What's The Best Way To Remove Wallpaper
I like to know if anybody knows the best or easiest way to remove wallpaper. I even have some that is painted over I need to remove.
ccmorgan[ Edited by ccmorgan on Date 08/17/2004 ]
You could try a product called Wall Wik. You can easily find it on a google search. It gets rave reviews.
Candace
DYNAMITE!!!!!!!!
Oh man i spent 2 grueling days removing wallpaper in my living room.
We used wall paper scraper... a little thing that perforates the wallpaper. than we used a DIF gel that supposedly dissolves the glue. then we scraped and scraped and scraped and scraped.
I vowed never again to touch wallpaper, but I have heard people have good results using a steamer. if i ever see wallpaper agin I'm going to use a steamer.
try a google search. I bet this is a well documented topic.
wallpaper will come off easy if the wall was primed before it was installed. if not its better to fill the seams with sheetrock mud and paint over it with "kiltz2" a paint primer then with the paint of your choice because it will not come off without tearing and pulling off the sheetrock paper.. my wife has been doing it in her business for 27 yrs.....km[ Edited by kenmax on Date 08/18/2004 ]
I recently did this in a house I just rehabbed. Used the Dif gel after using the paper tiger (to score the wall paper). What I found out is that the gel didn't much touch the paper that was scored (it was a latex type wall paper...felt sort of like plastic sheet). So I had to go around the room and peel as much of the top layer of the wall paper off as I could. this left the paper backing and glue on the wall. Sprayed it with Dif and it came off easy.
Be careful about painting over wall paper. I used to work in a wall paper store and they always told us that paint is actually heavy enough to pull the wall paper away from the wall. Well guess what, in the offices I work in now, they are repainting and didn't remove the wall paper...just primered over it, then painted. Well, the paper is bubbling up in a lot of places on the wall. They are going to have to go back and remove the paper and re-paint (it is in the contractor's contract that they will remove the paper). Guess they were looking for a fast way to get done.
John
If it's an old house and the walls are plaster, you're in luck. Try peeling off the top layer and soaking the paper layer with a water in a pressurized garden sprayer. Works best if you let the water soak in for awhile and resoak. Then gently scrape off the paper while it's wet with a wide putty knife. Worked great on our last rehab, but it does make a mess on the floor. Wash walls afterward to remove any residual paste.
If it's drywall (especially unprimed), you have my sympathy.
If it's an old house and the walls are plaster, you're in luck. Try peeling off the top layer and soaking the paper layer with a water in a pressurized garden sprayer. Works best if you let the water soak in for awhile and resoak. Then gently scrape off the paper while it's wet with a wide putty knife. Worked great on our last rehab, but it does make a mess on the floor. Wash walls afterward to remove any residual paste.
If it's drywall (especially unprimed), you have my sympathy.
The best thing to take wallpaper down is water & .vinegar.This works but you have to put a little work in it.You mix 1part vinegar & two parts water.Spary on & let soak & take a razar & scrape .off.I dont know if this will work if it was painted over.
Missy [ Edited by missy on Date 08/19/2004 ]
We just finsihed this project ourselves. I counted 4 or 5 layers of wallpaper and paint over plaster walls.
We went to Lowes, bought a steamer, scored the walls and it worked great. The worst part was the couple of 85 degree days while we were working on it, talk about a steam bath... LOL
Good luck, it is well worth the effort.
Kim
We just finsihed this project ourselves. I counted 4 or 5 layers of wallpaper and paint over plaster walls.
We went to Lowes, bought a steamer, scored the walls and it worked great. The worst part was the couple of 85 degree days while we were working on it, talk about a steam bath... LOL
Good luck, it is well worth the effort.
Kim
go to the grocery store and buy a gallon of the store brand fabric softener (like downy) and get a bucket and a wash cloth. make sure you have something on the floor cause it is wet and messy, just dip the washcloth in the fabric softener (the cheap fabric softeners are like water but the more expensive kind might need to be watered down). Anyway, wipe onto the whole area you are in front of, especially along the edges. The top coat should come off easily when peeled (the wetter the better), then reapply the wet sponge to the glue backed part and it comes off nicely with you pulling, peeling or use a scraper, spatula, whatever you have. I did not have good luck with steamers, dif or that razor cutter thingy.
Good Luck! christine[ Edited by thechangingtable on Date 08/19/2004 ]
dif
the best we have found is soak with water and dif or downy soap put off first layer soak the second and pull or use a 4" scraper . my wife does it every day. i've done it and i don't like it. the present rehabb. did not have primer on the walls . all the paper would not come off. i had to skim the walls with "mud" what a pain. it seemed to take
forever. in the end it looked good. you can fill the seams with "mud" and paint over it but it has to be "stuck" to the walls good. it is best to take it off if all possible......kenmax
Look, the wallpaper that comes off with paint is the same wallpaper you can get loose with warm water and a scraper. So, always try that first.
It's that really BAD stuff that you want to paint. And always use an oil-based primer, preferrable KILZ which dries fast. The latex primer (which is water-based) can loosen the paper in places and you get the bubble.
But a few bubbles are no biggie. Let it all dry, peel those babies away, spackle smooth and re-prime.
Wallpaper is pesky; you just have to keep beating away at it.
Do yourself a favor and rent a steamer.
It is by far the best, most thorough method for removing wallpaper.
The trouble with water and vinegar, spray chemicals, the paper tiger, etc. is they remove the paper, but the glue is left behind. Then you're left with a yellowed, rough surface.
Scalding steam or boiling water is the only way to penetrate the paper and remove the glue.
Good luck.
[addsig]
STEAM!!! Moisten the wall with hot steam, let saturate for a minute or so, then scrape. You will have to do this several times, but it is much cheaper than anything else. I use a Windex bottle filled with hot water. It's work anyway you go.
When I painted commercially some time ago a steamer was the best way to get the paper off the wall. I works on even the plasticized paper because the heat reactivates the glue and makes it easier to pull the paper off when the glue is soft.
[addsig]
Downy
sounds better than what I was going to suggest...new drywall. I HATE wallpaper and would almost rather tear out the @#$% wall and rebuild it.
Had good luck painting over it one time. Used that thick plaster type of paint. Put it on with a trowel followed with three different colors for a faux finish.
I have seen three to four layers of the horrid stuff that held up fine. Held its own against a scraper too!
Good luck. Try the Downy.
Just went through this mess myself also. I tried both the steamer and the paper tiger/dif combo. Both worked in different areas with varying degrees of success. Be careful with the steamer because you can cause more damage to the drywall if you get it too hot/wet. That just makes more mud work later. In our house, the original builder's painter didn't tack wipe the walls properly before painting the drywall, and so we ended up peeling the original paint down to the drywall in some areas. YUCK! Too much time spent on a simple job because of someone elses' carelessness.
Just remember, wipe down the walls with DIF solution when you are done, no matter how well the paper comes off, you want to remove that thin layer of glue before you refinish.
Best of luck,
Swaf