Wall paper that has been put on bare sheetrock?

Question

The morons who built my house put the wallpaper right on top of bare sheetrock. I scored and soaked my paper and proceeded to try to remove it only to rip off the top layer of sheetrock paper. I have a huge messs. Anyone had this happen and what did you do? I have 4 bathrooms and I am really not happy about this. I would love to bend the person who did this over my knee. I'm pretty sure everyone knows better than that.

Extec, I don't want to paper or texture over it. I wanted to remove it and paint it. And, no, you won't be getting 10 points.

Answer 1

I have done wall paper and paint for about 20 years. I have seen just about everything.Use fabric softer in a spray bottle of warm water spray wall. let it set for about 10 to 15 min. scrape off .some of the top of rock will come off. Use sheet rock compound or speckling to repair holes. Make sure you prime the wall before you paint or you will have bad spots where you had to repair. yes they were morons and no you do not paint over it. That's adding moron to moron.

Answer 2

Yes, when you paper over bare sheet roc, you tear out the sheetrock paper when you remove it. There are two solutions depending on how bad the damage to the sheetrock paper:

1. Talk to your local paint specialist about sizing the wall if the damage is minimal.
2. Look at replacing the sheetrock, or parts of it if there are large chunks of plaster missing from the sheetrock. You will have to tape and mud the joints, but that’s less work than having to re-plaster the whole room if the damage is extensive.

Answer 3

You could install what we used to call "thickset" tile, which means you staple chicken wire to the wall, then float it with concrete, let it set up a couple of days, then mastic the tile to the surface of the concrete. This is tricky, because the wall has to be floated flat so the wall will be flat. This method was the way the best contractors did it in the old days, before Hardie began marketing "hardibacker". Now, hardly anybody uses that method. Quality builders use the cement backer (Hardie or a copy of it), while production builders use "green rock" which is regular sheetrock with green paper instead of grey -- it's a bit less porous than grey, but not much better. The right thing to do is to remove the sheetrock where tile will go, and replace it with tile backer. It's not illegal to tile over grey rock, but it ought to be. In 3 or 4 years you or somebody else will have a nasty mess to rip out and redo, whereas if you put tile over hardibacker, it will still be good many years from now when somebody remodels because the tile will be so woefully out of date.

Answer 4

Gee, we must have had the same moron build both our houses, we ran into the same thing. It was very frustrating. Spray liquid softener on the walls, let sit and the paper should come off. I hate to say this but sometimes, we ran into the top layer of the sheetrock coming off too so I just spackled it. Its really easy to do and very inexpensive. Just make sure you let it dry completely before painting.

Answer 5

You have my sympathy. I love wallpaper, but it has to be put on correctly. If you intend to paint the walls perhaps you could use a textured paint. If you wish to wallpaper perhaps you will have to paint the walls first with a thin coat of paint. I would check out your local wallpaper/paint store, and get some professional advice. BEST WISHES to you.

Answer 6

Actually ...if a builder knows a wall is going to be papered...only a moron would texture and paint the wall...only to have to go back and sand it all down to remove the what was put there that didn't need to be.

I know I won't win on this one...but it seems you are the moron in not knowing how to remove old paper. If it was vinyl paper...it would have peeled very easily...if it was regular paper...it didn't need to be removed. You could have papered over it...or textured over it.

Sorry...truth hurts doesn't it????

Answer 7

Call a specialist, it will probably be sooo worth it!