What kind of bad surprises behind the wall paper ?

[Deleted member 52069]

Hi,

I am fairly new in the world of DIY. I am buying a house that is recovered almost entirely with wall-papers. I plan to slowly but surely replace them with paints.
Is there anything I need to watch out when I take the wall-paper out ? Could there be any asbestos behind ? If I find some MDF or other wood panel should I tear them down as well ? Except for some bad holes I would need to fill, anything else I should expect ?

As you can see I am trying to understand what kind of bad surprises I could face when I do the job.

Many thanks for your help.

 

[Robster_1981]

In my limited experience, the worst thing that could happen is that you find decaying plaster that likes to fall off the walls

Or 12 layers of wallpaper, each one being harder to take off than the last.

It's all part of the learning process of buying a house

 

[kevin_robson]

I'm no expert myself but we ended up re-skimming the walls in the end, as they weren't up to scratch for a good finish.

One of the reasons was that where someone had removed wallpaper in the past they had scored the old wallpaper in a criss-cross fashion, but it had scored the wall underneath too.

I suppose we could have filled it all, but it just seemed easier to get it skimmed.

We also used smoothover in the upstairs bedrooms, but to be honest I dont think it was worth the time, hassle and money and we should have skimmed up there too.

I suppose its just luck - you might have one layer of paper, or you might have 10.

 

[robhayes]

There doesn't tend to be anything nasty behind wallpaper, the most likely issues you will come across is either a) flaky plaster which has to come off and be patched and b) shody patch work of something like electric cable runs.... in most cases though there really isn't anything to worry about.

Personally in houses I've decorated I've taken the wallpaper off (a streamer is a great investment at around £20) and then gone through a rubdown - fill cycle and quite a few of these there can be.... I'm sure skimming is an easier option if you have the money but there is nothing finer than returning a wall to it's former glory!

Good luck and it's a really rewarding job!