plaster under wallpaper in 1950s semi

[LindsayO]

I'm redecorating a 1950s brick semi
I've stripped the woodchip in the hall and underneath was yellow stuff, when I scrubbed with soapy water it comes off, but is a pretty thick layer, its not smooth and in places the white plaster shows through, so I assumed it was wallpaper paste, it smells like glue too

now I've moved on to the living room and under the woodchip is another wallpaper and under that is a brown surface, at first I thought it was another layer of paper but its clearly not, it doesn't look like plaster, but its very smooth

I always assumed that plaster was white and that in stripping the walls I should keep stripping and scrubbing till I got to a white surface, but could this brown surface be plaster?

 

[Nige F]

sounds like an old water based distemper that you`ve cleaned off that`s good maybe the brown stuff is an old oil bound distemper plaster could be grey or pinkish or white.........more knowledgeable decorators will surely reply too

 

[LindsayO]

thanks Nige, this sounds right, the yellow stuff comes off with a good scrub, feels like its water based, the brown stuff isnt looking like it will budge though, so I'm wondering if I can just prime over it with something like Zinssers Bullseye, or if I'd be better off trying to take the woodchip off and painting over the first layer of wall paper

 

[chezzer0361]

in my experience you have to get the brown stuff off, and it only comes off with a steamer, we had to do my whole house, it works best if there is 2 of you. As soon as the wall has been steamed scape it off, we only discovered this after spending 8 hours and we only did a 6' x 3' patch...............nightmare and we still had the rest of the house to do.

Get the steamer on it and scrape it off asap, it works honest. P.S. - don't burn yourself, they get really hot, I have the burn marks to prove it.

The only piece we didn't do was on the stairs we just painted it then papered it, big mistake..................... : all the orange brown from underneath came through, so we had to strip it all off, then paint it with stain block, twice, which smell terrible, then paper it. And dangling off a ladder up a stair well twice, literally, is not my idea of fun..............

Happy decorating......................

 

[LindsayO]

thanks chesser, I kinda had this gut feeling that I'd get an answer like this, it has to come off and it takes work

I might try just taking the woodchip off a patch and painting the paper underneath to see how long that lasts

 

[gcol]

The only piece we didn't do was on the stairs we just painted it then papered it, big mistake..................... : all the orange brown from underneath came through, so we had to strip it all off, then paint it with stain block, twice, which smell terrible, then paper it. And dangling off a ladder up a stair well twice, literally, is not my idea of fun..............

Sounds like good advice

 

[LindsayO]

well I tried the steamer on it and its not budging, I'm getting some zinsser BullsEye tommorrow so I'm going to paint a patch and leave it while I take the rest of the wall paper off

How long before it starts to show through?

 

[chezzer0361]

try holding the steamer over the spot for about 4 - 5 mins, then when it is really hot slowly move the steamer down about an inch and scrape it off, that will be the lovely slime, then hold it over again to get the paint off, then work you way down the wall, it comes off faster/ better as more of the wall gets warm. I had a cardboard box under where I was steaming to splat the slime into.....................

Sounds like a nightmare but stick with it, it's worth it in the end, I had a lovely pond scene over my fire with pelicans and and frogs sat on a lilly pad and orange walls with a blue border, that border was hell to get off, my house is slightly older than yours, 1925, but don't think paint / wallpaper progressed much in those days...................

As for the paint not sure about the paint you will be using but when we did it first time with in a day or 2 of papering it started coming through in orange / yellow patches. Maybe it was the wall paper paste reacting with the paint.......................

 

[LindsayO]

thanks chesser, I'll try again, it is a big job, but the woodchip came off much easier than I expected.

I'm definitely going to try a patch with paint just to see and report back

The colour is actually quite nice, very muted golden brown, better than woodchip anyway, but it must have been very difficult to maintain

 

[chezzer0361]

hows it going any progress ?????????????

 

[LindsayO]

thanks for asking, was away over Easter an with my disability things are going slowly, but I've got most of the paper in the living room stripped, and most if the distemper in the hall scrubbed off, I used a scrubbing brush and detergent and scrubbed it three times so far and its starting to look quite smooth and clean. I will wash it at least once more with sugar soap

I havent tried tackling the brown distemper in the living room, but once I have the hall distemper scrubbed off and the living room stripping completed I'm getting the paint out (Zinsser Bullseye) and I'm going to paint the hall, paint a patch in the living room and then move on to strip the dining room.

I'm hoping that the Zinsser will seal the brown distemper in the lving room, since getting the yellow stuff off the hall wall was alot of work, but I want to leave the patch for a good few days to see if it seeps through

 

[chezzer0361]

sounds like a good plan to me.............................