Small failed plaster-lining paper area

[lizziecupcakes]

Hi all
I finished lining my walls with lining paper.

It’s on the original lime plaster which we patch repaired the loose bits with polyfilla, sanded down by hand and really took our time with it (grudgingly at times).

99% of the room looks incredible - we are very pleased. But there’s one small part at a seam where it looks like we missed a bit of weakened plaster below the lining paper.

It was pulled away from the wall. I thought I’d patch repaired it by pulling the paper up a bit and then more loose bits of plaster came down. I managed to brush it all down so no more loose bits.

Then I filled it with polyfilla and tried my best to smooth it using a thin knife and then sanded it, but it was incredibly difficult to squeeze into there with the wallpaper just above and not allowing much room to get under. I was worried about tearing the paper.

Anyways I did what I could, let it dry and then pasted the paper back over it. It’s stable now but it looks bumpy and also a bit sagged where I could not reach a crevice with the polyfilla - it kinda dips/looks a bit sunken but is stable. I painted over it to see if the white paint and light helps with the illusion.

I hope that makes sense! I’ll post photos soon.

This is a south facing bedroom so during the day you don’t notice it at all, hardly unless you really look/stare. But at night, it’s kinda obvious with shadows.

It’s a small section affected, not tiny, but certainly not anything I should cry about… but I am quite disheartened as we put so much time and effort into this. I am annoyed we missed this bit.

Just wondering if can still fix this without taking down all that strip of lining paper? If i do that, my worry is that it will weaken the lime plaster behind it as I pull off the paper.

I am prepared to just leave it and cover up with furniture/art, but it’s bugging me so much

P.s this wall looks patchy because we haven’t applied the second coat of paint yet because of the issue above, but the rest of the room is done.

Thank you

 

[lizziecupcakes]

 

[Cubist]

Use a craft knife to cut away a patch of the lining paper to give you enough room to sand the lumps out and patch the plaster. Cut and paste a patch of lining paper in place when the paster is fixed.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Use a craft knife to cut away a patch of the lining paper to give you enough room to sand the lumps out and patch the plaster. Cut and paste a patch of lining paper in place when the paster is fixed.

Thanks @Cubist - I attached photos! Do you think I should retry given the way it looks now?

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Use a craft knife to cut away a patch of the lining paper

do you mean to cut out a section of the lining paper and patch it back with the same size piece cut out from a fresh piece after I’ve finished the work? Thank you

 

[Cubist]

do you mean to cut out a section of the lining paper and patch it back with the same size piece cut out from a fresh piece after I’ve finished the work? Thank you

Yes. And given that the lumpy bits at eye level and near a light switch it would be driving me nuts too.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Yes. And given that the lumpy bits at eye level and near a light switch it would be driving me nuts too.

My gut told me to do this first, but I thought I was over thinking it! Thanks for sharing. I’ll try this.

I guess I’ll dampen the paper too after i’ve made the cut with the craft knife to help it cone away from the wall. I’m nervous that it might pull more plaster off the wall if I do it “dry” because the lining paper is very well adhered to the wall.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

I was also thinking about cutting this much around the seam with the craft knife?

 

[Cubist]

Thats fine, and gives you the room to work on the paster. Keep the pressure on the knife just enough to cut through the paper alone.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Thanks again!! Wish me luck

 

[fernicarry]

Lifting the edge of the paper stretches it and if you let it dry like that its hard to get it back where it was. In your situation I might be tempted to take those two drops off altogether and redo them. Especially as you have a cut edge against the door frame so it doesn't matter if they go back on in a slightly different position. Sounds like a lot of work but it could be faster than trying to patch an irregular gap and then fill all the joins. No shame in redoing something you aren't happy with and it always goes much faster second time around. Small price to pay for something you are going to be looking at for the next X years.

Another option is to sand it back with an orbital letting it burn through the paper and then skim over it feathering the skim out for some distance around. I've done that here when I couldn't face stripping, repairing and re-papering the whole wall. If you ever watch dry wall repair videos its shocking just how much they get away with building up the depth around a repair.

And another another option would be to cut horizontally across the full width of those two drops and remove a piece that is just slightly taller than the width of your paper then patch in a single piece. That way you have machine cut edges on two of the 4 sides so the gap filling goes a bit easier.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

Lifting the edge of the paper stretches it and if you let it dry like that its hard to get it back where it was. In your situation I might be tempted to take those two drops off altogether and redo them. Especially as you have a cut edge against the door frame so it doesn't matter if they go back on in a slightly different position. Sounds like a lot of work but it could be faster than trying to patch an irregular gap and then fill all the joins. No shame in redoing something you aren't happy with and it always goes much faster second time around. Small price to pay for something you are going to be looking at for the next X years.

Thanks @fernicarry for more options. If I redo those two drops, how do you best recommend I remove the wallpaper. It is very well stuck to the wall and I'm honestly so nervous of pulling off more plaster at the seams, so it affects the next drops on either side.

Another option is to sand it back with an orbital letting it burn through the paper and then skim over it feathering the skim out for some distance around.

Do you mean to basically burn through the paper and go back to plaster, then add polyfilla and blend it into the wallpaper around the edges? Would the polyfilla being blended into wallpaper crack, breakdown if it's sat on the paper as I feather into it?

If you ever watch dry wall repair videos its shocking just how much they get away with building up the depth around a repair.

Yes!! I've seen so many American paper houses

And another another option would be to cut horizontally across the full width of those two drops and remove a piece that is just slightly taller than the width of your paper then patch in a single piece. That way you have machine cut edges on two of the 4 sides so the gap filling goes a bit easier.

Do you mean from one seam edge to the other like in the photo below? I guess this would be a cleaner option. In this case, it would probably be the cleanest outcome/look?

 

[lizziecupcakes]

I have another related question @Cubist @fernicarry

I also filled tiny seam gaps with more polyfilla, but I filled literally only the tiny gap and wiped away the excess so that you saw no polyfilla over any of the lining paper - it only appeared within the gaps. Like this:

I've noticed it's slightly "cracked" now in those gaps. I wonder if it's because I should have applied it over the wallpaper like in the photo below and video below (i.e. the polyfilla goes into the gap and overlaps the wallpaper on either side too, so covering a large area than I was - shown in red - and then feather this). Is this the way I was meant to do it?? grrrr

Can I fix this mistake over painted lining paper??

This is the video the screenshot it from:

 

[Cubist]

Provided you're reasonably precise when cutting out the paper to reveal the damaged plaster there really is no need to go to the extent of completely cutting two sections of the neighbouring drops, particularly if you fill the gaps between the old paper and the new as you have been doing. You could simply tape the pre-cut section of new paper over the area you need to repair and draw around this with a pencil before cutting the old paper beneath.

 

[fernicarry]

If I redo those two drops, how do you best recommend I remove the wallpaper

Steam it off. Obviously try not to steam too far past the join or cut line but you should be able to peel off the pieces you want to remove cleanly without affecting the side you are keeping. Yeah, taking off the plaster repair under it is a risk so that could set you back a bit. The paste will already have softened it and the steamer will make it worse. It'll be the same deal for any of the cut and shut approaches however just a question of how much area you have to redo.

Do you mean to basically burn through the paper and go back to plaster

Yes, sand through whatever you need to get back to level. Try not to sand into the lime plaster. You could try this before cutting anything away. If its not working then go for the cutting option. If it looks reasonable then skim, sand, paint and forget.

Do you mean from one seam edge to the other like in the photo below

Yep. I thought maybe you could get away with making the height one roll width but might need two.

I filled literally only the tiny gap and wiped away the excess so that you saw no polyfilla over any of the lining paper

That's how I do it. And a bit of a sand with 180. Sometimes it needs a couple of applications as the filler tends to sag into the gap. I suppose overfilling avoids that issue but I'd rather be adding filler than sanding off too much.

 

[lizziecupcakes]

thank you both!!! Very much appreciated. I'll give it a good think about which route to take.