The world has gone mad!
Lining paper is seen today as a quick fix, but we don't do quick fixes! Especially when it comes to period properties, it's often more of a hindrance than a help. Let's explore why lining paper is usually always the wrong solution for your walls.
Lining Paper is Not a Magic Wand
One of the biggest misconceptions we seetimevand time again is that lining paper will magically fix uneven or damaged walls in period properties. In reality, it's more like applying a sticking plaster to a deeper wound. It might temporarily hide imperfections, but it doesn't address the underlying issues, and in fact risks giving you more!
You must Understand some simple facts:
Our goal is to help you understand that lining paper is not a substitute for proper wall preparation. It's essential to address the root causes of wall imperfections rather than just covering them up. Let's look at why this is so important.
Stop thinking that just by sticking some lining paper over your walls it will make your walls perfect. Because It won't!
A Story of Things Gone Wrong
Despite the completely wrong views these days, lining paper is not, and never was intended to be used as a cheap skate solution to not preparing surfaces correctly.
It was created as the "undercoat" for a finished wall covering. The reason for the varying grades is to cater for the varying possibilities of finished wall coverings.
For example: If you want to apply a lightweight finish paper, then you select a low grade lining paper. However if you intend to hang a heavy wall covering, suchnas Lincrusta then choose a higher grade lining paper to meet the requirements of this much heavier finish and the additional suction that the adhesive requires.
Lining paper is a wood pulp paper which will absorb and retain moisture unless it is sealed correctly ... but if you have lime plastered walls the last thing you want to be doing is sealing them.
So do you A) seal the lining paper and prevent the moisture vapour permeability of your walls, or B) do you use a microporous paint and then wonder why you have mould on your walls 🤔
Lime itself will certainly work to prevent mould growths, but remember that the lining paper is now in-between your lime plastered walls and the indoor generated moisture (and the airborne mould spores,) so you are preventing the lime from doing it's job!
Decorating is not easy, it's a mixture of chemistry, physics and biology ... simple as that .
We've seen many instances where homeowners have used lining paper to hide dampness in their period property walls; The paper simply absorbs the moisture, leading to mould growth and further damage to the walls. Addressing the damp issue properly would have been a far better approach - Find the cause, Fix the cause is always our motto, papering over the cause is the work of lazy, ill-educated people who just want quick fixes., and quick fixes don't work, fact!
Better Alternatives
Instead of wrongly thinking that ining paper is a magic wall fixer, consider using correct tradiraditional methods like Lime (certainly not hygroscopic gypsum) plastering and moisture vapour permeable paints. These approaches allow moisture to move as it should, preventing moisture build up and preserving both the integrity of the period property, and a healthy living environment forvall concerned.
Wallpaper paste is reversible
This means exactly what it says, and to make it even more obvious we'll put it this way: When you first move in to whatv we hear constantly today is your 'forever home" ( until you buy the next one of course,) there's the great job of stripping all the wallpaper from the walls.
Wallpaper stripping is very easy, if you know what you're doing, and this appears to be why so many see it as an arduous task (far too many think they are Decorators, but the realities definitely say otherwise! We hold various Asssor awards in Painting & Decorating and we've seen and assessed an enormous amount of 'Decorators' over an enormous amount of years, (well they thought they were in their own heads anyway) We have also trained gold medalists in Both the UK and worldwide Olympic events, so we know real Decorators when we see them. In 1997 We also created and decorated a personal en-suite rest room for our late Queen Elisabeth the 2nd, so we speak with good authority and knowledge.
Decorating is a Craft
Chemistry is needed because you are working with liquids and often chemicals. Physics is needed because you are working on a range of substrates (substrate meaning surfaces) Biology is needed because you are eradicating mould and fungal growths, whilst you have to ensure that all materials and methods used are not going to re-introduce those nasty's again when you have finished.
Stop thinking Decorating is easy!
Having spent decades doing correct, traditional Decoratong, we know how skilled the work of the Decorator really is, and we also know that because you slapped a few coats of B&Q's own brand emulsion around your first rented flat, that doesn't even come anywhere close to Decorating, people really do need to stop fooling themselves today, and accept that Decorating is is a real skill.
What are you doing when you strip wallpaper?
Walpaper paste is a 'reversible adhesive' meaning that by applying water to that dried 'paste' you are reversing it back into a liquid state, and that's what 'un glues' the paper from your walls.
Now think about this:
When you strip your wallpaper you need to allow the water you are applying to make good contact with the dried paste to ensure that paste is liqiufied again. So when you hang your lazy quick fix of lining paper to your walls, what do you think all of your indoor generated moisture is going to do to that absorbent paper? Of course it will be absorbed by the lining paper,and will then penetrate through your lining paper and reverse the paste. Not such a great idea now is it, even the water content of your new 'breathable' emulsion paint is absorbed into your magic lining paper!
We'll do more Decorating pages later