Can You Wallpaper Over Painted Wallpaper?
QUICK ANSWER
No, you should not wallpaper over painted wallpaper. The paint creates a sealed surface that prevents new wallpaper glue from bonding properly. The new wallpaper will lift, bubble, and peel within weeks. Strip the original wallpaper down to the wall first.
Painting over old wallpaper to cover it up is common. Wallpapering over that painted surface afterward is where things go wrong. The combination of new wallpaper glue and a sealed paint layer creates a bond that fails almost immediately. Here is why this fails, what happens if you try, and the right way to put new wallpaper on a previously wallpapered wall.
Why does wallpapering over painted wallpaper fail?
Wallpaper glue needs a porous surface to soak into. The drywall paper or unsealed plaster underneath original wallpaper is porous enough for the glue to grip. When that surface gets painted, the paint forms a sealed film. New wallpaper glue applied over paint sits on top of the film rather than soaking in. As the glue dries, it shrinks and pulls away from the smooth paint surface, lifting the new wallpaper at the seams within days or weeks.
What happens if you try anyway?
In the short term, the wallpaper goes up and looks fine. Within a few weeks, the seams start lifting and curling. Bubbles form behind the surface as the glue continues to dry unevenly. In humid rooms, the failure is faster. Eventually the entire sheet peels away from the wall, often taking some of the paint with it and leaving an even worse mess than what you started with. Some wallpaper will hold for a month before failing, none holds long term.
What should you do instead?
Strip the original wallpaper down to the bare wall before applying new wallpaper. Score the painted wallpaper surface with a scoring tool to break the paint seal, then apply a wallpaper removal solution or warm soapy water with a sponge. Let it soak in for 15 to 20 minutes, then scrape with a putty knife. The wallpaper should come off in strips. Wash the wall after to remove all glue residue, then prime before hanging new wallpaper.
Are there any exceptions to the rule?
Liner paper (a thick, plain wallpaper designed to go under decorative wallpaper) can sometimes be applied over a properly primed painted surface to create a fresh base. The painted wall must first be cleaned thoroughly, then primed with a wallpaper primer designed to bond to paint. Even then, results vary by paint type, age, and humidity. For any decorative wallpaper, the recommendation is always to strip back to bare wall first. The extra hours of stripping save weeks of fixing failures.
Painted wallpaper is a sealed surface, and new wallpaper glue will not bond to it reliably. Strip back to the bare wall before applying new wallpaper. Use a scoring tool and removal solution to make the strip job easier, then wash, prime, and hang new paper on a fresh, porous surface for results that last.
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