On 20 Jul 2003 12:29:31 GMT, (Patscga) wrote:

I have a painter who tells me it is better to mud over the seams in the
wallpaper prior to painting than tearing off the paper. His reason is that the
wall will be in worse shape after tearing off the paper.
Pat

Depends on the paper and the wall.

I've had improperly applied paper remove the paper from the drywall.
In this case, I've been forced to mud over the rest of the seams, sand
and/or sponge it, Kilz it, and paint the final color. After the first
coat of paint, you're probably going to find areas where the wallpaper
had bubbles, these need to be slit, covered with mud, and sanded,
before repainting. You can't tell there's paper under the paint in
the room I did this, but it took a looong time to get excellent
results. The previous owners of my home applied paper, without sizing,
to raw drywall.

If possible, I prefer to remove the paper, with a remover like DIF,
pre-scoring the paper with a "Paper Tiger" tool. I find removing
the paper to be faster and cleaner overall, and I don't have to worry
about the paper eventually coming loose under the paint.

Barry