ᐅ Complete Renovation of an Older House: Question About Painting Work
Created on: 27 Jan 2022 14:00
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Wilhelm2022
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
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
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Benutzer20027 Jan 2022 17:07Tolentino schrieb:
He means you could resell the steam device there after use with little loss. Or simply buy it there (e.g., classified ads) and resell it. This works very well with any construction equipment. From your own drying machines to professional tile cutters/saws and even portable heating units for underfloor heating – of course, this only makes sense for DIY enthusiasts.
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Wilhelm20222 Feb 2022 14:22Haha, okay, thanks a lot... it took a little longer.
Regards
Regards
Winniefred3 Feb 2022 23:54Whether you need to prime again can be easily tested with a water beading test. This helps to check how absorbent a wall is. Normally, you can simply remove the old wallpaper and apply new wallpaper. The plaster underneath has already been treated and supported the old wallpaper. There’s no need to overcomplicate things.
Unless the plaster is 100 years old and starts to fall off as you remove the wallpaper, then more work will be necessary 😀. That was partly our experience with our house from 1921 with original plaster. Good luck 😱.
Unless the plaster is 100 years old and starts to fall off as you remove the wallpaper, then more work will be necessary 😀. That was partly our experience with our house from 1921 with original plaster. Good luck 😱.
Winniefred3 Feb 2022 23:57By the way, I have always mixed water with dish soap and brushed it over the wallpaper using a wet wallpaper brush. Let it soak for a few minutes and then peel it off. Sometimes you need to repeat this if a multi-layered wallpaper is not fully soaked or if multiple layers of wallpaper appear. Always keep a putty knife handy for small leftover pieces.
I agree with the previous commenters that you won’t be happy with the look of a wall that is painted “without any preparation.” At least, I have never seen a wall that was ready to paint immediately after wallpaper removal.
If necessary, applying a primer once and then attaching painter’s fleece takes some time, but it’s not complicated as a DIY task and definitely doable. Then you’ll have accomplished something and be satisfied with the final result. If you don’t like it in twenty years, painter’s fleece can also be removed later quite easily and without a nail roller. 😉
By the way, since online marketplaces and classified ads were mentioned here: depending on the quantity you need, you can buy painter’s fleece there for significantly less than in a hardware store. At least, that was my experience. I needed a large amount and even with shipping costs, I paid only about a quarter of the regular price for high-quality branded products 🙂
That can add up to several hundred euros in savings.
If necessary, applying a primer once and then attaching painter’s fleece takes some time, but it’s not complicated as a DIY task and definitely doable. Then you’ll have accomplished something and be satisfied with the final result. If you don’t like it in twenty years, painter’s fleece can also be removed later quite easily and without a nail roller. 😉
By the way, since online marketplaces and classified ads were mentioned here: depending on the quantity you need, you can buy painter’s fleece there for significantly less than in a hardware store. At least, that was my experience. I needed a large amount and even with shipping costs, I paid only about a quarter of the regular price for high-quality branded products 🙂
That can add up to several hundred euros in savings.
What is necessary and what is not always depends on your expectations.
For our new build, we didn’t choose the usual approach of sanding everything perfectly smooth.
We have a small child and didn’t want to spend 20,000 on painting if there was a chance that toys would hit the walls, a ride-on car might crash into them, or the walls would be marked with crayons.
You can see that we simply applied Q2 level plastering before wallpapering and painting. If you look closely under certain lighting conditions, you can notice unevenness beneath the wallpaper. You need to decide if that’s something that bothers you. We rarely stand in the hallway just to look at the wallpaper anyway.
It’s the same with older buildings; it all comes down to your expectations and the condition of the wall after removing the old wallpaper. In the past, I usually just removed the old wallpaper in older apartments and applied new wallpaper directly over it.
Nowadays, there are wallpapers called “non-woven fiber” wallpapers, which we chose and find quite nice. They come in different textures. I’m tired of the classic woodchip wallpaper that you find in nearly every rental flat, so we opted for other patterns.
These wallpapers also vary in thickness. Depending on how smooth the wall is, you can choose wallpapers with stronger textures that hide unevenness better. I would only recommend very thin wallpapers, like painting fleece, on very smooth walls.
If you have unevenness beneath thin painting fleece, the wallpaper can visibly bulge, magnifying the effect tenfold. You can imagine it like a small “wallpaper tent” stretched over a plaster crumb. The crumb might only be 2mm (0.08 inches) in size, but the tent effect extends over 1cm (0.4 inches).
For our new build, we didn’t choose the usual approach of sanding everything perfectly smooth.
We have a small child and didn’t want to spend 20,000 on painting if there was a chance that toys would hit the walls, a ride-on car might crash into them, or the walls would be marked with crayons.
You can see that we simply applied Q2 level plastering before wallpapering and painting. If you look closely under certain lighting conditions, you can notice unevenness beneath the wallpaper. You need to decide if that’s something that bothers you. We rarely stand in the hallway just to look at the wallpaper anyway.
It’s the same with older buildings; it all comes down to your expectations and the condition of the wall after removing the old wallpaper. In the past, I usually just removed the old wallpaper in older apartments and applied new wallpaper directly over it.
Nowadays, there are wallpapers called “non-woven fiber” wallpapers, which we chose and find quite nice. They come in different textures. I’m tired of the classic woodchip wallpaper that you find in nearly every rental flat, so we opted for other patterns.
These wallpapers also vary in thickness. Depending on how smooth the wall is, you can choose wallpapers with stronger textures that hide unevenness better. I would only recommend very thin wallpapers, like painting fleece, on very smooth walls.
If you have unevenness beneath thin painting fleece, the wallpaper can visibly bulge, magnifying the effect tenfold. You can imagine it like a small “wallpaper tent” stretched over a plaster crumb. The crumb might only be 2mm (0.08 inches) in size, but the tent effect extends over 1cm (0.4 inches).
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