Don't blame the wallpaper blame the installation

[belovedgandp]

We've been in our home for 13 years now. There were four rooms with wallpaper that we think the builder did as it was a model home before being owned briefly by another person and then us. We have now stripped with much elbow grease and cursing all four of these rooms. It was a tedious and awful process that operated in 6x6 inch squares much of the time.

Over 12 years ago we stripped that first bathroom and dinged up the walls so horribly in the process we were overwhelmed and did not trust our drywall skills to repair it enough to paint so we wallpapered the room again. Tonight we bit the bullet and stripped wallpaper again. We did a novel thing - sized the walls before pasting it up 12 years ago. I remember it taking nothing to roll the stuff on. I stripped this bathroom in full sized sheets. It took maybe 30 minutes and the job is completely done. Compared to HOURS the first time. Now the wall is still crud from the original paper and strip job, so patching has begun.

Those who wallpaper without sizing first should be shot. I've been cursing wallpaper all these years and it really is more about how it is hung than the product itself.

[ccather]

AMEN!! Our first house had wallpaper on nearly every surface, except the bathrooms. This included a layer on the ceiling and at least two, usually three on the walls. We stripped the bedrooms and resurfaced, but I could never bring myself to tackle the living room,dining room hallway that was all joined together. That got the spackle over seams and pray it stays up treatment. It was installed straight on unprimed drywall. I was told that if you had money back in the day (1955ish) you wallpapered instead of paint.

I. Hate. Wallpaper. I will paint little tiny repeating patterns all over long before I even begin to consider wallpaper!

[MamaMolly]

It was installed straight on unprimed drywall.

I think this is evil and, after they die, those who do it will spend at least one life time in a layer of Hell dedicated to endlessly stripping wallpaper.

[Tinochka]

I love wallpaper....:). But after our realtor made me to strip down perfectly good ones from our bedroom (silk, made in Germany), I am not going to tackle that kind of project any more.
It didn’t take me long to strip them down (just water in a sprayer, wait specific time, over wise you’ll ended up stripping million pieces) , washing the walls from the glue took me a little bit longer, but when we stripped down the wall paper at out small bathroom (not our job), that was a hell. We found layers and layers of wall paper (who would do that?) and I can swear that they used some kind of “forever” glue...
When we were looking for a new house, my DH admired the house with wallpaper everywhere. I said, because I don’t know, what under them, I am not going to look at THIS house, because I know who is going to strip them down...
Moral: if you did it yourself and followed some sense, then it’s not a big deal, but if it’s somebody else’s work, you need to give me a discount!

[elliput]

It was installed straight on unprimed drywall. !


I think this is evil and, after they die, those who do it will spend at least one life time in a layer of Hell dedicated to endlessly stripping wallpaper.

:yeahthat:

I.hate.this. Laziest short cut ever. I ran into the same issue when I stripped the wall paper out of the main bath. There was primer on just the area around the tub. The rest was just pasted directly on the drywall and mud. Took me 4 times as long to complete the room since I had to add mud/seam repair, spackling, patching, sanding and priming. I'd like to do the other to bathrooms, but I know they are the exact same way.

The number of short cuts I have found when doing repairs/replacing around this house have just astonished me.

[belovedgandp]

Yep straight on drywall is evil. We are skim coating away in this evil bathroom. Sad use of improved drywall skills.