Removing Wallpaper

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  • jking
    Senior Member
    • May 2003
    • 972
    • Des Moines, IA.
    • BT3100

    Removing Wallpaper

    I'm removing wallpaper in our bathroom. I'm using a paper tiger to score the wallpaper before applying dif wallpaper remover. I am having a tough time. I think the main problem is how the paper was originally put on. From what I can see, it appears the wallpaper was applied directly to the drywall. It doesn't appear the drywall was primed at all. I'm using a razor scraper once the remover has been on the wall for at least 30 minutes (dif says up to 15 minutes). I'm ending up with lots of gouging because the paper just doesnt release. I basically end up scraping half the paper off, reapply the remover and then scrape whats left off. Repeat as necessary.

    I'm not sure if anyone has encountered this before. I use the same method when we removed the wallpaper in our kitchen, but, that was plastered walls with multiple layers of paint under the paper.

    This is one on the reasons I don't care for wallpaper.
  • twistsol
    Veteran Member
    • Dec 2002
    • 2893
    • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
    • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

    #2
    When we bought our current house we removed 38 garbage bags full of wallpaper. Most of the walls had been primed before the wallpaper was put up, and that came off with almost no damage. There was no primer in the hallway, kitchen or stairwell. The damage to the sheetrock in those places was significant and I was able to skim coat some of it to fix the gouges. Most of it though, it was easier to take down the sheetrock and start from scratch.

    Just writing this reply gets my blood boiling and there will NEVER be wallpaper in a a house I own ever again.
    Chr's
    __________
    An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
    A moral man does it.

    Comment

    • frumper64
      Established Member
      • Feb 2004
      • 376
      • Garland, Tx, USA.

      #3
      When I went through this, I ended up getting as much as I could off and then skim coating the wall. The skim coat went a lot better after a got a thing called the "Magic Trowel" from Sherwin Williams. It has a soft rubber edge on the trowel and rounded corners and made it much easier for me.
      Jim
      64sedan_at_gmail.com

      Comment

      • jking
        Senior Member
        • May 2003
        • 972
        • Des Moines, IA.
        • BT3100

        #4
        There is tile on the lower half of the wall, otherwise, yes replacing the drywall would certainly be quicker.

        Comment

        • capncarl
          Veteran Member
          • Jan 2007
          • 3564
          • Leesburg Georgia USA
          • SawStop CTS

          #5
          You have encountered what they proudly refer on TV ads as "Builder Grade".
          It saved the builder a few bucks and costs the owner more upon replacement. Removing the wallpaper in my first house tore up the drywall so bad I painted the wallpaper. Later on it came off easy, I guess the paint kept it from tearing so bad. Then all the ceiling popcorn in the garage came off by itself because it was not primed first.

          Comment

          • jking
            Senior Member
            • May 2003
            • 972
            • Des Moines, IA.
            • BT3100

            #6
            I'm not surprised that shortcuts may have been taken. When we bought the house, the owner planned to have the furnace replaced before closing. When I asked what was going to be put in and talked to her handyman who did all of her work, I found out he was going to put in a low efficiency unit. There was a plumbing leak under the kitchen sink that was supposed to be fixed before closing, too. After we moved in and the leak came back, I found out all that was done was some rubbery goo was put on the pipe and a temporary clamp was placed over it. I ended up replacing the pipe myself when we replaced the cabinets.

            I see lots of patching and sanding in my near future.

            Comment

            • jdon
              Established Member
              • Feb 2010
              • 401
              • Snoqualmie, Wash.
              • BT3100

              #7
              +1 on OP's experience and on frumper64's solution- FWIW, Magic Trowel also available on Amazon

              Comment

              • JoeyGee
                Veteran Member
                • Nov 2005
                • 1509
                • Sylvania, OH, USA.
                • BT3100-1

                #8
                A friend of mine recently went through exactly what you're describing. He had much better luck using a steamer.
                Joe

                Comment

                • lrr
                  Established Member
                  • Apr 2006
                  • 380
                  • Fort Collins, Colorado
                  • Ryobi BT-3100

                  #9
                  Steamers work well if someone has used wallpaper paste. You really want to run a scoring pad over the wallpaper to help let the steam get thru.

                  Our first home in California many years ago was the "Fixer-Upper from ****". As near as we could tell, the owner had used something like rubber cement to apply the wallpaper. The steamer got it gooey, and you eventually could kind of stretch it off the wall. Half the time it kind of snapped back!

                  Another no-so-great idea:
                  The PVC joints under the kitchen sink had been "welded" with PVC cement (at least they did not leak). They also did not come apart. Had to cut all that out and start over.
                  Lee

                  Comment

                  • jking
                    Senior Member
                    • May 2003
                    • 972
                    • Des Moines, IA.
                    • BT3100

                    #10
                    Are there any not so obvious steps I would need to take to paint over wallpaper? I'm thinking of removing any loose paper and patching no make the surface even and then painting over the top. I would think primer would prep the wallpaper adequately.

                    Comment

                    • capncarl
                      Veteran Member
                      • Jan 2007
                      • 3564
                      • Leesburg Georgia USA
                      • SawStop CTS

                      #11
                      I've not seen any problems with painted over wall paper, other than it still looks like painted over wall paper. Paper joints jump out at you. The paper that wouldn't come off for anything waits until you paint it, then the corners peel off by themselves.

                      Comment

                      • nickg
                        Established Member
                        • Jul 2007
                        • 110
                        • Marietta, Georgia
                        • Ryobi BT3000

                        #12
                        Wallpaper Removal

                        Builder never primed walls in kitchen before putting up wallpaper, so removing it was an ordeal even though we tried several removal aids (none of which were magic). We spent considerable time applying joint compound to damaged sheetrock areas.

                        Next time, we had a small wall-papered 1/2 bath to do, but we had professional painters do the job this time. Here's what they did when we told them walls were probably not primed before being papered.

                        - Pasted down any loose paper
                        - Filled seams with join compound, then sanded lightly when dry
                        - Primed over the paper with an oil based primer
                        - Topcoated with latex paint

                        I was never a fan of painting over wallpaper, but the above method worked well. You would never know wallpaper was beneath the paint. I'll use this method again.

                        Comment

                        • gerti
                          Veteran Member
                          • Dec 2003
                          • 2233
                          • Minnetonka, MN, USA.
                          • BT3100 "Frankensaw"

                          #13
                          I just painted over wallpaper in my home office. Granted the wallpaper was a very well done job with pretty much invisible seems. Anyway used some compound on some holes, primed, sanded, primed again, and two coats of paint. Results is flawless, you'd never know (use good primer).

                          Reason I even tried: if it worked, I'd save a lit of time. If it didn't, I'd lost a little time and some paint. Got lucky.

                          Comment

                          • JimD
                            Veteran Member
                            • Feb 2003
                            • 4187
                            • Lexington, SC.

                            #14
                            We should probably have painted over the wallpaper in our Pittsburgh house. My late wife tried everything to get it off including steam. The neighbors thought the former owners had put it up with woodworking glue. She rubbed every little bit off with her fingers and then I skim coated it. We got a nice looking walls but it was a huge amount of work. Making the joints unapparent with joint compound makes sense to me. It also should help the paper not lift when the paint is applied.

                            Comment

                            • durango dude
                              Senior Member
                              • Mar 2011
                              • 934
                              • a thousand or so feet above insanity
                              • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

                              #15
                              Only wall paper I ever use is the stuff that can be removed with a "right click"

                              Comment

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