I posted this in the building forum by mistake a few weeks ago and didn't receive any replies:
A few months ago I stripped the vinyl wallpaper in the lounge ready for redecoration. Underneath is paramount type partitioning - the house is timber framed. I have been concious since of a smell which I couldn't quite place, but seemed to be coming from the walls. A few months later and I have had the walls repapered. Immediately after he had finished the smell seemed a bit stronger and I twigged that it was probably wall paper paste. Whilst the smell is not now quite so strong it's still there 3 weeks later. If I ventilate the room well it virtually disappears, coming back when the room has been shut up for a while.
Initially the alarm bells starting ringing that it might be damp or rot, particularly as the house is timber framed, but before the walls were repapered I could find no evidence of this either inside or out. It doesn't really smell like how I would imagine damp to smell in any case.
As far as I can remember the decorator didn't seal the walls before papering, and the new wallpaper is super fresco, which from my previous posting about tacky emulsion in the hall, I understand is porous. The paper has now been decorated with matt emulsion, and has dried OK .
I don't know whether it's my imagination but the aroma seems to be slightly stronger towards the front external window wall of the house, although I am in an end terrace and the fireplace wall is an external wall as well. The walls do smell a bit pastey, but not as strong as the aroma can be in the room which seems to build up when the room is shut off.
I guess after all that, the question is whether it will go in time, (it doesn't seem to be) if indeed wall paper paste is what the smell is. I need to put new carpet in the lounge and don't really want to do that until I am more sure about the problem. Any thoughts welcome. Do I need to seal the walls?
A few months ago I stripped the vinyl wallpaper in the lounge ready for redecoration. Underneath is paramount type partitioning - the house is timber framed. I have been concious since of a smell which I couldn't quite place, but seemed to be coming from the walls. A few months later and I have had the walls repapered. Immediately after he had finished the smell seemed a bit stronger and I twigged that it was probably wall paper paste. Whilst the smell is not now quite so strong it's still there 3 weeks later. If I ventilate the room well it virtually disappears, coming back when the room has been shut up for a while.
Initially the alarm bells starting ringing that it might be damp or rot, particularly as the house is timber framed, but before the walls were repapered I could find no evidence of this either inside or out. It doesn't really smell like how I would imagine damp to smell in any case.
As far as I can remember the decorator didn't seal the walls before papering, and the new wallpaper is super fresco, which from my previous posting about tacky emulsion in the hall, I understand is porous. The paper has now been decorated with matt emulsion, and has dried OK .
I don't know whether it's my imagination but the aroma seems to be slightly stronger towards the front external window wall of the house, although I am in an end terrace and the fireplace wall is an external wall as well. The walls do smell a bit pastey, but not as strong as the aroma can be in the room which seems to build up when the room is shut off.
I guess after all that, the question is whether it will go in time, (it doesn't seem to be) if indeed wall paper paste is what the smell is. I need to put new carpet in the lounge and don't really want to do that until I am more sure about the problem. Any thoughts welcome. Do I need to seal the walls?
