Any advice for wall paper removal

[And-Con]

OK, that's pretty much it, i have a bunch of wallpaper on a wall that has a meeting with the trash that needs to be arranged and I'm looking for advice on how to arrange that meeting. I know I can steam it, I know there are chemicals, I just have never tried either before, and want to make this as quick, painless, and easy as possible, preferably in such a manor as to not ruin the wall underneath. Anyone who has been here before please help.
Thanks for your time.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

I've done tons of wallpaer removal and hopefully the wall under your paper was prepped correctly (primed) before the paper was put on. That will make your job much easier.

I have used all sorts of products, but the thing that worked best for me is three things. A water bottle with sprayer, a scraper, and soemthing called a paper tiger.

The paper tiger (made by Zinser) rolls over the paper and scores it. I use the spray bottle and soak the paper. The paper needs to be scored enough to let the water soak in.

After spraying I let the water soak in. Wet the paper enough and it will start to bubble and you then use the scraper to scrape it off. You may have to spray the same area a couple times to get all the paper off.

If the underlying walled was prepped before the paper was applied, the water will not soak into the wall and will reactivate the paste which will make it removable.

If you have multiple layers, do a layer at a time.

As I said, I have used a lot of the gels and other products but lots of water worked the best.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

Wallpaper steamer.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

I would second the paper tiger, but add the adhesive remover also by Zinsser. It has an enzyme that breaks down the protein in the wheat paste adhesive. You gotta check that the wall was primed first though, otherwise you will be looking at skim coating the whole wall with mud. As me how I know....
It breaks down the wheat paste adhesive very well. I happen to use it in a deck sprayer- the key is to keep it moist . Also, mix it with hot water for best results..

Messy , messy.

I have tried the steamer, found the Zinsser stuff to work a bit easier.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

The wife and I used a paper tiger........ I ended up skimming the entire wall with wallboard compound........ not a fun event. We should have used steam

 

[lowkee]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

We had a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom wallpapered when we moved here. We used a rolling stippler (what I think the guys above call a paper tiger) on the wall (important: the more coverage the better you life will be), then sprayed the paper with TSP alternative (found at lowes) using a garden mister. After waiting 10 minutes, the section of wallpaper would literally peel off in the same order they were installed. The kitchen even had 3 layers of paper, all of which peeled off, restippling and respraying each layer. Make sure, when you peel off the layers you follow up with a clean rag to wash off the leftover wallpaper glue, as once it hardens you will have to sand it off. Wiping is much easier no matter how tired you are, trust me.

Out of those three rooms, we only have a 4" spot which needed drywall putty to fix, likely because we pushed too hard on the stippler and went into the drywall itself. Not bad for the first time ever doing wallpaper removal.

 

[eaglejim]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

I am a professional painter and for the 33 years we have been removing wallpaper and I will tell you that it comes of hard and harder,I would not use the paper tiger as mention before you will end up re-skimming the wall this is what I would do 1.find a small area to do a test(to see if it will come off)2,you can use hot water or DIF wallpaper remover with hot water in a bug spry bottle or a very wet rag 3,if it doesn't come off plan on painting it.If you have to paint 1,Kilz all the wallpaper 2,let dry mud the seams 3,lightly sand the seams and paint with 2 coats of your choice of paint (the higher the gloss the more imperfections show up).Good luck Jim

 

[blairjbyrd]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

the steamer is a piece, and that will have a meeting with the trash as well. I like the tiger. Good luck you have your work cut out for you.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

I have yet to see a wall that was paintable with very little prep after the wallpaper had been stripped. The paper tiger, if used agressively will leave little marks in the underlying surface. These would need to be filled in. You will also get scraper marks, no matter how careful you are..

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

the steamer is a piece, and that will have a meeting with the trash as well. I like the tiger. Good luck you have your work cut out for you.

I rent a commercial steamer...not the junk at Home Depot.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

If the paper is a thick vinyl, then a paper tiger is good for DIF to work. If it is just regular wallpaper, the product called DIF has always worked well for me. Just don't rush it. let it soak in and the stuff will ususally come off by its own weight. I also use the DIF to help wash off the old past off the wall as well.

BTW, make sure you don't get it into light switches or outlets. I always turn off the power.

 

[And-Con]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

Well it sounds like a completely miserable weekend project-anybody want to come down to Florida and go fishing instead?...but seriously, thanks for the advice and i never would have thought to kill the power but now that it was suggested i cant imagine leaving it on, if nothing else, thanks for that heads up.

 

[lowkee]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

So, how did the removal go? Which method did you end up using?

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

I know this is late but I have used a blue stuff from Lowes and it worked great. Sprayed it, let it soaked good, peeled slowly and the paper came off huge chunk at a time. The borders came off even easier, one wall at a time.

 

[And-Con]

Re: Any advice for wall paper removal

Used a buddies steamer (1200 watt wagner) and it worked pretty well the paper pretty well fell off if steamed enough, but it was still tedious and yep i get to play with mud later... i really wanna go on the boat instead.