renovation of an Older House: Question About Painting Work

Hello everyone,
we have purchased an older house and are currently planning what needs to be done. Since costs have now skyrocketed, we are trying to handle some tasks ourselves. I have found many useful tips in the forums, but I am also surprised that some things are much more complicated than I initially thought.
I assumed that I could simply remove the old wallpaper using a spiked roller, wallpaper remover, and a scraper, then fix a few cracks and paint over it right away. Now I am reading about primer, fiberglass mesh wallpaper, textured paint, and so on, which seems like quite an effort.
My question is whether all this is really necessary. If I sand the walls with a drywall sander and apply paint or new wallpaper, is that really not recommended? Is it really necessary to apply primer first, then textured paint/fiberglass mesh wallpaper, and then paint again? I understand it depends on the surface, but since there was already wallpaper on the walls, shouldn’t there already be a primer layer and the surface be ready to paint?
Thank you very much and best regards,
Wilhelm

PS: And I wanted to ask the professionals if it is worth buying a wallpaper steamer. The cost is quite reasonable at 50 euros, and the advertising claims are very good... Can anyone give an assessment of whether such a device is useful, or if it is sufficient to treat the wallpaper with a pressure sprayer? Thank you

Well, it’s hard to make a general statement. It depends on what the previous owner did. If the surface was well primed before, it will probably come off easily. I would say in that case you don’t need a vapor barrier.

Depending on the condition of the plaster, you might need to prime again (which is recommended anyway) and then either paint directly on it or fill and sand first. Paint fleece can mask different surface textures and later cracks but cannot level out unevenness or holes.

I’m having wallpaper applied on the ground floor after just one sanding because I hope this will result in a uniform paint finish. In my case, the plaster is quite even, it’s just the surface that looks different everywhere.

With brush- or roller-applied textured plaster, you can mask slight unevenness and textures as well as small dents. If white is sufficient for you, there’s no need to paint over it again. You can apparently even mix in tinting color directly. However, the texture will always be somewhat rougher.

It’s really a matter of personal taste; some swear by it because it’s simple and usually done in one step. For others, it’s suitable only for basements or social housing.

Wilhelm2022 schrieb:

I assumed that I could simply remove the old wallpaper in the house using a nail roller, wallpaper remover, and a scraper, then repair the cracks a little and repaint right away.

You can do all that. However, I doubt you will be happy with the result. The minimum requirement is to apply new wallpaper or perform extensive skim coating – that’s at least the usual case.
Textured coatings can also help conceal imperfections, but they still require a fairly smooth surface. Whether a primer is necessary depends on your test. For my 1960s build, it wasn’t needed. However, I had to re-plaster all walls or at least do extensive skim coating before applying decorative plaster.

Wilhelm2022 schrieb:

PS: And then I wanted to ask the professionals if it’s worth buying a steam wallpaper stripper. The costs are quite manageable at around 50 euros, and the advertising promises look very good.

As long as the wallpaper allows steam to pass through, it works well. I would definitely buy a device – you can usually resell it on platforms like eBay and get back around 80-90% of the cost in the end.

All right, thank you for your assessment, I suspected as much 😱 but if you’re going to do it, better do it properly. You’re right about that.

What do you mean by "in the bay you’ll get KP back minus 10-20% in the end"? I don’t quite understand that.

Well, I don’t know if it’s permeable, but that’s why I would perforate it with a spiked roller. Hopefully, it will then be permeable.

There is a well-known online auction site commonly referred to as “the Bay,” because a large part of its name is literally translated that way. He means you could resell the steam device there after use with little loss.