Painting - Drywall paper stripping in prepping for painting

I have a 30-year old house. I'm repainting the guest bath. Thank God it's small, because it's becoming a nightmare. I realized when prepping the walls that the previous owners had painted over not one layer of wallpaper, but two! After removing everything, I have several spots where the sheetrock paper peeled away and is leaving an ugly brown dent in the wall. I've tried filling it in and sanding, but I have another problem - it seems they used the glue from you-know-where in hanging the original wallpaper and didn't treat the drywall. I have this textured wall now, where the glue (if that's what it is) won't come off. It will sand fairly smooth, but my first coat of paint shows a disaster: the texture of the glue, the tears in the dryway...what do I do? Is it at the point where I need to re-sheetrock the entire bathroom??? Please help. It's driving me to drink WAY too much.:madhell:

Welcome to the forums!

You need to coat the walls with either zinnser's gardz or a solvent based primer. That will seal the walls, then you can skim coat them with joint compound, sand and touch up as necessary before primer and paint.

OK, so I have this straight. Prime the walls with the products recommended. Then skim coat the entire wall? I would think that's the only way I can conceive the finished product will look consistent. Please confirm. Thanks!:)

Yes, I would think that would be the best/easiest fix.