Wallpaper and Wallcoverings - painting over paper

What is the procedure for painting over vinyl wallpaper?:

Here is the transcript from a recent post -> "i am trying to remove wallpaer of which the undercoat is wallpaper and someone had painted over it. what a awful hard job. i have been using chemicals and it has not helped much please advise."

In 99 out of 100 cases the wallpaper should come off before painting. One of the few exceptions is when wallpaper is applied directly to drywall without any prep. You should first try proper wallpaper stripping, need help? Go to my site and you will find advice on my wallpaper stripping page.

If after a noble attempt, the paper refuses to come off or is causing significant wall damage, then painting it is sometimes preferred. To do this you would want to sand and patch any obvious bad areas, paying particular attention to the seams. Then you can apply a top quality primer. I wouldn't skimp on this step as most wallpaper is coated and the cheaper primers can have trouble with this slippery surface. If the cleaning, patching, sanding, and prep is done patiently and correctly, it is nearly impossible to tell that paper ever existed on the wall. If you hurry, it will look just like someone painted over wallpaper. Effort equals results on this project, so choose your course of action with care and I wish you the best with whatever route you decide.

Previous post hit the nail on the head - try to remove paper if at all possible! But if it can't be done used GOOD quality primer - OIL based preferably because latex primers may lift the paper off as they cure due to the water base.