OVER time, lining paper has a tendency to come unstuck from the wall, especially at the seams and above radiators, where the heat can cause it to buckle. Initially, this isn’t a problem, but it will gradually become worse and worse until it looks awful.

The answer, unless you want to remove all the lining paper and start again, is to remedy the problem when you first spot it.

You can try gluing the lining paper back in place with strong wallpaper or border adhesive, but it is usually too rigid for this to work. If it is, take a sharp craft knife and cut out the area around the offending piece of lining paper. You may find that as you cut, more and more of the lining paper comes away because it’s no longer stuck to the wall. It’s easy to suddenly find you’ve removed lots of lining paper, leaving you with a big mess, so proceed with care.

When you’ve removed the lining paper, sand off the edges of the hole to smooth them, then wipe clean.

You now need to blend the hole with the rest of the lining paper so you don’t know it’s there. Do this with a filling knife and filler or, better still, finishing skim, which is like filler but is much softer to sand and is easy to apply over the hole.

When it’s dry, sand down the filler or finishing skim with very fine sandpaper and see how the repair looks. You may need a few attempts to blend it seamlessly with the lining paper (the edges of the repair are crucial). Put a lamp under the repair to help you see really well.

When you’ve filled and sanded until you’re happy with the finish – which can take a few days – wipe clean and paint the repair the same colour as the rest of the lining paper. Stir the paint really well and be prepared for it to come out slightly differently, as the colour on the wall may have faded. If this is the case, you may have to paint the whole wall, or more, depending on how great the colour difference is.