"K. G. Ulicni" wrote in message
...
I have a house built in the early 1920's. Every wall in every room was
wallpapered with the paper applied over the bare plaster, multiple
layers no less. No paint, no primer just plaster. It was a major pain
to get all the paper off those walls, lots of scrapes and gouges left
behind to patch when done. Was this a common practice back then?

Based on personal experiences, very common.

The good news is once you patch you gouges and any cracks you will have a
virgin, cured installation that you can properly seal and paint with no lead
based paint worries.

BTW, drywall mud is excellent for the patching and does not require the 30
day cure time before painting.

Colbyt