Can I paint sheetrock with wallpaper already on it?
By Flo
As other posters have said, if the wallpaper is in good shape you can paint over it-I have many times. I've even pulled off the 'came off easy' stuff (bubbled, peeling, etc), sanded the edges smooth, and applied a sponge effect paint job to camouflage the slightly uneven surfaces. Doing that saved me trying to get the 'there forever' stuff off, and looked pretty good. :)
The thing to be sure of is the type of wallpaper you are trying to paint over-is it paper, cloth, vinyl? Is it textured? All of those factors make a difference-painting over a textured wallpaper of any composition will only make the wallpaper a different colour-the paint WON'T fill in the textures to make it a smooth flat surface, for example. Painting over vinyl means using a different sort of paint than you would over most paper or cloth wallpapers-read the paint label to be sure it will adhere to the surface you are trying to paint.
I also suggest using a high quality primer appropriate to the material of the wallpaper as this will act as a slight fill if you've had to do fine sanding to blend edges where you've removed a bit of peeling paper. It will also neutralize any possible grease or other stain, and will prevent bleed-through of the wallpaper design you are trying to cover.
GrammyV has a good thought going-you might think about testing a small area first to make sure the paper is strong to enough to support the paint. Even applied in thin coats, wet paint will possibly do just what she warns about. This would happen in an older house with wallpaper dating back to the late Sixties; vinyl wallpaper became popular after that and it became REALLY popular in the Eighties.
And lol, if you get good at it, you can make spare money with your newly acquired skills-I did:)
People often ask if wallpaper can be painted over. The answer is yes, if it is smooth with no tears. You might want to give it a good wiping down first with a good sized dry cloth.
Painting Over Wallpaper. We have a mobile home with pre-papered wallboard. Can we paint over it and how?
I'm just wondering if its possible to paint over old wallpaper? Our home is old and there must be 5 layers of wallpaper and we don't really want to have to go through all that trouble of stripping off wallpaper.
