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I own a double wide. On the walls is a printed paper covered matterial. Someone must know what I'm talking about. It is only 5/16" thick and resembles sheetrock but is not. It is covered with variously flowery printed paper. The paper is very very thin, covers the whole 48" wide and has no seams. Lots thinner than wallpaper. It seems that if I try to paint over this the paper bubbles up off the back material when it dries. I tried 2 rooms and now have a mess in those. All I can do there now is put new sheetrock on. But I want to paint the other rooms. How do I paint over this stuff without the thin paper bubbling up?
Can you remove the paper and paint whatever's underneath it? If the paper is bubbling, it means it's not adhered to the wall properly, and there is no way you can paint over it without it bubbling up.
My guess is that you will have to seal the surface with something that isn't water-based first or find a way (steam?) to remove the paper without damaging the underlying surface. You might try calling your mobile home's manufacturer and ask them what to use for primer or how to remove the stuff. If that doesn't work try calling Zinsser. They really know their primers and have helped me through some tricky problems in the past including recommending an epoxy product made by someone else once. Zinsser's website is here: [HYPERLINK@www.zinsser.com]
If you find a suitable primer there is a slight possibility you might be able to salvage the walls you have already painted with sanding. Also, if you can find a wallpaper that you like, using a heavy wallpaper liner over the bubbled surface first might work.
When DH and I were first married we bought a 10yr old mobile home. It was all flowery and girly looking so I painted the bathroom and two bedrooms. I know exactly what you are talking about. I used a primer before I painted the walls and I didn't have any bubbling problems.
I also used the liner paper (talked about in the link above) in the living room where I didn't want it to look like I painted over paneling. It looked very nice.
