Spackle over wallpaper backing

angelabatwood

My husband and I recently bought a house. We also recently discovered there were multiple layers of wallpaper below paint in the kitchen. We have successfully removed it from most of the walls using our steamer. I have completed 2/3 of our biggest wall only to find that one of the previous owners attempted to remove the wallpaper, appeared to get lazy and spackled/skimed over the wallpaper backing. There is spackle everywhere and it is hard to determine where wall paper backing still exists! Problem is, since the rest of the wallpaper on the wall was removed, of course now there is an obvious thickness change.

My question is - should we scrape it all off and remove the remaining random layers of wallpaper backing, try to skimcoat/spackle over the rest of the wall until it looks flush, or just put up new drywall? I am at a loss for words as to how lazy someone would have to be to do this. Has anyone seen/experienced this before?

Any and all help would be wonderful!

joecaption

No way to tell without being there, but by you decription I'd say it would be faster and come out far smoother to just redry wall.

Brushjockey

Unlike Joe- I have found few walls that weren't totally ruined, that couldn't be revived. But it takes a bit of skill.
Again, without seeing what we're talking about, I would get a wallpaper razor scraper and get off as much as I could (without causing further damage)-
Then I'd prime - either with oil or my favorite- Gardz- to seal the whole mess and get a starting point-
Skim smooth, sand prime , look over and spot mud as needed, sand and prime those- paint.
With practice this process is not as daunting as it sounds, but to a newbie at it it is asking much.

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Gymschu

Follow Brushjockey's advice. For one wall, your task is somewhat manageable. The key to skim coating is applying two or three fairly light coats............sand off any ridges before applying the succeeding coat. Once you get it smooth, remove as much dust from the walls as possible and apply a quality drywall primer........

chrisn

What else is new

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jsheridan

Surprise, the posting God has recommended tearing out and replacing rock, again. Angela, I would follow Brushjockey's advice as well. Lazy might be too harsh a word when it comes to paper removal. Lazy would have removed none of the paper. Even then, some don't remove paper because it's more of a time investment than some are willing to make, given their plans for the home. Have fun and good luck.

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angelabatwood

Thanks so much for all your help! We used Gardz in the living room after having a ton of difficulty removing every last piece of wallpaper backing in there - It worked great! We will use it again on this task for sure