Lining paper over old?

[samaudio]

hello,

I've torn off some old wallpaper in order to re-do it. It's left what I presume is lining paper stuck onto the walls. It's quite a soft paper surface which is well adhered to the walls. Should I use a wet sponge and remove this, or would it be better to just put my new lining paper on top of this? The walls seem a bit uneven underneath, so I'm assuming it might be better to leave it on.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[misterhelpful]

Do you know if the wallpaper was a blown vinyl, e.g. Super Fresco, as the softness you mention does sound like this is the case? If so, then it could well be the backing paper that has remained. These wallpapers are marketed with the 'benefit' of leaving the backing paper on the wall as a lining paper for redecoration. In theory, it's a good idea but, in reality, on the majority of uneven walls, some of the backing comes away and leaves you with bare spots. Whenever this happened to me, I always removed the backing so that I could guarantee there would be no adhesion issues or bubbling of the underlying paper, but when I felt that the backing was 100% in tact on the wall, I left it there and never had any major issues.

A couple of ways to tell are:

• The direction of the remaining paper - properly lined walls should have the lining paper running horizontally, although many people don't always do it this way.
• The width of the remaining paper - most lining papers are approximately 22" wide whereas most wallpapers are 20½"-21" wide.

Either way, if you are not confident that the paper is completely solid all over, I would recommend removal.

 

[samaudio]

Many thanks for that very helpful answer.
It looks like it is the backing paper of blown vinyl as you describe. It does seem to be very well stuck on to the wall all over, so I think I'll just go ahead and paper over it. (It's only a utility room, so I'm not hugely bothered if it's not the best job ever!)

 

[misterhelpful]

Sounds good. One tip to help avoid any issues with the new paper is to try and stagger the joints because having a joint on top of a joint causes a weak point that can cause it to lift.

Good luck.