Help with wallpaper removal/drywall repair!!

[whowe99]

Removing wallpaper in my parent's new house and realized that the drywall had not been primed before being wallpapered. Our "helpers" pulled off the wallpaper, and the drywall paper in many, many areas. Is there anything that can be done, short of hanging new drywall? I would say that probably 30-40 percent of the paper is gone 9in areas the streak across the wall--- like you would picture if you were pulling of big pieces of wallpaper).

I've been told to "skimcoat" with Durabond 90, but I'm only a D-I-Y-er.... think I could handle it? Any other suggestions? I've also read that if I shellac the areas where the paper is gone, that will "stand" the fibers up to dry, and then they can be sanded and will not "stand up" again when they get wet from primer or paint. True?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

p.s. This is a great forum, I am extremely glad I happened on it! Looks very well-run as well... that's encouraging![/b]

[Rich]

You can also paint it with Kilz then sand, paint another coat and you should be ready for anything. We had to do this on a bank remodel before we skimcoated the whole thing.
Thanks for the kind comments.

[Tom R]

Skim-coating is a good job for a DIY'er. Any errors just cost you a little more time/sanding. Mix in a few drops of 'dish soap'. It'll go on smoother/thinner/slipperier. Good Luck.

[whowe99]

Thanks, guys, for the help. There are 2 rooms. One is pretty bad, and since the wallpaper was SO thick and old, the wall is crusted with old wallpaper glue. We'll probably end up having to re-wallpaper??? The other room is much better - we'll use the kilz and sand, and then we should be fine.
Thanks again - anything else you think of is welcomed as well!

[roger g]

A few weeks ago I couldn't wait to play with a paint sprayer and ended up spraying a room without priming about 50 patch holes. When the paint dried you could see where all the patches were. It's called flashing or ghosting or photograhing. I figured by painting it again it would solve the problem. NOT!!! I went to a paint store and they said I should prime it now because those spots wil always absorb the paint uless it was primed. I did that and painted again. Still ghosting. Primes twicwe this time and painted. Still ghosting. Hmmmmm. Went to another store who basically said the same thing but wanted know if I primed or sealed the patches. I also erected a new wall of drywall. I didn't know there was a difference between primer or sealer. I was also getting ghosting on my new wall also. I really didn't care one way or the other about it but the wife wanted it perfect.
In the end afeter speaking to proffessional painters as well as the stores I got as many different answers and the problem still exixts. I realize I now know nothing about painting Though I have painted lots of houses. I don't even know what constitutes good paint from bad paint. What is in good paint that poor paint doesn't have? I will check that out.
If I were you I would prime your wall right over everything. Another way of skim coating is to water down you drywall mud so it is like paint, then roll it on the with a big wide spatula wipe down. Yout whole wall will be the same cosistency and you can prime. Or is it seal or maybe primer/sealer?????????

roger

[Sophist]

If I were you I would prime your wall right over everything.

I have to agree with Roger on this. I would prep the wall (remove wall paper, patch holes, etc.) and then prime the whole thing.

Old paint and wall paper glues can vent gases. If you mud over the surface without priming it those gases can cause tiny little bubbles in the mud.

I experienced this in my own bathroom after removing wall paper and mudding and painting. I had a couple of patches of mud that were riddled with tiny (1/64" apprx) bubbles.

Priming also gives the wall a uniform surface. Any change in wall texture will reflect through the paint.

Dave

[dengle]

Did you try removing the wallpaper glue? The house I recently purchased had wallpaper on ALL of the walls... even the ceiling. When I peeled the paper off, large amounts of glue were left. Just spray it with water, wait 5 or so minutes and use a 3" or so spackle knife and scrape the glue off. Repeat and use a sponge-mop and bucket to remove any leftovers.

If your ceiling was wallpapered as well, don't forget to wear a baseball cap, glue in the hair is nasty :-)