Home Improvement : Prepare the Wall Surface Before Hanging Wallpaper

Something you can’t even see has a major effect on the appearance of your new wallpaper. Proper surface preparation of the wall itself, before the paper is installed, helps ensure that your expensive new paper will adhere smoothly to the wall for years.

When wallpaper appears to have lumps, bumps or seems to be coming away from the wall near the ceiling or floor, it is generally because it has been applied to an uneven surface.

Though it may necessitate renting a wallpaper steamer, experts recommend that all the old wallpaper be removed. This can be a bit of a project, particularly if the wallpaper has been painted over. There are also chemical solvents on the market; these work by dissolving the paste holding up the old wallpaper.

After the old layers of wallpaper have been removed, try to make the wall as smooth as if it were to be painted. Fill in holes and cracks with spackling compound, and lightly sand the surface.

Paint the wall with an oil-based primer because the primer in effect seals the wall by reducing its capacity to absorb moisture from the wallpaper paste.

Though these tasks are time-consuming, they require more care than skill and will protect your wallpaper investment. A useful guide, with more information about preparing the walls, is “Painting and Wallpapering” (Ortho Books, $6.95). It is available in book and hardware stores.

Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service.