ok to paint on wallpaper?

N

nbc

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Hi,
My kitchen has wallpaper. Near the radiator it's pealing off and I feel that with the moisture and heat this will remain a problem. I want to get kitchen painted. The paper is flat with an edging strip at the top if you know what I mean. Is is easy to paint over or should the paper be removed first. Underneath the paint is plasterboard. The builder doesn't seem to have plastered!
2 painters coming tonight but would like to be forearmed with a bit of knowledge! Also how much should I be expected to pay? Average kitchen in size, 20 2 sq yds.
Cheers
nbc
 
Price will be dependant on how much labour to remove the old wallpaper, in other words how easily it will come off without doing any damage to the plaster board. With plaster board in general its not too hard so may be OK but that is assuming all walls are the same. Painting is labour intensive more than material so I would assume a good painter would ask for about €250 per day. If he gets it done in a day and he's on his own then I suggest anthing from 250 to 400 but this is dependant on wallpaper state. Bear in mind if there's 2 people and it takes a day this could be twice that amount. Just ball park figures that I would go on.
 
elcato said:
Painting is labour intensive more than material so I would assume a good painter would ask for about €250 per day.
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Thats 1250 euro for a 5 day week, over 60 grand a year. Nice work if you can get it. Not too difficult to aspire to be either, you do not need to swat at school or be academically gifted.
 
rabbit said:
Thats 1250 euro for a 5 day week, over 60 grand a year. Nice work if you can get it. Not too difficult to aspire to be either, you do not need to swat at school or be academically gifted.
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Are you not the one who had a go at hairdressers a while back for making good money while they did not have any education?
and now you are having a go at painters/decorators?


You seem to have a mental block with people not having diplomas/degrees/masters/PHD...and making money...
May be they have more business sense than you do and you could learn from them....
 
€250 a day before costs isn't excessive. Honest John was writing in the telegraph this week about franchise dealers charging that much an hour for labour.
 
Hi,
I got 3 painters in. First said no prob painting over paper. E400. Second said that the paper must come off. He will use a steamer and repair any wall damage. E650. Third said he wouldn't take the jon as it was hassle. He said he has done both previously. Painting ove rnot good as bubbles appera eventually and you can see the lines between wallpaper rolls. He has also removed paper but says that walls can be damaged and if small amt paper left behind it can show through paint. He says best job is to remove paper and plaster.
Help!!!!
Any comments please from people who have been in similar situations.
cheers
nbc
 
I can't help with the costings but we have just stripped a room . It was hard work , so would agree with the previous poster about being labour intensive. As your painter said,there were small bits of paper left but we easily removed these with hot water and a cloth, and then primed the surface with a light sanding. A small area needed to be replastered. The only thing I can say about painting over wallpaper is that the colours can look very different. Good luck.
 
Using a steamer can be very harsh on the wall - if there are any minor faults at all the plaster can come off in big chunks. Likewise if you leave the steamer on a second too long - bye bye plaster!

You wouldn't consider taking off the paper yourself with hot soapy water and a scraper, it is far gentler. Then you can get the painter to sand the wall and fill in any imperfections? It might be easier than you think - especially if the paper is already lifting/peeling away from the wall!
 
Thanks for replies guys. Much appreciated. Think I may jyst wallpaper over the old paper!
nbc
 
One last comment. We did both in the same house- removed paper and replastered in 'public' areas and painted over the wallpaper in bedrooms. Always thought it might be a false economy albeit a necessary one given the cost of labour- and it so it has proved to be. The painted over wallpaper lacks the finish and the paper (which after all was not even meant to be painted over once, never mind several times) is bubbling and lifting, with a little help from tiny hands in places. Remove and replaster- or repent.
 
agree with Gatherer. best to do the job properly from the beginning, you will regret it later.
 
we stripped two rooms of wallpaper and painted. not as difficult as you might think to get off paper. just used water and scraper. messy though then filled and sanded. took a day to scrape one room. worth it as the rooms look very well now.
 
you could use a reasonably heavy grade lining paper /paper over existing and then paint that labour intensive though
 
Have been through this quandry with the paper stuck onto the plasterboard - only solution is strip and plaster the walls. Expensive but otherwise it'll never be right. If I ever buy a second hand house again my first condition will be 'no wallpaper'. (esp stuff that has been painted over and is impossible to remove.
 
Hi Guys
Just thought I would update you. Might be useful for someone in the future. Got a painter,decorator to take wallpaper off and we would decide then if could paint over plasterboard or repaper. We decided to paint and it looks 95% perfect. There was no need to plaster so I'm happy.
nbc
 
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