Help Needed: Dummy attempting wallpaper

benevolance · July 17, 2008, 10:04:55 PM

the dummy is me... so as to avoid confusion

Here is where I am

Okay so I took the advice of my mailman and let his contractor next door neighbor come in and skim coat the 80 year old plaster so as to smooth it out for wallpaper... They made a terrible mess...And I had to go over it again and sand it to make it passable...a waste of $750

Moving on...I went and bought kilz primer to seal up the walls ...I vacuumed and dusted then I primed the walls with the kilz let it dry a couple of days and then attempted wallpapering

The paper was the type with the paste on it already....So I get my trusty roller and rolling pan with a little warm water in it...I get the roller wet... apply it over the paper to get the paste wet....and go to hang the paper... Other than the fact that the walls are not perfectly flat there are no problems... until an hour later when we see all kinds of air pocket bubbles under the paper.... We removed a section of the paper and the kilz primer has rubberized like a sheet of stretchy material... And we can peel off all the kilz in a single piece....

So basically we have a terrible mess of peeling primer that is all rubbery under the wallpaper...

What in the name of God did I do wrong here...

I was careful I read several online blurbs about wallpapering and I have a home improvement book that talked about it... I tried to do everything right...I had help and I was even organized...

The wallpaper was super expensive....I am about ready to go for a drive and commit a homicide on the first person that cuts me off...

Okay not that upset, but you get the idea...

Any help is as always appreciated

-Peter

glenn kangiser · July 18, 2008, 01:46:42 AM

Peter, I only had experience with wallpaper one time. I told my ex-wife if she wanted wallpaper, she could do it herself.

Would you like her phone number?

July 18, 2008, 07:00:08 AM

It sounds like something on the wall is reacting to the Kilz or wallpaper paste. You mentioned having the wall skim coated. What did they use to coat it and had the wall been papered or painted before? How long has the skim coat dried? How long did the Kilz dry? Did you use the Latex/water base Kilz?

apaknad · July 18, 2008, 07:34:58 AM

dear peter,
i don't like wallpaper and i don't have the experience to give you any guide lines. i DO know that i am not going to cut you off in traffic!!!

benevolance · July 18, 2008, 10:09:53 AM

They skim coated the walls with mud...

The contractor told us to paint the walls with Kilz to seal it up... because of the dust and all.. Well first we vacuumed and then dusted with a broom and then wiped it down with a dry cloth... the dust is unreal from that kind of job... but we got it gathered up and then we coated the walls with the kilz primer

I only let it set a couple of days... and maybe that is the problem? maybe it needed more time to cure?

July 18, 2008, 10:11:07 AM

Now my wife has decided to change gears...we are going to return the $250 worth of wallpaper we did not open and we are going to use a sponge and faux finish the walls....To try and hide to poor drywall work on them.

benevolance · July 18, 2008, 10:12:39 AM

the mud dried for a week before we kilz primered it... we used basic interior kilz... there is indoor and outdoor.... we used indoor primer/sealer

glenn kangiser · July 18, 2008, 11:49:19 AM

There are patterned rubber rollers also for paint decoration. Some like them. Have fun.

r8ingbull · July 18, 2008, 01:03:09 PM

Do you know what was on the walls previously? The reason I ask is that drywall "mud" isn't designed to go over any surface that has been wallpapered previously.

If the Kilz peeled like you mentioned, you have a problem that the paint is only going to make worse. It sounds like either the drywall mud had a reaction to something on the walls, or the Kilz had a reaction to the wet paper. That problem needs to be figured out first. Did you use the oil based Kilz, white can/red letters?

Did you size the walls before hanging the paper?

July 18, 2008, 04:46:29 PM

Peter, r8ingbull is on to something. There's a problem that will keep coming back if you don't fix it. You might want to have a talk with your Mailman, his neighbor and their mamas, too.

benevolance · July 19, 2008, 12:27:46 AM

white can red letters yes....

We are going to try the paint and see... if it reacts we will go from there.

And yeah we cut and sized the paper before we wet it and hung it....

jb52761 · July 21, 2008, 07:31:39 AM

sounds like a problem with the primer....but my question would be, did you "book" the wallpaper before you hung it ? What I mean is to fold the wet paper onto itself, on the glue side, and let it sit for 5 minutes to fully activate the glue ?

r8ingbull · July 21, 2008, 12:29:05 PM

Any place that had wallpaper glue needs to be re-primed with a product designed to go over wallpaper adhesive. The paint will bubble and look like runs if you don't.

How big of an area are you talking about here? Is it just one wall or an entire room/house?

benevolance · July 21, 2008, 12:46:57 PM

one entire wall was messed up from the glue and it bubbled... We peeled it off... scraped and sanded it ...and re-applied the kilz primer... that is where it stands currently.... going to try and paint the base coat tomorrow likely and then the faux the day after that.

oh and glenn... we picked up the sea sponge and the contoured sponge roller thing a ma doodle.... we will see what works best

July 21, 2008, 01:32:24 PM

You'll most likely find that the paint works. You may find a few spots of runs/drips/etc. What it really needs now is time...time to cure and really "dry" out. The base coat should go on ok, if you notice the paint film lifting as you re-roll, I would stop and give it more time. Same for the faux finish.

This wall will probably chip and damage easily for a few months until the entire system has cured.

glenn kangiser · July 21, 2008, 05:34:46 PM

I watched a Canadian/Polish painter do a faux wall - doors etc. He did a yellow base coat, brushed on brown wood grain - knots etc. Another house he did the decorative roller thing. They looked good - the woodgrain stuff he clear coated later.

benevolance · July 21, 2008, 11:15:46 PM

Well the base coat is on and it looks okay.... the faux is getting applied tomorrow...

I have to clean touch up a few spots on the floor with the sander and it is all getting painted...and then varathaned....Going to darken it just a little more than it's natural colouring and then varnish it.

Only thing left other than that is to finish installing the HVAC...I have been working on that...The wiring completely baffles me still... bought a set of manifold guages and a 25 lb tub of R22.. hard to get someone to sell it to me here...

I have the grates in the ceilings of the rooms... the boots installed and the insulated flexible ducts attached...I need to get plenums made for both ends of the air handler...and I need to wire everything... also need to sweat in the copper lines...

Wiring up the heat pump to 220 is not too bad for me.. then I run the voltage into the air handler... from there it is a mess for me.. about 8 wires to hook to the thermostat and there needs to be a feedback to the handler so the air handler thermostat and air handler all know what each other is doing.

I hate wiring

Other than this we have the apartment ready... By thursday we can go back to the new house and resume replacing rafters and I can start covering up the new floor joists... The real estate lady is driving us absolutely nuts calling me several times a day for an update

Tin roof next week and we should be ready to move in middle august! Already have the electrical sorted out there... and the plumbing is all fixed..I did manage to rewire the HVAC... just simply replacing a few bad wires with new...It needs a pound of R22 and it is ready to go...

No freaking wallpaper for the new house I can tell you that!..If I need to do something with the walls I will be putting 1/4 inch sheetrock over the walls and get them taped and drywalled...and leave them alone

Sassy · July 22, 2008, 01:10:43 PM

So, Peter, did Glenn tell you how to post pictures yet? I want to see pics of all the work you've done! Re the wiring - just string a few extension cords

btw, if I can post pictures, you can

benevolance · July 22, 2008, 01:49:26 PM

Well there was some fancy wiring at the new house..

Extension cord buried under the ground out to the garage and a bent over nail holding it to the side of the wall

I am lost with pictures sassy

MountainDon · July 23, 2008, 12:03:44 AM

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3512.msg38931#msg38931

The Photoshop setup has changed a bit since that topic was started, but it's not all that difficult to follow.

Perhaps once winter sets in I'll revisit and update this. $:-\$

July 23, 2008, 08:44:22 AM

Apartment is almost done... renters coming friday... 2 rooms left to paint...Bath and Kitchen...and then I have to stain and varnish the hardwood floors and lay down tile in the kitchen and bath..

Dust and clean and I am done...

Excepting the wiring of the air handler for the HVAC I installed.

I have a bucket of Texture setting up outside to spray on the ceiling and walls of the kitchen and bath....Then we will spray the rooms and ceilings with my wagner power sprayer...and this afternoon I will start to working on the floors...And then tonight I will mess with the HVAC... try to figure out the wiring for the air handler.

Would like to finish the apartment up tomorrow so we can go back to fairmont and get back to working on the new house... working on 2 places at once is killing us.

I promise to take pictures of the rooms upstairs once they are all painted... getting them posted is another story

glenn kangiser · July 23, 2008, 11:31:55 AM

Soon you will be a full fledged business tycoon and will be able to ease off a bit.

Sassy · July 23, 2008, 11:33:12 AM

Whew, you make me tired just reading about it! Did you see MtnDon's posting with the link on CountryPlans for posting pics on Photobucket & then here? Or you could email them to Glenn to post but that seems to be harder for me than the other way... $:-\$

benevolance · July 23, 2008, 04:57:17 PM

Getting tired... physically and getting tired of people telling me I cannot do things... Went to the hardware store... To finish the HVAC install tonight... I used compression fitting for the copper line because it was a tight spot and sweating the line in was about impossible. I have done a lot of plumbing and I know the compression line will not leak. The guy promised me it would... guaranteed I would be back to tell him he is right. The pressure is holding just fine.

I did not install a saftey switch on the drain pan... there is no drain pan...I plumbed white PVC pip out the side of the house where it can exit via an air vent...The guy goes on telling me it is against the law that no HVAC tech will hook it up...

He was right about that...I hooked it up...Why do I need to have a drain and a safety switch? I hate it when they think that I am going to do it exactly like they want... There is more than one way to do something....and that does not mean I am cutting corners or being unsafe...

I know supplies are so expensive...Copper line wire and a set of gauges cost me $400...I recycled the system out of a house that was being torn down.. but I have close to $1000 in the HVAC install I figure... though to be fair I now have a set of gauges and enough R 22 to charge the system at the new house also...

I just do not understand the justification for the prices they try to charge though....It is absolutely ridiculous. I would prefer I only did a few things well... or one thing well... or one thing half decent... But I cannot afford to pay people over $100 an hour for things I can eventually figure out myself.

I blame all these headaches on my wife... She was the one who asked me to marry her... And to buy a house and now the second house... yeah it is all her fault.... To be fair she has worked hard... painted in stifling heat and sanded and scraped... I might even be a little proud of her... but we do not have to tell her that... hehe