Painting - preparing walls for paint after removing wallpaper
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prowallguy
03-21-04, 11:40 AM
I was emailed back channel for advice, so I figured it took me long enough to type it, I would share it with everybody.
I just bought a new house last fall, and I have a lot of ugly wallpaper to remove. I removed wallpaper in my daughters room, and there are some small (1/4" to 3") areas where the wallpaper took the paint off the drywall and in most places I am left with the white drywall and in some places it's down to the gray color. I have never repaired drywall before, and I have no idea where to start. I saw that you suggested to someone to use Gardz and a joint compound. Do I have to paint the entire wall with Gardz or just the damaged spots? Also, can you recommend a joint compound to use and give me any tips you have on how to apply it. I appreciate your help!!
I would approach this project like this.
1.Sand all the walls with 80 or 100 or 120 grit sandpaper. The lower the grit, the rougher the paper. Choose the grit by examining the walls. If its pretty tore up, use 80, if its not too bad, use 100 or 120. A sanding pole makes this process easier. Pay extra attention to the edges, along the door and window frames, at the ceiling line, right above the baseboard, etc. These areas got overlooked when sanding walls, and make a job look much better if attended to.
2.Clean off the dust. Use a broom, a rag, or my favorite, a swifter pad. Paint/primer will not adhere to dust.
3.Prime the walls with Gardz. I would do the whole room. You said you removed wallpaper. Did you remove the glue also? If not, you should rewet the walls and use a scouring pad, like a BBQ cleaning pad, or the sponges with a green scrubby back. Scrub it down and rinse with clean water. Then priming the whole room with Gardz will help seal in any overlooked paste residue. Gardz is very thin and watery. Brush it on the edges and roll out the body very carefully. It will run down the walls, and splash, generally making a mess if not careful. Put on a nice even coat, floor to ceiling.
4.Sand again, lightly, with 120 grit. Or I use a fine sanding screen on the pole.
5.Dust off again.
6.Time to smooth out rough areas. This is called floating. Use joint compound, not spackle. Any good paint store carries it. Its made by Bondex, USG, among others. I use USG with the blue lid. Depending on how much you need to use, a 5 gallon bucket is more cost efficient than a gallon. Probably cost you +/- $15.00. Its also easier to scoop out of a 5 than a gallon. Get a stiff 6" spackle knife, or they are also called a 'wide blade'. The mud will come a little chunky with water setting on top. Mix it all together to a creamy consistency. Once again, this is easier in a 5. If you bought a gallon, scoop it all out into a empty 5 and mix in there. I use a cordless drill and a mixing paddle. Some people add a little more water to the mix, but mix it as it came first, then decide if you want it thinner. Slather it on the bad spot liberally, about 1/8" thick or so, covering the whole bad area. Then scrape it all off with the wide blade, leaving it in only the low spots. If your bad areas are larger than 6", you should get a 10" or 12" knife to scrape it off. Each area will probably take at least three coats of mud. Let each coat dry before applying another. Does this make sense? You should just be leaving the mud in the low areas to eventually level it out to the higher, regular wall surface. If you have high spots, you need to build the mud up to that area, making each float bigger and bigger. Floating high spots is much harder than low spots. If you get chunks in the mud as you float, scrape off your blade and chuck that bit of mud. Its not worth fighting it. Try to make the floats as smooth as possible, to minimize your final sanding. After you are satisfied that the floating is done, lightly sand them down. Try not to sand in between coats, as the dust will make your mud really dry, and want to drag as you float.
7.After you've sanded the floats, dust off again. Prime with Gardz again. Only the patched spots need it, but if you floated a lot, its easier just to roll out the whole wall.
8.You are ready for paint. If you choose a dark color, buy a quality latex primer, and have the paint store tint it close to the finish color. If you choose a white, or off white, or something that is similar to the existing color, you can just paint it. Do 2 coats of any finish color, especially if it has a sheen, like egg-shell, satin, semi-gloss, etc.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
Tim in STL
I just bought a new house last fall, and I have a lot of ugly wallpaper to remove. I removed wallpaper in my daughters room, and there are some small (1/4" to 3") areas where the wallpaper took the paint off the drywall and in most places I am left with the white drywall and in some places it's down to the gray color. I have never repaired drywall before, and I have no idea where to start. I saw that you suggested to someone to use Gardz and a joint compound. Do I have to paint the entire wall with Gardz or just the damaged spots? Also, can you recommend a joint compound to use and give me any tips you have on how to apply it. I appreciate your help!!
I would approach this project like this.
1.Sand all the walls with 80 or 100 or 120 grit sandpaper. The lower the grit, the rougher the paper. Choose the grit by examining the walls. If its pretty tore up, use 80, if its not too bad, use 100 or 120. A sanding pole makes this process easier. Pay extra attention to the edges, along the door and window frames, at the ceiling line, right above the baseboard, etc. These areas got overlooked when sanding walls, and make a job look much better if attended to.
2.Clean off the dust. Use a broom, a rag, or my favorite, a swifter pad. Paint/primer will not adhere to dust.
3.Prime the walls with Gardz. I would do the whole room. You said you removed wallpaper. Did you remove the glue also? If not, you should rewet the walls and use a scouring pad, like a BBQ cleaning pad, or the sponges with a green scrubby back. Scrub it down and rinse with clean water. Then priming the whole room with Gardz will help seal in any overlooked paste residue. Gardz is very thin and watery. Brush it on the edges and roll out the body very carefully. It will run down the walls, and splash, generally making a mess if not careful. Put on a nice even coat, floor to ceiling.
4.Sand again, lightly, with 120 grit. Or I use a fine sanding screen on the pole.
5.Dust off again.
6.Time to smooth out rough areas. This is called floating. Use joint compound, not spackle. Any good paint store carries it. Its made by Bondex, USG, among others. I use USG with the blue lid. Depending on how much you need to use, a 5 gallon bucket is more cost efficient than a gallon. Probably cost you +/- $15.00. Its also easier to scoop out of a 5 than a gallon. Get a stiff 6" spackle knife, or they are also called a 'wide blade'. The mud will come a little chunky with water setting on top. Mix it all together to a creamy consistency. Once again, this is easier in a 5. If you bought a gallon, scoop it all out into a empty 5 and mix in there. I use a cordless drill and a mixing paddle. Some people add a little more water to the mix, but mix it as it came first, then decide if you want it thinner. Slather it on the bad spot liberally, about 1/8" thick or so, covering the whole bad area. Then scrape it all off with the wide blade, leaving it in only the low spots. If your bad areas are larger than 6", you should get a 10" or 12" knife to scrape it off. Each area will probably take at least three coats of mud. Let each coat dry before applying another. Does this make sense? You should just be leaving the mud in the low areas to eventually level it out to the higher, regular wall surface. If you have high spots, you need to build the mud up to that area, making each float bigger and bigger. Floating high spots is much harder than low spots. If you get chunks in the mud as you float, scrape off your blade and chuck that bit of mud. Its not worth fighting it. Try to make the floats as smooth as possible, to minimize your final sanding. After you are satisfied that the floating is done, lightly sand them down. Try not to sand in between coats, as the dust will make your mud really dry, and want to drag as you float.
7.After you've sanded the floats, dust off again. Prime with Gardz again. Only the patched spots need it, but if you floated a lot, its easier just to roll out the whole wall.
8.You are ready for paint. If you choose a dark color, buy a quality latex primer, and have the paint store tint it close to the finish color. If you choose a white, or off white, or something that is similar to the existing color, you can just paint it. Do 2 coats of any finish color, especially if it has a sheen, like egg-shell, satin, semi-gloss, etc.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
Tim in STL