Painting on kitchen wallpaper - good to go with anything?

[CluelessDIYer1]

Wife wants to paint the kitchen this weekend. I'm not convinced it's needed, but she's insistent so it'll get done i guess.

The paper that's in place is that kitchen wallpaper stuff that seems to only come in squares. I've found an old photo:



I suspect it'll all require a good scrubbing down with sugar soap (or plain old warm soapy water).

Asking because if we'd have gone ahead with the living room we'd have slapped any old paint onto the new plaster & not bought something breathable. Only asking here did we end up buying the right stuff.

So will any old paint do here? Is that kitchen & bathroom paint just nonsense (as i've heard) or should that really be the only stuff that's bought? She says she'd like a slight shine to it, not matt.

Oh & something with anti-mould properties preferable.

 

[emilybronte]

Zinsser Permawhite is the thing you need. Despite the name it can be mixed to various pastel shades.

The Kitchen & Bathroom paints sold by the sheds are a waste of money.

If the squared paper is textured it will remain textured after painting. I'd remove it completely, if it were my kitchen. The squared effect is very dated.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Zinsser Permawhite is the thing you need. Despite the name it can be mixed to various pastel shades.

The Kitchen & Bathroom paints sold by the sheds are a waste of money.

If the squared paper is textured it will remain textured after painting. I'd remove it completely, if it were my kitchen. The squared effect is very dated.

Agreed (your last comment). Problem there is, when we removed some piece when the doorway was being boarded up, the plaster ended up blistering badly & needed re-plastering. It's also very fiddly with the way the paper goes. It'd be so much easier to paint. I'm a bit unsure about how it'll turn out due to the paper type.


I've actually got some perma-white. I bought it in for the bedroom, which hasn't worked out as the wall couldn't breathe.

The Mrs is wanting it done magnolia (i don't too much mind magnolia, but every man & his dog seems to have it which is the sole reason for me preferring something else).

Could the perma white be used as an undercoat (so has the mould properties) and then use some (what?) sort of magnolia paint on top?

 

[emilybronte]

No, to be effective the permawhite has to be exposed.

But tbh if the paper is unstable anyway because of the poor plasterwork behind it, painting it is only going to make it even less stable.

Tell your wife from me it needs doing properly - remove paper (wallpaper is a barmy idea in a kitchen anyway - get walls skimmed if they are grotty - paint with an eggshell paint or the Permawhite in whatever tone you want. That way, you don't get the horrible squared effect from the 70s viynyl (?) underneath, the walls will be sound and the paint won't be wasted.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

No, to be effective the permawhite has to be exposed.

But tbh if the paper is unstable anyway because of the poor plasterwork behind it, painting it is only going to make it even less stable.

Tell your wife from me it needs doing properly - remove paper (wallpaper is a barmy idea in a kitchen anyway - get walls skimmed if they are grotty - paint with an eggshell paint or the Permawhite in whatever tone you want. That way, you don't get the horrible squared effect from the 70s viynyl (?) underneath, the walls will be sound and the paint won't be wasted.

As ever, thanks for your help.

I've no idea about the rest of the plaster work, but on the wall that was being 'done' anyway, the plaster was wafer thin, so the paper stripper just cracked it.

I'd personally love the paper to be removed. Moreso, i'd love every room in the house to be nicely plastered & painted as i like that look. Problem is the budget. When we bought the house we weren't aware it'd require this level of work as we was looking for a ready-to-move-in house. If we'd known, we wouldn't have bought it.

The paper will for now, have to stay. One of the beams in the bedroom has gone rotten after a leak so we need to prioritise budget. The horrible paper is tucked away in the kitchen though, it doesn't run throughout, thankfully.

I'll email Zinsser to see if they can do some sort of magnolia type shade.


EDIT: 2 questions...

1) To save me creating a new thread and as you seem to know a thing or two about painting...

What length of time do you leave between 'stages'?

For example, the primer/undercoat may say leave 4 hours between coats. So you do one, leave 4hrs, do another. Simple.

Question is, how long do you leave to move between primer/undercoat & the top coat? The same 4hours, or longer [what?]? I've tried googling but found nothing.

2) What sort of layering are you 'supposed' to do? 2x primer, 2x undercoat, 2x top coat? I've read some pieces saying 2x primer/undercoat & 1x top coat. I don't know what's the best setup?

 

[emilybronte]

Are you talking about emulsion paints (for plaster or papered plaster on walls and ceilings), or trim paints (gloss/satin/eggshell for woodwork)?

Just out of interest, when was the house built and is the beam supporting something (what?) or just decorative? The door in the photo looks 1950s...but houses built in that era generally didn't have real beams.

If it's not real, you could get rid of it.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Are you talking about emulsion paints (for plaster or papered plaster on walls and ceilings), or trim paints (gloss/satin/eggshell for woodwork)?

Sorry, i was referring to the woodwork.

I've got the door frames to be painting (they'll end up gloss. Fingers crossed it works out ok) as well as the bannister/spindles.

I'm just a bit unsure as to whether to go oil or water approach now. I really don't want the yellowing effect, but the windowsill i've done is still marking when touched lightly with a key (water based) & it's been a few week now. I'm thinking perhaps water based doesn't offer any proper protection.

But yes, sorry for waffling, i was meaning wood work.

Just out of interest, when was the house built

1932

and is the beam supporting something (what?) or just decorative?

I'm not too sure tbh.

Originally i thought it was the beam that runs right into the loft which when looking at it from the loft end looks like perhaps a 7x2, 8x2 or 9x2 i'm not sure, my guess is more 8x2 or 9x2.
But i was prodding & poking the damaged end & my finger went right through, but not wood .... the old plaster, so the damaged end isn't as wide as i thought so i'm not sure if it connects to the piece i'm seeing in the loft (can't get over to that section via the loft as no room).

Either way, i'm thinking it's positioned where there's a valley on the front of the house


Right where that red dot is on the fascia board. The leak has been repaired but the damage remains. Plaster reads high moisture content even now, as does sections of the timber.

I'll get a few roofers out & see what they say. I had one out at Xmas but the ceiling paper was still on so they didn't get to see it proper. They only saw the roof which had been repaired & the inside looked fine with the paper in place. Only when i later took it off after seeing mini mushrooms finally growing did we see the real problem.

My wife did speak to a roofer who once lived on this street. He said it's an important piece & could be a big job & costly, but he's fully booked up.

But i'm going wildly off topic now & into a subject for another subforum so sorry.