I've previously stripped paper from a quite a few plasterboard walls with no problem, using a steamer and scraper and being careful.
Unfortunately, in the hallway here it's been a nightmare. There was layer upon layer of wallpaper, paint, and plaster (various swathes of plaster having been slapped on between layers of wallpaper) and the whole lot topped off with thick paper that had been painted with oil-based shiny paint.
To cap it all, the very bottom layer of paper had been fused to the plasterboard with the most dense and powerful adhesive known to man.
The result is, after 2 or 3 days of stripping, the walls are a mess. In some small patches, it's come off pretty clean, in others there are bits of stubborn paper that can't be shifted without destroying the wallboard, and there are large areas where the top layer of the plasterboard paper has come off with the paper leaving a brown furry paper surface, and there's some bits of filling and plaster.
We'd planned to hang lining paper in any case, but I'm concerned that once the lining paper goes up and sucks itself to the wall, the unevenness (especially where it's down to the furry paper on the plasterboard) will show through.
Not sure whether I can just gently run a sander over the surface, or if it will shred the exposed paper on the plasterboard? And should I be looking to apply a very fine filler or something over the damaged areas before sanding?
The plan being to just try and smooth it all over a bit, then size it ready for the lining paper.
I'm going to try and attach some pictures!
Unfortunately, in the hallway here it's been a nightmare. There was layer upon layer of wallpaper, paint, and plaster (various swathes of plaster having been slapped on between layers of wallpaper) and the whole lot topped off with thick paper that had been painted with oil-based shiny paint.
To cap it all, the very bottom layer of paper had been fused to the plasterboard with the most dense and powerful adhesive known to man.
The result is, after 2 or 3 days of stripping, the walls are a mess. In some small patches, it's come off pretty clean, in others there are bits of stubborn paper that can't be shifted without destroying the wallboard, and there are large areas where the top layer of the plasterboard paper has come off with the paper leaving a brown furry paper surface, and there's some bits of filling and plaster.
We'd planned to hang lining paper in any case, but I'm concerned that once the lining paper goes up and sucks itself to the wall, the unevenness (especially where it's down to the furry paper on the plasterboard) will show through.
Not sure whether I can just gently run a sander over the surface, or if it will shred the exposed paper on the plasterboard? And should I be looking to apply a very fine filler or something over the damaged areas before sanding?
The plan being to just try and smooth it all over a bit, then size it ready for the lining paper.
I'm going to try and attach some pictures!