How bad is the dust from sanding walls after removing wallpaper?

Posted 16th May 2023

Got a couple of rooms which need woodchip removed.

Have had two professionals around who said it will need sanding and filling after removal, before painting can be done.

Is the house going to end up covered in dust in all the other rooms? Not sure how much dust is created from a job like this and concerned about going to have dust blowing around the house and having someone with breathing difficulties.

Any experience or advice appreciated

23 Comments

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teh.arn
16th May
If they’re using power tools It gets everywhere.

The only way I’ve stopped it was to completely seal the room from the inside whilst I was in there working.

if they’re sanding by hand it shouldn’t be too bad. (edited)
MrHappyGilmore Author
16th May
That sounds horrendous, might just throw some paint on and put some big pictures up
Attic45
16th May
Remove wood chip and then sand and fill and sand again is awful and time consuming and messy.

Or, remove wood chip and get a plasterer to come in and skim the wall. Perfect finish with no mess or dust.
M4tt31
16th May
The biggest mess in my house (and we totally renovated it) was when the plasterer skimmed the walls.
CurvedSlightly
16th May

Checkout this helpful instructional vid. (edited)
yorkie12
16th May
I thought you always filled and sanded walls before decorating or is that just me? I use one of those sanding blocks you can mount on a pole (see link). Always when painting a wall with emulsion that's previously been wallpapered make sure all the residue adhesive is removed. It can react with the paint making it dry with a 'crazy' pattern. Use sugar soap to wash down the wall.
amazon.co.uk/Pro…c=1 (edited)
Dyslexic_Dog
16th May
You could always put some plaster board over the top and then re-decorate, bit overkill admittedly but I know some who done it to a bathroom that had been tiled from ceiling to floor with some nice 1960's type green tiles.
mutley1
16th May
i find skimming the walls is better as it will give a perfect finish. most walls with wall paper are often in a terrible condition when you take the wall paper off, so simply sanding and filling won't be enough to get a good surface.

it may be easier to replace with wall paper or lining paper and paint over. i personally like the woodhip effect, but i know it is considered old fashioned these days.
HappyShopper
16th May
Lining paper would be a good dust free solution.

Can get some decent thick ones which are good at covering any imperfections in the wall.
Mendoza
16th May
I did it by hand, and it was tough, had to give in after one wall, and just use a sander, and things got very messy ..

for some reason the upstairs walls were easier, but I think that might have been because I wasn’t too concerned, about how good they looked, compared to the living room one
bluetang
16th May
I’m interested in this too as we have anaglypta to remove. Currently going round in circles about shall we or shan’t we remove it.
Cheapest option is to to just paint it again and that’s winning the day at the moment.
Anonymous User
16th May
Use a decent drywall sander with vacuum and it wont be too bad.
mirka is expensive, but cheaper options can be ok.
MrHappyGilmore Author
21st May
Think one of the quotes I got the guy has a mirka. Is that 90% of the dust delt with so it won't end up all around the house? (edited)
MrHappyGilmore Author
17th May
Thanks for everyone's input, much appreciated
The2Time
17th May
Horrific.
MrHappyGilmore Author
17th May
Sounds like you have had a bad time in the past?
MrHappyGilmore Author
21st May
Painted it looks better than the gloss paint it had on but still not great