Lining paper or not?

8 years ago

Hi there,
We've had two decorators quote for painting a large space.

The first one said that we would need the existing wallpaper stripped, the plaster filled where it needed, then paint applied directly. We asked him about lining paper and he said absolutely not - any painter who suggests lining paper should be shown the door.

The second decorator said that we would need the existing wallpaper stripped, then lining paper hung, then paint on top. When we asked him whether the lining paper was necessary, he said definitely - any decorator who said it wasn't was wrong.

Who should we go with? Both decorators have come highly recommended, but which one is correct. The room in question is a very large hallway with high ceilings in an old victorian house. The walls look sound but are probably the original plaster. It's going to be a big job so we do don't want to end up having to get it redone anytime soon. Any advice?

Featured Answer

Matthew Decorator

8 years ago

Lining paper is the easy way out. I tell this to all my clients - if you want it done quick, and it won't look that spectacular then get it lined but I won't do it for you, sorry. It's a cheap fix, an old fashioned way to ignore a problem rather than dealing with it properly.

Strip the paper off, sand the walls, mist coat the walls, skim the walls with a light filler, sand the walls, mist cost the walls where the filler was again then start decorating from the top down: ceiling & coving, walls, then woodwork last.

I would stick with the guy who said no to lining the paper bit I would also check to see if he was previous recommendations

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Comments (6)

Tani H-S
8 years ago
Hi there,

I'm in the process of doing every wall in our house so I've been looking into it myself.
2 decorators both suggested lining paper - but only as an alternative to skimming the walls. Ie if your walls aren't smooth then you need to skim or line them. There are paintable lining papers so I'm not sure standard ones will be ok (don't quote me as I'm not sure).

I have also read on a few sites about lining walls as well so it's fairly common.

The trick is they fill the joining gaps (well they should do this to get a flat wall!) with a fine filler and lightly sand it - so it doesn't look like lining paper if you just want to paint over it.

Or, you could do what I've done and spend hours filling every inch of the wall and sanding it to get a good finish. The latter is v hard work, but I can't afford to pay for all our rooms to be done now
clare963
8 years ago
We recently had this dilemma. We decided to strip the wallpaper ourselves and then get a plasterer to skim the walls as we wanted to paint three of them and paper one. We didn't use lining paper - I don't think it's necessary if you get them skimmed.
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Hi Coupp77, To be honest you have to do something as it has been left in a bad condition. Ideally the best would be to remove the wallpaper and plaster the whole wall as this was what you really wanted - (it might be worth saving for). Option 2 - Remove the wallpaper, sand the wall (especially in the location of the new plaster and fill up the patches) and lay a new layer of wall paper. It would be best the use a thicker wall paper which is heavily structured so you see less imperfections. Option 3 - Sand the wall, fill the patches and lay wallpaper on top of the old one. You will have to prepare the paper (such as painting with PVA potentially) and keep in mind that it may not look that great ;-( I would use the same wall paper type as above. Not really the answer you wanted, but it might be worth getting some quotes for the work - some younger or start up companies or decorators might be willing to do a good job for a bargain price in order to get a project published.. don't give up hope. Goodluck. Jo
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I would remove all layers of old paper , give the walls a sealing coat of white paint , then line the walls with a good , heavy quality lining paper . The walls will then be clean , smooth and ready for painting. Again start with a sealing coat but not too diluted. Don’t panic if a few bubbles appear in the paper , they will adhere back as it dries .I’ve used this method , very successfully , many times . Good luck !
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Elizabeth
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks Matthew.
PRO
AL PAINTING
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
If there is lots of cracks on walls, celings, it's mean they will apper anytime in the future soon, this is becouse of the movement of the ground, if your house is on that position you proplably have cracks on walls and celings and lining paper is what you certainly need. Sometimes people skimm the walls and line them strait away. I would take wallpaper off see how walls looks like, and then decide. If the house is all papered i would certainly go with new lining paper and paint.
ianthy
7 years ago
Would be good to know the age of your property? when we bought our period house 16 years ago, the rooms were in a terrible state. We plastered every single room and then our decorator applied thick lining paper and paint. We have decorated 2 times since and the it's an easy job to complete and the finish is lovely. I am not an expert but the lining paper seems to give the walls a lovely even finish.

Lining paper or not?

Matthew Decorator

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Tani H-S

clare963

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Lining paper or not?

Matthew Decorator

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Tani H-S

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