Paint Used on (or completely missing from) Your Walls

What we often think of as our ‘wall’ when we look into wallpaper removal… is a bit of a misnomer.  For, in truth, the wallcovering is actually adhered to the ‘paste’ (or other material) used and this ‘paste’ is actually adhered to an incredibly thin and quite vital layer of ‘paint’.  There are many material properties of this thin layer of paint that affect the adherence of the paste and thus of the wallcovering.  The paint may have many different properties such as gloss/matte surface finish; oil-based paint, latex-based paint, or acrylic-based paint; it can be a ‘primer’ that was designed for good adhesion to you wall surface; or it can be a ‘cheap’ grade of paint with a weak or even a completely ineffectual ‘bond’ to your wall surface (in which case the paint will come entirely off the wall – attached with the paste on the back of your wallcovering).  In rare cases –  because of a ‘missing’ paint layer, wallcovering may be adhered directly to the wall surface.  Different wall surfaces (and, most importantly, their interactions with your paint layer) have a marked impact upon your wallpaper removal success chances… Wall surfaces and their affect upon paints, pastes and wallcoverings.