Priming the Walls

ATTENTION: BORING BLOG POST AHEAD. Proceed only if you require more details about applying wallpaper primer to OSB than the words "applying wallpaper primer to OSB" communicate.

My plan is to cover my walls in wallpaper liner. Wallpaper liner--AKA wall liner, and several other names--is a thick, plain kind of wallpaper that is used to create a smooth, paintable surface where once there was cinderblock, horrid wood paneling from the 70s, decrepit wallpaper, or some other undesirable surface that would be a pain in the neck to remove (like... an OSB SIP skin). It's a pretty simple DIY task with only one real prep step: priming the surface with wallpaper primer.





Wallpaper primer is supposed to accomplish two tasks. First and foremost, it makes the surface easier to stick wallpaper to. Second and bonus, thick as it is, wallpaper liner is somewhat transparent, so adding the white primer before the liner means you'll need fewer coats of primer/paint afterwards for full coverage. Nobody needs the ghost of their OSB SIP skin haunting them forever!

I used Shieldz, a "one-step universal wallcovering primer/sealer," by Zinsser. It took exactly one gallon to prime all the OSB wall surfaces in the house. What a relief! I started out using a paint roller, but switched to a wide paintbrush because the roller wasn't doing a good job of coaxing the primer into all the nooks and crannies of the OSB.

A thrill a minute, right? I told you so!










A few more words on wallpaper liner and the rejected alternatives:

Many tiny houses have wood planks (usually unpainted, or painted white) for an interior wall surface; it's something of a trope in the tiny house world. Relatively few--but more and more, I believe--of them have plain, smooth painted interiors à la "normal houses." I chose the latter path because I wasn't sure I wanted to lock myself into the "cabin"/"beach house" aesthetic the unpainted/painted (respectively) wood planks give, and it didn't make sense to me to add another layer of material on top of the structural OSB that came with the SIP.

I chose to accomplish the plain, smooth look with wallpaper liner mainly for weight and volume considerations. I got the idea from the brilliant Laura and Jeremy at Go Tiny (thank you!).Wallpaper liner adds almost zero weight to the house, and takes up very close to zero space--no losing an inch of interior width thanks to layers of 1/2" panels, drywall sheets, etc.! (It's negligible in a normal sized house, but in a tiny house, those inches punch way above their weight.)

Some other tiny housers have opted for drywall and achieved a really nice, smooth appearance with it--apparently without the cracking that has driven most tiny housers away from the material. But again, it's heavier and thicker than wallpaper liner. Plus, everybody hates installing drywall, and I don't care to personally investigate why!