How to paint over wall with old wallpaper?

[Truscott4]

Hi all

We have bought a new house built in 1960's and starting to do some renovations. There was wallpaper in entire house which we have taken down with a steamer but there was some areas with damage to the drywall. We have tried to remove as much wallpaper glue as we can so far.

1) How would you go about preparing the walls for the painting stage? Should we sand the walls, fill, sand then prime? Or is it possible to go straight into filling the defects, then sand after? 

2) There is still some glue left on the walls - is it okay to sand it directly or does it need to be completely wiped down before sanding?

Thanks!

[KatieC]

Hi @Truscott4, 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community! It is wonderful you have joined and thank you for your painting question. Our resident D.I.Y. expert @EricL will be online later this afternoon to assist with your question but I'll also tag in a couple of our great members @Renowayoflife and @homeinmelbourne to check if they have any advice. 

In the meantime, I suggest you check out these great discussions: 

• Painting walls after wallpaper removal 
• Removing old wallpaper  

We would love to see your walls look with a fresh coat of paint, please keep us updated on your project. We hope you find Workshop inspiring and helpful and if you ever have questions along your D.I.Y. journey please do not hesitate to ask. 

Katie

[EricL]

Hello @Truscott4 

Thanks for sharing your question about painting over your wall after the wallpaper has been removed. Wall painting preparation will be my suggestion as your next step. I recommend using a scraper on your wall and try to remove any loose paint or paint flecks that might have come off during the wall steaming. Once you've taken off as much of the loose paint as you can, I suggest filling in all the damage with Gyprock CSR 2.25kg Less Mess Multi-Purpose Joint Compound in combination with Builders Edge 100mm Plastic Joint Knife. 

Your goal is to fill in all the damage, gaps and uneven spots on the wall as close to the same level as the wall so that you won't have to do a great deal of surface sanding. If there is still a bit of a buildup of wallpaper glue, I suggest using an Orbital Sander to sand down the wall in order to get a flat even surface. Once you've sanded the surface, I suggest cleaning it with a soft broom and a clean rag to remove all the sanding dust.

Here is a link to our best advice: How do you prepare a wall for painting?

Here are some handy step-by-step guides:

• How to prepare a wall for painting
   
• How to paint a room
   
• How to paint a feature wall

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric