Drywall mud bubbling over parts where there was wallpaper glue left. Contractor just mudded today Suggestions?

Question

So please advise me. I started pulling off the bubbled parts. I don't know if he will be upset when he shows up in the morning. But, it was practically falling off the walls. I don't believe he prepared my walls properly before hand, although he told me he did. He has mudded all the walls(they were really bad to begin with.) What now, can mudding over the wallpaper glue really work? Is this a disaster waiting to happen? Does the guy know what he's doing? He told me he plans on 3 coats of mud. Should I have left it alone? Should I question the way he went about it? What would you do? Please give me some advice fast. Thank you!!!

Answer 1

You should have left it alone since he wasn't finished. He was probably going to sand it down, and remud it, and repeat. That should have worked.

I had wallpaper residue problems, and instead of trying to mud it, I bought the wallpaper that is made to disappear and be painted. It's AMAZING. You can't even tell there is wallpaper under my paint now. It's so smooth it looks like natural drywall.  

Answer 2

I am a 37 year expereinced painter and I would never paint or 'skim'(mud0 over a wall with residue is left...this is shoddy work..I use a paper tiger to score my paper with..then use "dif" stripper on it..then after all is off..I spray more dif on the residue..take it off..then I rinse with fresh clean water on a sponge mop..TWICE to make sure all traces of residue are off..I personally would not pay him anything...Common sense tells you you don't paint over residual matters on a wall if you want good adhesion..here is a 4 bedroom, 4 bath, with a den and a study that some clients of mine bought that every room in the house was wallpaper..Ugh..I totally stripped this house of paper, and removed the residue  then rinsed twice as I suggested..I am now fixing to spray this whole house ceilings and walls with primer..the ceilings had popcorn and I removed it as well..all the flooring is being replaced so I can liberally spray just by covering cabinets, fixtures etcetera up..I had to do tons of drywall(mud work) first after removal..but all my walls were cleaned first..not primed over residue..the front 5 five gallon cans here are primer..this is how big this house is ..lol.. I would tell him to remove the mud by golly and then start over and clean the walls as he should have..You have alrady seen the results of muding over this residue..Don't let him full you..old wall paper when mudded over over painted over when dries may suck the bubbles back in..but they are not adhering properly or they wouldn't had bubbled to start with..he can either wet and scrape the mud off and do right ..or do not give him no money..Hire someone else to do it..take some pictures of these bubbles in case you need to sue him...He cannot demand anymore money legally for this...this is his bad...keep any receipts you may incur from another person..he has the right to be allowed to correct the situation if you give him the oppurtunity too...But if he refuses to..You legally do not have to give him any more money..and in fact..if the next contractor costs more..which is very likely...to remove all the old mud..you can actually bill the guy back that didn't do it properly for any costs over for fixing his mistakes..and what you may have paid him alreayd..i would not  accept a bubbling wall from improper residue removal...

Answer 3

He suggested 3 coats because wallpaper glue is hard to remove and can be very tedious and it will take 3 coats in order to cover it up. Basically it's a lazy way to do a semi-professional job and charge you more because he will have to use more supplies and time. A true profesional would have removed the glue first, mudded the wall with one coat, sanded down and painted, all in 2-3 days time. This guy seems like he is going to do 3 coats, sand it down, and then paint which will take up to 5 days time and will cost you much more than you should have to spent. I suggest you find a real professional tomorrow and tell this guy his services are no longer needed. Leave the mud to fall off on it's own, and when he asks why, show him his "masterpiece".

Answer 4

you should leave things alone that you don't understand. It's painfully obvious that HE WAS NOT FINISHED.