Walls – how to fix damaged wall after peeling off hook

You will need to take off all the glue if you want a good finish.

The paint will lift the glue, but unevenly, and mix with the paint. This will cause the paint to clump and not cover properly and all in all it will look terrible.

I know because I did this in the first house I owned and had to wash the walls of the one room where I tried this several times to get as much glue off as possible. I don't think I got it completely off and you could still tell.

If you just want to paint the room, you would be better off hanging lining paper and then painting that. This has the added advantage (especially if you use 1000gsm paper) of covering any imperfections in the wall.

Definitely read up on the EPA 'renovation repair and painting' rule.

Option #3, the 1/4" drywall, is likely to produce the best and cleanest results, at the cost of loss of room space and alteration in the look of all your trim. You'll have to extend all outlets also. Of course that sounds suspiciously like what happened last time. Eventually your room will be solid wall covering with no center.

Option #4 sounds attractive if that texture on the wallpaper will really hold the joint compound. I'd run a test with and without the primer/sealer. Remember worst case here it cracks later and you redo it all with #3.