Multiple long & thing hairline cracks (pictures)

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Hi all

Could really do with some general advice on this and any comments much appreciated as I am a bit of a novice

Preparing to decorate a room. One of the walls had been wallpapered over (I understand why now..) which I was intending to simply remove, prime & paint over. After peeling the paper there are 3 or 4 long thing hairline cracks.

The cracks are largely very, very thin but they are long! They run the width and height of the wall which is my concern.

I've attached some photos but the video probably shows it best. There are 4 or 5. House is built 1920s, terraced, and the wall is an upstairs internal wall. No obvious signs of movement in floor boards or anything.

I've seen a couple of filling methods but they are only demonstrated on much shorter and obvious cracks. Can I fill cracks which are this long? Several metres in length. I have the following ideas;
  • Open up the cracks even more and fill with a suitable filler (the thought of opening them up makes me slightly uncomfortable!)
  • Go straight over them with a primer seeing as they are so thin and paint as usual
  • Just go over with lining paper
What would you recommend? I would like a nice smooth finish which would hopefully lasts at least a couple years

Ideally I'd like to sort the issue by filling. Is it fool proof?!

Suggestions hugely welcome!

Thanks

Charlie
 

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  • Open up the cracks even more and fill with a suitable filler (the thought of opening them up makes me slightly uncomfortable!)
  • Go straight over them with a primer seeing as they are so thin and paint as usual
  • Just go over with lining paper

Option one - scrape out a V with a suitable tool to around 6mm wide, fill with a flexible filler then sand flat if necessary. Painting over, they will just reappear soon after completion.

Lining paper will hide them until next time.
 
Thanks Harry - I'll probably have a go scraping out and re-filling. With very thin cracks assume scraping out become ever more important? They are so thin literally look like a pencil line.

And just out of interest what sort of finish can I get if I went over with lining paper, priming and then then painting? Would it look flush? The bulk of the wall is in good condition so I feel that could be an option...
 
With lining paper, the cracks should easily cover and shouldn't reappear, nor should you see the paper joins if you are careful. Some people (SWMBO) insisted on lining paper before paint, despite there being no cracks in our walls to hide. You have to be very careful putting lining paper on, to make sure there is no bits of grit or dirt on the wall, on the paper, or in the paste when applying it - any at all will really show in the finished job.
 
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