Many people are hesitant to hang wallpaper in new homes because of past experience. They fear that if they want to remove the paper, they’ll ruin the drywall surfaces.
The truth, however, is that wallpaper is not to blame for this problem. Indeed, wallpaper of any type can be easily removed if you simply paint beforehand with an inexpensive yet highly specialized product that sizes the walls.
Sizing walls is a mystical process that generates lots of puzzled looks not just from homeowners but from paint store clerks as well. I can remember clearly the first time I heard the term. I thought it meant you had to carefully measure the walls so that you purchased a sufficient amount of wallpaper.
Sizing, though, is actually a process that allows wallpaper to be installed with ease and, at the same time, allows it to be readily removed at some future time.
The word sizing tends to be used by older professional wallpaper hangers. New paperhangers refer to the process as priming and sealing. Years ago, paperhangers applied diluted wheat paste adhesives on plaster walls to size them before hanging the paper. This adhesive soaked into the fresh plaster and acted as a crude sealer.
Without the diluted adhesive coating, the adhesive on the back of the paper sucked into the bare plaster too quickly. This made it difficult to adjust and smooth the paper.
In some instances, the wallpaper adhesive soaked so deeply into the plaster that little glue remained behind to hold the paper to the wall.
Modern wallpaper adhesives are very different than the old wheat paste glues. Some are so strong that they can penetrate through many porous wall paints and grab onto the wall surface beneath the paint.
This is where many rookie paperhangers and homeowners get into trouble. They look at a painted wall and think that the wall has been primed and sealed. Indeed, the wall may have a paint primer on it, but this is not the right type.
To prevent the high-strength paper adhesives from bonding to the drywall paper, you must apply specialized primer/sealers made for wallpaper. These water-based, low-odor products form a tough barrier that paper adhesives cannot penetrate.
The primer/sealers are perfect for painted drywall, bare drywall, paneling and even existing walls that already have wallpaper on them.
The products look just like paint and apply the same way. What’s more, some brands are tintable. You can colorize the primer to match the background color of the wallpaper.The new primer/sealers also help you when you hang paper. They help slow the drying time of the adhesives so that you have plenty of time to adjust and trim the paper as you work each sheet. This characteristic is very important if you are double-cutting paper as you install inlaid borders within a pattern.
Not all wallpaper sealer/primers are created equal. If you want the best performance you will have to pay slightly more per gallon.
———-
Write to Tim Carter, c/o the Chicago Tribune, P.O. Box 36352, Cincinnati, OH 45236-0352. Or contact him on the Internet at askthebuilder.com.
You can call him any Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. at 1-888-737-1450.
For a list of brands of specialized primers for wallpaper and damaged drywall and other tips on wallpapering and repairing damaged drywall, send $5 and a business-sized stamped, self-addressed envelope to Tim Carter at the above address. Ask for Builder Bulletin No. 372.
Look for Tim Carter’s Ask the Contractor column weekly in the Your Place section as he answers questions pertaining to home rehab, repair and maintenance.
Ask the Builder: Past columns by Tim Carter are at chicagotribune.com/homes
