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Plastering a wallpapered wall – how to, step by step

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This article will show you how you spackle a wallpapered wall. If you have a wall with old wallpaper that you want to redecorate or paint, you don’t always have to remove the old wallpaper. With good preparation and a round or two with a wide filling knife, you can get a good end result.

Difficulty
Medium
Time
2 days

Three main tools

Step by Step

  1. 1
    Prep work
  2. 2
    Spackle
  3. 3
    Wallpaper with structure
  4. 4
    Sanding
  1. 1

    Prep work

    Before you start spackling your wallpapered wall, there are a few things to prepare.

    Protect the floor

    Make sure to protect your floor from putty residue by laying down rosin paper.

    Remove imperfections

    Remove unevenness, nails and screws from the wallpaper. Also remove any old wallpaper that is loose and sticking out from the wall. The perfect tool for this is a steel scraper. Cut away any wallpaper overlaps with a knife.

    Sanding

    Then sand off any wallpaper residue from the wall with sandpaper and a hinged sanding tool to get a good base.

    Stålskrapa ta bort ojämnheter
    stålskrapa ta bort tapet
  2. 2

    Spackle

    Now it’s time to start filling in the gaps with putty with a filling knife. When done, let the putty dry thoroughly. If you have large irregularities in the wall, it’s best to spackle again to get the smoothest possible result. Spackle shrinks when it dries, so it’s a good idea to do the procedure twice to make the surface really smooth.

    spackla bredspackel
  3. 3

    Wallpaper with structure

    If your wallpaper is textured, it’s best to plaster the entire wall or tear off the entire wallpaper. Learn more about plastering walls in our step-by-step: Plastering walls – how to, step by step

  4. 4

    Sanding

    The last thing you need to do to finish your spackling is to sand the putty to remove sharp edges and imperfections. Then wipe off any grinding dust thoroughly.

    Well done, now your wall is ready to be painted or have a new wallpaper put up!

    How to paint the wall: Paint walls – how to, step by step
    How to wallpaper: Wallpapering – how to, step by step