Interior painting question

Ron Jones

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Indianapolis area
A neighbor just called with a question I can't answer with certainty. He painted his living room over the existing tight wall paper, and left for the weekend. When he returned home this evening he found a space about the size of his hand that had heavy runs in it. He wanted to know how to handle the problem. My first thought was to try to scrape it smooth and repaint the area. He suggested sanding it and repainting. I'm not sure. Any ideas? He used Lowe's best latex.
 
First off - the next guy who want to remove that wall paper will sure be cussing the one who painted it! What a mess that'll be!

As for the runs, I'd try slicing them off with a razor blade, then recoating.
 
Proper Prep work is the key to a good job.

Painting over wall paper? Sounds like a shortcut to me.

I've removed wall paper before and it really wasn't that hard. Get some of the 'zif' wallpaper remover, get a little doohickey that pokes holes in the wall paper, spray it, wait, and it peels off.
 
When I had a company painting interiors we would prime the walls with oil primer and then paint with a premium acrylic.

Sand it and prime 1st, he is lucky the paper did not all bubble :rofl:
 
chalk it up as a bad experience, and start over again. take down all the paper first, then repair, smooth, prime, paint.
Last year with the help of my son we took down all the paper onthe first floor of my house. Small house, but still alot of paper. Used a garden sprayer, filled with warm water, and some scrapers, nothing else, and it worked great.
Soak the paper for 10 minutes, let it sit, then soak it again, and while its soaked, scrape. Alot of the paper just peeled off in full sheets with our fingers.Not sure how easy it will be with acoat of paint on it now.
 
I stopped by there this evening and took my carbide scraper with me. I knew it was a lost cause when he asked me if he could scrape it with a steak knife! A few strokes and the rough places were smoother than the proverbial baby's bottom. I took Bruce's advise and put some shellac on the repairs and told him to wait at least an hour and repaint. It took 15 minutes and he is so happy.:thumb::thumb: I probably saved their marriage!:rofl::rofl:
 
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