I am going to be taking wallpaper down in a few months. I have been pulling on it to see how hard it will be to get off. I'm sure it's the same wallpaper that was put on when the house was built in the 80's. and it is really stuck on there, in fact there is wallpaper over it but that wallpaper is pealing. Any tips for getting it down?
__________________ Amber-
mother of two {boys} lover of one {wes}
Me & My Sweet Boys
The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~Author Unknown
I have used a wallpaper steamer before. A steamer works pretty well, but even still removing wallpaper really is a pain and takes a lot of time! But when I've done it I thought it was worth it.
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Debby
Mom to Owen (3/10/00) and Shannon (1/15/03)
yeah maybe I'll get a quote. I am afraid a steamer wont work. Some of the wallpaper is in my bathroom and after showers the wall is really wet from all the steam, and it doesn't look like it's coming down easy. So you literally have to scrape it off? I just thought it would pull off in a few pieces. Maybe I'm not up to this.
Location: When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~John Muir
Posts: 14,099
You have to score it with a little score-er (imagine little teeth that you rub all over it to poke holes in the paper), and then you steam it/apply wallpaper remover, and then you literally scrape it off, sometimes in nice size pieces, but often in little bits. THEN, the really fun part, you get to scrape all the paste off the wall and everything gets super sticky and gross. It really is a labor intensive job. In my situation, I should have just painted over the paper, because it was good quality waverly paper that was only a few years old. Still kicking myself over that. Are your walls primed/painted under the paper? If not you will have a lot of wall damage that will need to be mudded in and sanded out. If it was primed/painted first that should hopefully be minimal.
Are your walls primed/painted under the paper? If not you will have a lot of wall damage that will need to be mudded in and sanded out. If it was primed/painted first that should hopefully be minimal.
I don't think they are, it looks like wallpaper the builders put in when the house was built. So can I just paint over it instead ? I would much rather do that.
Location: When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~John Muir
Posts: 14,099
Yeah that is really unfortunate. I swear, I do not know what is up with people. So, if you take it off you are probably going to have major wall damage (the sheet rock will rip right off) and if you leave it up... well if it is already peeling, you might not want to try. I saw on hgtv to take a soaking hot dishtowel and hold it up to the wallpaper for 5 minutes. If the wallpaper is still fine, you can prime it and paint it. If it bubbles up, then you need to strip it, otherwise, it will bubble up when you paint over it.
Location: When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~John Muir
Posts: 14,099
Oh, I should add, having learned a lot this past year from a friend whose house was covered in it... lol have you considered just putting new wallpaper up over the old wallpaper? That might be a good solution. My friend stripped two layers only to have so much wall damage due to no primer/paint, she ended up putting a faux seagrass wallpaper up and it looks amazing!
And I don't want to sound discouraging, I just want to get you ready for a big job! You CAN do it... elbow grease is free
Yeah that's what I'm dealing with right now. Someone put wallpaper on top of the original wallpaper. The top wallpaper is pealing all over the place and falling down, so I'm forced to do something. The bottom layer doesn't look like it's peeling at all. So I think I'll try taking the top layer off then either painting over the older wallpaper, or putting up new wallpaper (which I don't really want to do)
Vinegar and water or Fabric softener with water in a spray bottle works wonders as a remover - I never measured but used the 3 parts water to 1 part whatever method. Spray an area, wait about 5 minutes and then spray again. I used those flat putty knife things, helped to get under areas that were peeling or areas that were scored. It sounds like it will be a big project since there is more then one layer but once you get an area saturated it comes down fairly quickly.
from what I have read on this thread, it sounds like if it is getting really wet after a shower and parts are peeling away with little effort, you might want to just go for it, rent or buy a wallpaper steamer and get it off the walls....
I bet you could find someone knowledgable at a hardware or home improvement store to help you figure out what supplies you will need.
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Becky,
SUPER DUPER single mama to my 2 lovely ladies!
patchouli wearin, dirt lovin, tree huggin, tiedye makin, tofu eatin, belly dancin, festival goin, vegetable growin, tea drinkin, hippy stinkin!
funny... I moved to a place with wallpaper in the bathrooms!
It took me about an hour to strip it off the walls, which were manufactured wallpaper walls, not paper applied to already installed walls.
the decorative print peeled off easily while dry, and I used a razor to scrape off pieces that werent easily removable.
I am going to Fix-All the places where the plaster crumbled out. there is some water damage to the wall above the shower, looks like a previous leak that has been fixed, though I cant say for sure....
I am going to texture the walls with some sort of spray that my mom found and recommended.
then I am going to pain t with Killz paint as a primer.
then paint with a semi gloss latex based paint, whatever I find.
if my camera wasnt broken I would post pics of it!
I haven't started it yet. To be truthful I'm a little intimidated. I haven't done a lot of Do-It-Yourself projects so I'm afraid of biting off more than I can chew....anyway I'm just working up the courage. I have a 1yr old and a 3 yr old so by the time courage and opportunity meet, it may be a few months.
Amber-
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