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What To Do With Your Old Wallpaper?

Just yesterday I was standing in front of the ATM in downtown Davis, CA and a gentleman I know that works at the bank comes up to me and wants to talk about what to do with his wallpaper that he no longer wants.  This is actually a very common question we get, because most people understand that removing wallpaper can be a major headache.

When I was first starting out in the painting industry 20 years ago, I had an acquaintance that wanted me to remove her wallpaper in her hallway, then prime and paint it.  I gave her a price, and set out to take off the wallpaper.  To my surprise there ended up being three layers of wallpaper, and what I thought would take me half a day, ended up taking me three days.  I did go back to her and mentioned this, but she refused to pay me anymore, saying I gave her a solid price and that was what she would pay.  Twenty years later, that is why we do wallpaper on a time and material basis. You just never know how long it might take! Wallpaper can come off easily in nice large sections with little damage, or it can come off in dime size pieces and greatly damage your drywall.  So we give a ballpark price of what we think it will be, but we charge an hourly rate when doing this type of work.

When it comes to wallpaper you really have 3 main choices.  The right way is to remove the wallpaper, texture the walls if needed, then prime and paint.  You can rest easily at night that you will have a great product.  The other two options are not ideal, but we do it a few times a year because a customer wants to save money and not strip the wallpaper.  We can prime and paint straight over the wallpaper, assuming it is on solid with no peeling edges.  The other is we prime the wallpaper, texture right over it, then prime and paint it like a normal wall.  The problem with either of these methods is that there is no guarantee your wallpaper will not lift away, start bubbling or have other issues under the weight of the new top coats.

So, if you no longer want the wallpaper look, you have choices but there is really only one safe way to deal with it, and that is to remove it.

- Jeremy Brooks

 

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Very professional, I appreciate the time they took to make sure everything was taken care of for my house! I really liked that Jaime stepped up and told me not to paint my front door like the house and then chose a color that worked great. Thank you!

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Juan C., C.H.P.

Brooks did a fantastic job on our exterior and interior paint jobs. Quality was high, price was reasonable, and the team was extremely professional and detail-oriented. Mark was our crew lead and the team performed a number of exterior wood repairs, a door re-stain, interior and exterior painting. Mark clearly takes a lot of pride in his work and went above and beyond to ensure the work was high-quality, including finding exact matching siding to fix dry rot, and performing minor repairs that weren't even included in the quote. He and the team were all consistently positive and personable, joking with each other throughout the day, while also genuinely complimenting each other on the quality of their work. It was great to see, and that positivity definitely showed through the work they did. We couldn't be happier with the end result.

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Sandra & David M.

We chose Brooks Painting based on their excellent reputation. It was an excellent choice! We had them do a complete exterior and almost complete interior painting of our two story house. They were done separately, while we were out of town. We are very pleased with the quality of the work. They even fixed up a few mistakes made by a crew that painted a portion of our interior ceilings a month prior (removal of asbestos popcorn ceiling), at no extra charge. Cleanup was great, also. They repaired some dry rot that was uncovered (extra charge, but worth it), and they even moved furniture back into place as well as put back the curtain rods that I had taken down, which wasn't expected. I highly recommend them, and will use them again for any future paint jobs.

Charlie Russell
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Another great job by Brooks Paining. they did a great job on our trim painting and siding varnish. They were very timely and considerate of our home and property. This is our 3rd time in 19 years utilizing Brooks Painting. We haven't been let done. 👍👍

T Thompson

The crew is as neat and reliable as the actual painting job and paint used. No boom boxes!! Cordial staff spoke English. The crew got along with each other and worked as a team. The actual finish is / was beautiful. We would like to use Brooks again!

Donna H.

Brooks Painting is everything you would want. Excellence! Always on time. Great work!

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Brooks Painting gets in gets it done and out! Quality job, great price. Touch base daily with a report on progress of job. It's important to have confidence in a company that works for you. Brooks is that company.

Jeff Allbright, Nugget Markets Corp.

Easy to work with - pleasant, efficient, competent, always available, answered all questions. Totally professional - each person. Thank you all! A great job!

Stephanie Brown F.

We would recommend them highly. [They] painted and did a good job. Kept everything clean and cleaned up after, very polite.

Muriel Y.

My house is so beautiful now…great work. Courteous, prompt, awesome work.

Lisa H.

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