old walls

[lkr]

I just tried to remove fabric backed vinyl wallcovering from my kitchen walls. In one area of the kitchen it peeled off with ease, leaving a very thin dry residue that feels like paper. Do I need to remove that or can I just cover it with a primer of some kind before I wallpaper or paint it again?

Another problem arose when I removed a sheet of the wallpaper in an older section of the kitchen. The house was built in the 1920s, and this part of the wall was once a brick chimney. Beneath the wallpaper I found one and sometimes two layers of what appears to be contact paper over the old paint.
I have 2 young children and about 45 minutes a day to work on this project. I am in over my head here, and I've decided that all I can do in that section is to recover that piece of wall with a new sheet of wallpaper that was left in the basement by the prior owners of the house.
Should I replace the piece of contact paper I removed before hanging the new wallpaper? At this point I don't need it to be perfect, I just need to cover the chimney area fast. Any advice on either problem would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
LK

[Paul Sullivan]

Situation's a pretty tough call over the internet - what to do without seeing it. So first I'd simply say, take a closer look at it.

If you want to hang on top of something, consider two things. How does it look and how well is it bonded? Surface defects are often magnified by wallcoverings, not hidden. Weak links in the chain of adhesion can be made weaker by more layers, not better.

I'd say first, use sidelighting to detect whether the surface is not too irregular to hang over (as in photo). Perhaps an X test could be used to determine adhesion of your sub-surface, though that is normally done over paint. That's done by cutting an X through the surface with a razor, laying masking or duct tape over it and quickly ripping it off (to see if it stays put).

If it is sound, or sound enough to have loose areas repaired and hung over, I'd say prime it first with Bulls-Eye 123 Water-Based. It allows paper to stick to glossy surfaces. For best results sand first and give it about 5 days cure time.