Must I prime for wallpaper?

Come share your ideas for sprucing up your property.

Moderators: Greg, Mark, mhrAJ333, JD

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Carol-TX

Hi all,

I bought some pre-pasted wallpaper, opened a package, and the directions say to prime the wall. I have vinyl wallboard and have painted without priming (with Valspar) and the paint adhered well and is still going strong. So it seems to me that since paint will stick to my walls without priming, wallpaper should stick without priming, right? I have a feeling you're going to say, "Wrong." LOL To be honest, I bought the wallpaper so I wouldn't have to paint, and now I'm going to be stuck painting (primer) anyway? waaaaaa!!!! :?
Carol-TX

Never mind! I figured I'd better follow the directions, so I spent the whole afternoon cleaning and priming. UGH! Hear me whine! LOL :roll:
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Jim from Canada
Posts: 551
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:39 am

Now that's funny! Been there, what can you do?

Jim
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Jim from Canada
Posts: 551
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:39 am

I would have tried just cleaning the walls with TSP and papering.

Jim
Carol-TX

Jim, I will probably go that route when I get to the hallway. I can hardly move today, I'm so sore! LOL
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Arlo
Posts: 94
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:42 pm
Location: Central Virginia

I think the priming is so the border will strip off easily when you decide to remodel and to give "tooth" to the adhesive. I primed and put up border a while back. It stuck just fine and came off very easily when I decided to repaint. If your painted wall is clean and flat paint and you intend to never change, don't prime. If you are going over satin, eggshell or semi gloss paint, you should prime or the border might not stick.
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