Taking wallpaper down when its been painted over (and worrying about lead paint)

I am buying a house. The bedrooms are painted, but it looks like someone painted over wallpaper because you can see the seams. I would love to take the wallpaper down and paint over it so the walls do not have bumps and seams, but I worry about the lead paint that is probably on the walls underneath the current paint. My daughter is 1.5 years and I am planning on having more children.

Has anyone ever taken down wallpaper that has been painted over? How do you do it? How do you take precautions against the lead paint?

Re: Taking wallpaper down when its been painted over (and worrying about lead paint)

honestly i would just take out the sheet rock and put new up. Its easier and if your worry about lead dust you can cut out the sheets and bring them outside then break them up (or break them up in bags.)

I can't imagine taking the paper down with it being painted but i don't have much experience with that.

Re: Taking wallpaper down when its been painted over (and worrying about lead paint)

Also keep in mind, there may have been a reason they painted over the wallpaper. Are you certain the walls are drywall? I grew up in a house that was old and had concrete walls. My mom began taking down the wallpaper to paint, just to find out that the walls couldnt be painted. She ended up having to re-wallpaper and when we wanted a change she just painted over that. Be sure what the walls are before you go through that effort.

Re: Taking wallpaper down when its been painted over (and worrying about lead paint)

we had the same problem! we tried to use a steamer to take down the wall paper. it only worked in the kitchen for some reason. maybe if we had more time and patience we could have taken the wallpaper down in every room that it was painted over, which was every room in the house!! There were plenty of people on here that gave us encouragement and advice, but in the end we wound up knocking down the sheet rock and putting up new walls. it wasn't cheap, but our walls are much nicer in the end and my back, arms and hands weren't killing me afterward!!

good luck!!

Re: Taking wallpaper down when its been painted over (and worrying about lead paint)

I would hire someone to do it.

what year was your home built in? they haven't used lead paint in a while. they probably painted over the wallpaper in the last few years to make the home look more updated.

I believe you can peel a piece off and send it to a company to test for lead paint (but I am a skeptic because its usually the company that will want to remove it for you)

You could also replace all of the sheetrock, or skim coat over it all so you don't see anything (this would be the option I would pick) or you can actually put a very thin layer of sheet rock right over everything to cover it completely.