I'm painting a previously wallpapered room. Stripping old ugly embossed wallpaper was surprisingly easy, but it left a thin layer of white stuff underneath, which I assume is wallpaper primer or sizing? There's a shiny layer of wallpaper paste visible on top of this.
This white layer is intact in most places. And covers about 90% of the wall. But it has come away with the wallpaper in several places, particularly in one corner of the room where its really patchy and flaky (see pics) It doesn't seem to wash off easily. I tested a small area and the wallpaper paste residue washed off but the sizing didn't budge.
I'm confused as to how to deal with it. Removing it looks like it would involve stupid amounts of washing/scraping. but likewise painting over the flaky bits doesn't seem like a good idea, and the height difference where there's bare bits would surely show up.
My current thinking is to:
Wash off the remaining wallpaper paste
Sand (hopefully smoothing the flakes)
Wash again
Apply a high build primer to take out the patchiness
Paint
Can anyone comment on this or add give any pointers? Recommendations for a primer would be welcome, preferably a low solvent one as we've got a young kid and my wife's pregnant.
EDIT: Thanks to responses below I have realised that the white stuff is the mist coat that was on the plaster which has come off with the wallpaper because we dry stripped it.
This white layer is intact in most places. And covers about 90% of the wall. But it has come away with the wallpaper in several places, particularly in one corner of the room where its really patchy and flaky (see pics) It doesn't seem to wash off easily. I tested a small area and the wallpaper paste residue washed off but the sizing didn't budge.
I'm confused as to how to deal with it. Removing it looks like it would involve stupid amounts of washing/scraping. but likewise painting over the flaky bits doesn't seem like a good idea, and the height difference where there's bare bits would surely show up.
My current thinking is to:
Wash off the remaining wallpaper paste
Sand (hopefully smoothing the flakes)
Wash again
Apply a high build primer to take out the patchiness
Paint
Can anyone comment on this or add give any pointers? Recommendations for a primer would be welcome, preferably a low solvent one as we've got a young kid and my wife's pregnant.
EDIT: Thanks to responses below I have realised that the white stuff is the mist coat that was on the plaster which has come off with the wallpaper because we dry stripped it.