Prepping wall prior to wallpapering

[janz70]

Hi all, I'm prepping my hall / stairs / landing walls ready for wallpapering.

The walls are old plaster that have been painted in a yellow coat of some type and some of this has come away in little flakes when taking the old paper off.
Ive tried filling then sanding but that just makes loads of dust and nearly all the filler sands away (using fine 200 grit) also when I 've washed down the walls, whats left of the filler washes away - ahhh what am I doing wrong

Help

ps I'm putting up quite a heavy weight paper - so do I need to go to this much trouble

 

[JohnD]

how old is the house?

does this yellow stuff have an unpleasant smell when wet?

D**T**P*R

did it have anaglypta on the walls before?

I think you will find it easier to fill the walls using thinnish Finish Plaster. Apply it with a broad filling knife. press it hard on the flat plaster around your patch

If you need to flat it off, use a broad metal scraper while it is still cheesy

 

[janz70]

The house was built around 60's, all solid walls with plaster, no board anywhere except ceilings.

What type of smell do you mean? only a wet plaster smell, its quite tough to sand and matt looking - I see it all the time on those house auction shows - its mainly yellow or a duck egg colour paint in the kitchens but this is on every wall in the house, is it just a coloured size

No anaglypta previously just ordinary flat wallpaper I'll get a photo of it tonight

 

[JohnD]

OK then, it won't be distemper or the thick glue stuff I was thinking of.