Anybody Ever Remove Wallpaper

[westwoodmom04]

I am thinking of tackling the task of removing the wallpaper in our very small downstairs half bath (literally the room is the same size as the hall closet and this is in an old house with small closets). Does anyone have any words of advice?

[Mopey]

I have not personally but there are a million ways to do it. Check out this blog (I found it here and have loved it ever since). There are five types of wallpaper in their new house and she is trying a different technique to remove each. Great archives, very well organized. Luck! DIY rocks :)

http://www.younghouselove.com/2013/10/peel-it-like-a-really-bad-sunburn/

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yes. Sometimes it has been easy, other times not. Depends if it was hung correctly. We used the traditional stuff at Lowe's- Tiger and Dif. As pp said, there are loads of other ways though. It's messy and usually not too bad. Good project to tackle on your own as all it takes is patience.

[3isEnough]

i just read an interesting thread regarding wallpaper removal on GardenWeb a few days ago, with some pro's chiming in on their preferred methods. You can see it here http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/remodel/msg0217130223600.html?7. Good luck!

[brittone2]

Yes, we removed it in our current house. We had one wall of one room upstairs with it, so we started there (not in a common area) to refine our technique. I had an experience similar to the YHL folks from what I remember. We tried scoring, peeling, etc. Ultimately what worked best once we got the hang of it was a steamer. It took a bit to figure out how best to handle that, but once Dh got it down pat, he was able to get the sheets to come off very smoothly. Our walls had been prepped appropriately, so that helped. Sometimes people wallpaper on naked drywall, and that is a whole different ballgame.

If you have a more out of the way room, start there until you get your technique down. DH steamed and used a scraper thing to slide under the paper as it peeled back.

We did have some surprises, like one seam had weird glue that would not wipe off. I suspect they superglued a curling seam at one point, so we had to work hard at removing that.

I found the scorer to leave marks in the drywall paper. Steaming patiently and getting it to come off in huge, big sheets was MUCH better in our situation.

eta: spend a lot of time wiping the walls down afterward. Don't paint or do anything else until you thoroughly deal with remaining remnants of adhesive. We went to the local Benjamin Moore store and they gave us some sort of solution we were able to dilute to wash the remaining faint residue off of the walls. Don't skip doing that.

[BabyBearsMom]

Yes. At our house I did the traditional method of using the spray and then scraping. HORRIBLE. Took forever. Then I was helping my MIL do it at her house. She had a ton to take down so she bought a steamer to do it. So easy. So I strongly recommend the steamer, so worth it

[crl]

We have striped some. Steamer worked best for us. Definitely depends on whether they prepped correctly when they put it up. If they did it right, the paper will come off easily. If they didn't prep and hung it straight on drywall it is near impossible to get off without damaging the drywall some.

Catherine

[westwoodmom04]

Thanks for all the advice, keep it coming. Since the house is old (from the 1930's), I suspect the wall is plaster, not drywall, does that make a difference?

[Indianamom2]

I did in my kitchen. The bottom half of the wall was wallpapered with a border as a chair rail. I left that room to the very end because I was afraid of the wallpaper removal process. It isn't hard, just tedious and messy, if you use the Dif remover. I have no experience with the steamer method. I am very thankful that it wasn't wallpapered all the way to the ceiling!! Just be sure you clean the residue completely before painting.

[jench]

We have had to de-paper several rooms in our house, and after a few different methods settled on the steamer. Also - very important - if you are going to paint over the walls afterwards (as opposed to more paper), use a primer that can seal in any unnoticed excess glue left on the wall. We use Gardz by Zinsser. Smelly and goes on watery/messy but definitely, 100% worth the extra step before painting.

ETA: just noticed that you have plaster, so not sure what removal method is best there, but still use the Gardz!!

[fedoragirl]

I did our dining room a few years ago. I used fabric softener in a spray bottle, sprayed an area (got it really wet) and scraped it off. It was not difficult but very time-consuming. Then, I spackled and primed before painting.

[FTMLuc]

Our new home is covered with 45 year old wallpaper that was put directly on plaster wall. Steamer and scraper worked the best, my FIL did one of the rooms in less then 1/2 day. Removing the glue residue and prepping the walls for painting is a whole another story. DH used some kind of glue remover solution that home depot lady recommended and ended up washing the walls with it 3 times and working pretty hard to scrape the residue around the doors and windows, took forever.

You will definitely need to use oil based primer before painting as any remaining glue residue will bleed through latex paints.

[westwoodmom04]

I was not even considering a steamer until all of the positive responses. Just bought a cheap steamer with excellent reviews from Lowe's. Wish me luck! My guess is that the current wallpaper is less than 20 years old, but not much less.

[crl]

I was not even considering a steamer until all of the positive responses. Just bought a cheap steamer with excellent reviews from Lowe's. Wish me luck! My guess is that the current wallpaper is less than 20 years old, but not much less.


Good luck!

Catherine

[indigo99]

Ugh. Glad it's you and not me! I stripped about 5 layers of paper off old plaster walls in a bedroom once. One layer has got to be much easier though. I do think plaster is probably easier because you don't have to worry about water damaging it as much as drywall. Just hope the plaster is in good shape under there!

[larig]

I did our dining room a few years ago. I used fabric softener in a spray bottle, sprayed an area (got it really wet) and scraped it off. It was not difficult but very time-consuming. Then, I spackled and primed before painting.

Did this on my mom's kitchen this summer. Scored it with the paper tiger thing, then sprayed it with fabric softener (diluted), waited 5 minutes (keeping it wet), and scraping. (we did this on drywall).

[american_mama]

I only have experience with one room, our dining room with 2 layers of decades old wall paper. My experience from that is don't blame yourself if nothing seems to work - there are a lot of combinations of wallpaper, glue and wall so not all advice will apply. For us, the first layer of wallpaper (the one we could see) came off with little effort, but the layer underneath was probably applied directly to a non-prepped drywall back in the 1960's. It would not come off at all, and my husband and daughter severely gouged half the wall trying multiple methods. We eventually hired a contractor, who skim coated drywall compound over that stubborn layer and also used it to fill in the huge 4 foot oval of gouged wall. He then painted it with white primer, and then we painted it our chosen color and all is well.

[westwoodmom04]

The wallpaper came off easily enough except for the top strip that seemed to be caulked to the molding. Who does that? Took me just as long to shave those pieces off as to remove the paper from the rest of the room. Unfortunately, the wall underneath doesn't seem to be in the best shape, so I have a few rounds of spackling and priming ahead of me. The joys of an old home.

[Avispa]

The wallpaper came off easily enough except for the top strip that seemed to be caulked to the molding. Who does that? Took me just as long to shave those pieces off as to remove the paper from the rest of the room. Unfortunately, the wall underneath doesn't seem to be in the best shape, so I have a few rounds of spackling and priming ahead of me. The joys of an old home.

What steamer did you end up buying? I 'm thinking of removing the wall paper in the house we are buying, also an old house (1912) with plaster walls

[westwoodmom04]

What steamer did you end up buying? I 'm thinking of removing the wall paper in the house we are buying, also an old house (1912) with plaster walls

This one, http://www.lowes.com/pd_40627-97-0282018_0__?productId=3033147&Ntt=wallpaper+steamer&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dwallpaper%2Bsteamer&facetInfo=
I think you may be able to get it elsewhere for a few dollars cheaper, but I wanted to get started ASAP and Lowe's had it in stock.

[Avispa]

This one, http://www.lowes.com/pd_40627-97-0282018_0__?productId=3033147&Ntt=wallpaper+steamer&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dwallpaper%2Bsteamer&facetInfo=
I think you may be able to get it elsewhere for a few dollars cheaper, but I wanted to get started ASAP and Lowe's had it in stock.

Great, thanks!!