Inexperienced DIYer needs help

[Deborah]

Hello,

I am getting ready to hang pre-pasted vinyl on one 6x10 end wall. The sheetrocked wall was stripped of old wallpaper by carpenter and primed with acrylic primer. Surface was smooth and dry. I sized the wall with Golden Harvest sizer in order to make the paper slide more easily. Primer blistered in places but most of blisters dried and re-adhered, but not all. One large blister was scored and checked by carpenter who determined that the sheetrock paper was pulled up in some places by sizing.

I don't know what to do now. Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Deborah

[Bill Archibald]

I'd like to hear you carpenter's opinion on how a size can lift sheet rock tape that had an acrylic primer/sealer over it .

Was the wall primed under the wallpaper?

Was the tape he said lifted just applied and mudded by him, or was it part of the original installation of the sheet rock?

Did your carpenter THOROUGHLY wash off all the paste residue off the wall before he primed it?

How many coats of primer did he apply?

An acrylic primer should have sealed the surface so that no "sizer" could have penetrated and lifted the dry wall tape. If the wall was not thoroughly washed of paste residue, the sealing properties of the primer could have been compromised.

Now, by "Golden Harvest Sizer" I am assuming it was a powder that you mixed with water, ie, an old fashioned paste size.

If that is what you used, I'd be tempted to recommend that you wash it off and prime the wall with a penetrating primer/sealer such as Draw-Tite by Scotch Paints or Gardz by Zinsser. That will seal whatever your carpenter applied to the wall and leave a surface on which you can install the paper. And believe me, your paper will SLIDE very easily. Too easily for my preference.

AND as a disclaimer, these are only educated guesses from someone who has not seen how work was performed nor can view the wall as it now is.

May I offer a piece of advice for the future? It is best to hire a person whose specialty is the trade he is performing. Working out of trade many times results in poor performance due to inadequate knowledge.

[Lee Epstein]

A jack of all trades is a master of none. If the blisters truly are loose sheetrock paper, the loose paper needs to be cut away. Then prime that area with Gardz or B.I.N (ZInsser) spackle the area then sand it smooth. When that dries prime the whole area with the Gardz or Draw-tite or R-35. The blistering could also be paste left on the wall that bubbled up when it became wet from the sizing. BTW, sizing is no longer necessary. The pastes we use today already have size in them. What you will want to do is prime the walls with one of the aforementioned primers. But as Bill says we are only guessing. We aren't there to actually see it. Good Luck.

[LaRusso]

I know you need advice now for your project and hope you receive all good answers, here at the NGPP we will help you in the best way we know how.

With that said come this September 9th through the 12th we are having our annual National Convention in Niagara Falls, NY at the Crowne Plaza Convention Center, where we share all sorts of tricks and hints, tips and besides all the vendors you could meet. So if you are really thinking about the industry of installation of wall coverings you have come to the right place and with our continueing education you can receive at the Convention, we also offer it throughout the year.

Think about all you will see and learn just a few minutes from your home and anytime you can invest in yourself, I always believe it comes back in a helpful way. A good education never goes to waste!

My name is Vincent J. LaRusso and I am currently the Metro Regional Director and will be in Niagara Falls, so if you decide to come and indulge with all sorts of installers from all over and you never know what you might pick up and use down the road.

Have a good day

[Deborah]

Thanks for the help. ...really appreciate it.

~Deborah

[HangingInThere]

carpenter who determined that the sheetrock paper was pulled up in some places by sizing.There is a limit, even with the aforementioned primers, as to how deeply they can penetrate to rebond a delaminated substrate together. As mentioned, if there is paste residue, or a previous primer on the surface, even Gaardz (billed as a wallboard repair product) will have difficulty penetrating.

What oft times happens in these scenarios is that repairs are made prior to sealing up the substrate. This then, will hide a delamination (or bubble) in the drywall facing. Moisture from primers sitting on the surface will often expose these "bubble ghouls" which then need to be cut out and reprimed...then mudded. I doubt that your glue size pulled up the sheetrock paper...the delamination would have already existed.

Tapping on the surface with one's fingers can also detect delimination.

The priming problem can be compounded with products other than Gaardz in that the adhesive residue not completely washed off will compromise most other primers as Bill mentioned. I suspect that your glue size unearthed the weakness of a compromised primer beneath, or simply a delamination lying in the weeds. You appear to be getting further away from a solution with the more products you place on the surface as the problem appears to lie in the substrate. You will more than likely need to do some cutting to repair the bubbled areas.

[master hanger]

If the carpenter removed a strippable vinyl material,(cloth type backed), from a surface not properly prepared, there will be quite a bit of the face layer of the sheet rock that is loose beyond the obvious bubbling. Any added moisture from prime/seal/prep will continue to bubble the sheetrock face.

Happen to be dealing with an extreme case of this very problem in a hotel. Since the walls were never properly primed and sealed the sheet rock surface in useless. Rather than spot cut, remove, seal in many areas, I decided to cut the sheet rock surface at the tape spackled joints every 4 feet and remove the entire sheet rock face. Then feather the joint edge, spackle, and coat the entire wall surface with guardz. I did at this point make the suggestion to line the walls which would essentially re-skin the sheet rock, creating a proper surface for later removal or repair, but that didn't fly.

Installed over the surface primed with the guardz and the installation worked out great. (I wouldn't want to be the one to do the removal the next time though).

[HangingInThere]

Installed over the surface primed with the guardz and the installation worked out great. (I wouldn't want to be the one to do the removal the next time though).A strippable adhesive over Gaardz...they might get lucky...;)

[HangingInThere]

I used Gaardz a little while ago on completely re-skimmed drywall. It was so absorbent that I found it easy to backroll and create a glossed over surface without it running. Did you get all the paper off down to the chalk or was there a tad bit of paper still remaining on the surface?? It used a bit more product when I backrolled to gloss the surface, but I was pretty confident of a strippable surface using a strippable adhesive.

[master hanger]

I used Gaardz a little while ago on completely re-skimmed drywall. It was so absorbent that I found it easy to backroll and create a glossed over surface without it running. Did you get all the paper off down to the chalk or was there a tad bit of paper still remaining on the surface?? It used a bit more product when I backrolled to gloss the surface, but I was pretty confident of a strippable surface using a strippable adhesive.


I removed only the face of the sheet rock leaving the brown paper. The rock was installed vertically, so there were only joints every 4 feet to feather in with spackle. I thought to use strippable, but my vinotron likes the hd clay.

BTW the vinyl was micro vented. You'd think I rolled around in the adhesive there was so much bleed through.

[HangingInThere]

You'd think I rolled around in the adhesive there was so much bleed through.Yuk...Did it haze the surface?

[wallpapers]

Here's a simple, step by step answer to your problem.

1) Moisten the wall well with a sponge and water or better with a garden sprayer. This will re-create the bubbles and make it easy for you to see them all.

2) Mark each bubble with a pencil (never use a pen on a wall) so you will be able to find the bubbles after the wall dries.

3) Cut away the delaminated sheetrock paper from each bubble.

4) Spackle and sand smooth.

5) Prime the entire wall with Gardz damaged drywall primer. You can use a high quality paint primer such as 1-2-3 by Zinsser or Fresh Start by Benjamin Moore. These primers will need to be followed by a coat of wallpaper primer such as you used in the first attempt.

This will repair the wall and make it as sound as a new wall. It may seem like a lot of work but a 6X10 wall won't take all that long to repair this way and once it's done you'll never have this problem again.

Phil Reinhard
NGPP Mid-Atlantic Regional Director

[HangingInThere]

I would add step

3(a) Spot prime the cut out area by using either Kilz or Bin in a spray can (you could use Gaardz, but it takes a bit of time to dry sufficiently before you can mud). The moisture from either spackle or drywall mud could foster an ongoing delamination process. Sealing with quick drying products such as Kilz or Bin can help speed up the spackling process by sealing the edges and fragile drywall paper. A medium grit sanding block works well on the drywall paper prior to spot priming...it will quickly find a remove any still loose paper and buff the area smooth.

Also, as an aside, even lightweight spackle can dry like a rock. It tends to sand easily if done later in the same day you use it. And beware using spackle to touch-up repairs over drywall mud...the softer drywall mud tends to sand out easily and can leave you with a spackled high spot.

So, if you have the time, I would suggest using drywall mud for repairs. Yes, it does have a bit more moisture than spackle, therefore take longer to dry, and can require touch-up if it shrinks and doesn't fill...but it finish sands so sweetly when needing to blend into the existing finish. Also, the new "dust control" drywall mud is a definite gift from heaven...;)

[gadams]

I agree with adding the extra step but I would definetly stick with the Gardz for spot priming, much better penetrating and binding qualities than the quick dry spray primers and all you have to do is put a fan on it or use a hair dryer or heat gun to speed up the drying process.I like the grey and blue buckets of USG sheetrock mud w/dust control.