I noticed this discussion in a previous thread, but it was never resolved. I have a house that has shiplap interior walls that were originally covered with cheesecloth and wallpaper. This was a very common practice in my area. The problem is, nobody seems to know how to restore the deteriorated coverings. The walls were never lathe and plaster. Instead, they are all covered with 1"x6" smooth shiplap boards with only very small gaps. Because all of the trim sits right on top of the shiplap, to simply place drywall over the shiplap would burry all of the trim. Moreover, I can't remove the shiplap without removing (and possibly damaging) the trim. I would consider painting the shiplap, but it looks quite rustic, and it competes with the more refined trimwork and wainscottings. Is there any way I could smooth these walls for painting without doing major demolition?

My shipboard walls have had cheesecloth nailed onto it. I want to repaint but Is there a a simple way to remove all those strands hanging from the nails?

Jenny

Usually this mesh was glued onto the wall. (the cloth soaked in it, then squeezed then applied).

The two usual adhesive types were based on either....

A milk protein, cassien or something like that..you'll have to google or research it because I can't quite recall, and put together a solution that will disolve or re-liquify that, remove the mess, then wash down;

Or a Hide glue or similar mixture.

Both of these pasting gluing based formulas were also used to apply wall paper "in the day" but the exact formulas were slightly different.

I'm trying to recall if the cheese cloth type layer (also often used to stablize plaster finishes prone to cracking) mixed on the spot glues had some slaked lime in the recipe too, that might just be the milk based or cassien? one.

Anyway what will work for one type will not work well for the other, and vice versa So you'll have to do some testing/experimenting to determine which type you have.

The nails were usually just used to tack and hold the wet cloth in place until the glue dried. You'll want to actually remove the nails that were just there for this purpose. When you get off all the glue and get the walls rinsed well then washed down with TSP, you'll want to seal the wood and nails first with a de-waxed shellac before you begin final preparation to paint.

its casein (like in milk paint).