Why Painting Over Wallpaper Is A Bad Idea
Wallpaper isn’t the craze it used to be. If you have just moved into or own an older home containing wallpaper, you have a few options. You can leave it up and continue to let it age your home or tear it down and replace it with modern wallpaper. Another option that many homeowners attempt is applying paint over it instead of opting to have it removed. If you care about the long-term appeal of your home, you won’t choose the last option. While it may sound like the simplest route to take, here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t paint over wallpaper.
Time
The biggest reason people choose to paint over wallpaper is to save time. The opposite is often what happens. Before you properly paint a surface, you must clean it. Depending on the surface and the paint, you may have to resort to additional resources and applications to ensure the paint will stick. During this process, some may find their old wallpaper shifting and tearing. Patterns, textures, and colors in the wallpaper can also show through the paint. This includes wrinkles or bubbles in the wallpaper that can’t be smoothed out no matter how hard you try. In the end, many must tear down the wallpaper anyway.
If you are able to paint the wallpaper successfully, you may be surprised at how long that lasts. Wallpaper will eventually begin to peel and fall apart. This might happen as soon as the very next day. In fact, moisture from the paint can actually loosen wallpaper! One way or another, the wallpaper will have to come down. You may have delayed the inevitable, but in time wallpaper removal will be the only solution.
Home Maintenance
Beyond issues with the paint, there is another reason why you shouldn’t paint over wallpaper. There could be damages hiding behind it. If you never remove the wallpaper, you will never know about critical issues in your wall. This can be life-threatening! A compromised wall invites a vast array of issues ranging from critters living in the wall to the wall becoming too weak to support your roof.
Painted wallpaper is also more difficult to remove. This means that if you want to inspect your wall in the future, painting over it has made removal ten times more difficult. In most cases, you will need to use chemicals to strip the paint before hacking away at the wallpaper. This is quite the task considering that unpainted wallpaper is usually not difficult to remove.
Call On The Professionals
Sometimes, what seems quickest and easiest ends up being the bigger headache. Don’t take the easy way out by putting your home in jeopardy. Play it safe by never painting over wallpaper and consulting a professional wallpaper removal pro like ours at Off The Wall Wallpaper Removal for help. Get in touch with our wallpaper removal expert team today by calling us at 440-427-0528.
