Painting Over Wallpaper vs Removing It

You can paint over wallpaper that is plain, firmly stuck and not vinyl-coated - lining paper is made for exactly that. In most rooms, though, removing the paper gives a better, longer-lasting finish and saves you a harder strip the next time you decorate.

The trouble with painting over paper is that problems often show up later: bubbles, visible seams, or a wall that’s twice as hard to strip in a few years. This guide starts with a quick check so you can decide in a minute, then covers how to do either job properly. It’s part of our painting and decorating guides, based on what we find in older Birmingham houses with layers of old paper.

Can You Paint Over Your Wallpaper? A Quick Check

Find your wall in the table below.

Tap and test. Press along the seams and across the middle of each length. If anything moves, crackles or sounds hollow, the paper isn’t stuck well enough. Then paint a small, hidden patch - behind a door or a piece of furniture - and leave it overnight. If it bubbles, lifts or the pattern shows through, strip it.

How to Paint Over Wallpaper Properly

If your paper passed the check, preparation decides whether the finish lasts.

1. Stick down loose edges and seams. Use overlap or border adhesive, press the paper flat with a seam roller and let it dry completely.
2. Deal with bubbles. Cut a small cross through each bubble with a sharp knife, glue the flaps down, and fill and sand any unevenness once dry.
3. Clean the wall. Wipe down to remove dust, cobwebs and grease, especially in kitchens and around light switches. Let it dry.
4. Seal the paper. A coat of stain block primer or a solvent-based primer stops the water in emulsion soaking into the paste, and stops patterns and inks bleeding through. Check the product’s data sheet to confirm it’s suitable over wallpaper.
5. Caulk the gaps. Run decorator’s caulk along gaps at skirting boards, door frames and ceiling lines.
6. Apply two coats of emulsion. Thin, even coats, letting the first dry fully before the second.

Painting over paper isn’t a shortcut so much as a different set of preparation. Skip the sealing step and it’s a gamble.

Choose your topcoat with the paper in mind. A matt emulsion hides seams and slight unevenness far better than silk or soft sheen, which catch the light along every join. If the paper has a strong pattern or dark colour, you may need a third coat even after sealing.

The Downsides of Painting Over Wallpaper

Even a good job has trade-offs worth knowing about before you start.

• It’s much harder to strip next time. Paint stops water and stripping solution getting through to the paste, so future removal means scoring and steaming every inch.
• Seams can show. Light from a window falling across the wall picks out joins and edges, especially with sheen finishes.
• Bubbles can appear later. Some don’t show up until days after painting, once the paste has softened.
• It can hide problems. Damp, mould or cracked, loose plaster behind the paper carries on getting worse unseen.
• It affects the next decorator or buyer. Painted paper is one of the less welcome things to find when redecorating a house you’ve just bought.

How to Remove Wallpaper Step by Step

Most paper comes off with water, a scraper and patience; a steamer speeds up stubborn or painted paper.

1. Clear and protect the room. Move furniture out or to the middle, and lay dust sheets. Wet paper gets everywhere.
2. Make it electrically safe. Switch off the power to sockets and switches on the walls you’re soaking, and keep water and steam away from electrical fittings. If in doubt, turn off the circuit at the consumer unit.
3. Score the paper. Use a scoring tool or a light touch with a scraper to let water through. Don’t dig in, especially on plasterboard.
4. Soak it. Apply warm water with a wallpaper stripping solution or a small squeeze of washing-up liquid, using a sponge or garden sprayer. Wait several minutes and soak again.
5. Scrape at a low angle. Hold the scraper almost flat to the wall and push under the paper. If it resists, it needs more soaking, not more force.
6. Steam stubborn paper. For painted, woodchip or multi-layer paper, work one plate-sized section at a time. Wear gloves and long sleeves, keep the plate moving so it doesn’t scorch the plaster, and never steam above your head without eye protection.
7. Peel vinyl dry first. Lift a corner of the vinyl top layer and pull it off, then soak and scrape the backing paper underneath.
8. Wash and dry the wall. Wash off all paste residue with warm water and a sponge, and let the wall dry fully before doing anything else.

Be realistic about time. A single layer of ordinary paper in a small bedroom can come off in an afternoon; painted woodchip in a stairwell can take days. Work one wall at a time so the paper you’ve soaked doesn’t dry out before you reach it, bag the waste as you go so the wet strips don’t get trodden around the house, and take care with ladders on wet, slippery floors.

Removing Wallpaper from Plasterboard

Plasterboard has a paper face, and that face tears if it’s soaked or steamed for too long. Use as little water as you can, keep steamer passes short and scrape with a wide blade held flat. If the brown board paper does tear, don’t fill straight over it - seal it with a solvent-based or stain-blocking primer first, or it will bubble when you paint.

If You Find Mould Behind the Paper

Mould behind wallpaper means moisture. Stop stripping, wear gloves and keep the window open, and treat the area with a fungicidal mould wash as the label directs. Then find out why it’s there - condensation, a leak or damp - before you paint or re-paper. Our guide to anti-mould paint and painting bathrooms explains the common causes and fixes.

Is It Wallpaper or a Textured Coating?

Some textured walls and ceilings aren’t paper at all but a textured coating, often called Artex. Coatings applied before 2000 may contain asbestos. Don’t steam, scrape or sand them. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advises getting a sample tested before disturbing a coating like this, and if it does contain asbestos, leave it to a specialist.

After Stripping: Getting Walls Ready for Paint or New Paper

Once the paper is off, wash the walls again. Any paste left behind makes paint crack and craze, and stops new paper sticking evenly. Rinse until the wall no longer feels slippery.

Next, fill dents, gouges and cracks with a good filler and sand flush once it’s dry. Our guide to preparing walls for painting walks through filling and sanding in detail.

Check for loose or hollow plaster as you go. If it crumbles or sounds hollow when you tap it, that’s a job for a plasterer - we don’t plaster, but we’ll paint once it’s repaired. Any new or patched plaster needs a mist coat on new plaster before the topcoats.

Walls in poor but sound condition - lots of small cracks and old repairs - can be lined with lining paper before painting, which gives a smoother, more even surface than filling alone.

Paint, Re-Paper or Get Help: Choosing Your Next Step

If you want a painted finish, the walls are now ready for a mist coat on any patched areas and then two topcoats. If you’d rather not do that part yourself, we can have your walls painted after stripping as part of a full redecoration.

If the walls are uneven, or you simply prefer paper, the answer is to hang lining paper or new wallpaper. Lining paper gives a smooth base for paint; a new wallpaper hides minor imperfections and adds pattern.

Hand the whole job over when you’re dealing with painted-over or multi-layer paper, high stairwells, plasterboard walls that tear easily, a whole house, or a deadline. We strip, prepare and then paint or hang new paper, and the stripping is listed on the written quote so you know exactly what’s included.

Related Guides

• Preparing walls for painting - filling cracks, sanding and getting a smooth surface.
• Mist coats and painting new plaster - how to seal fresh plaster before the topcoats.
• Paint finishes explained - which sheen to choose for walls, ceilings and woodwork.

Browse all painting and decorating guides for more advice.