Removing Wallpaper Tips

Parent Cafe
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<p>Getting ready (or at least TRYING to pump myself up!) to remove the wallpaper from the small bathroom off the kitchen. I know there is only one layer cause we had someone hang it when we moved in 10 years ago.</p>

<p>My usual procedure for removing is to use this round thingy - I don’t know how to describe it!- it rolls and had “teeth” underneath - you roll it on the section of wall you are working on and it puts little holes in the wallpaper. Then I use a squirt bottle of water and vinegar (I think!) and squirt and scrape, squirt and scrape until it’s all removed.</p>

<p>But I’m up for any other tips! Especially for all the “glue” that seems to remain and take forever to get off. I’m going to just paint this time. </p>

<p>The bathroom is very small and tight to work around - didn’t want to have to rent a steamer etc. </p>

<p>Anyone?</p>

2

<p>Fabric softener, diluted with a little water in a spray bottle. Get the whole surface damp and wait, patiently, at least 10 minutes. I have trouble with the waiting part. I don’t like the wheel thing, DH destroyed some sheetrock with it once, when he got really frustrated, but you may need it if the WP has a thick vinyl coat. Good luck, not my favorite job.</p>

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<p>Had to laugh - I’ve used dryer SHEETS for so long, I was picturing how putting a dryer sheet in a bottle with water was going to help!!! :)</p>

<p>Here’s a chuckle. My 11 year old offered to help take it down. 10 years ago when we had it first done she was just starting to walk. The wallpaper lady had just left the house after hanging the paper that day. My then new-walker toddled into the bathroom - right next to the kitchen where I was making dinner and promptly started tearing the freshly hung paper off the walls!!! I caught her before she got too far. The wallpaper lady was none too happy that she had to come back later that week to rehang some of it…!</p>

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<p>We just had a LOT of wallpaper removed from our house. The painter filled a garden sprayer with warm water and saturated the wallpaper, waited for it to “soak in” and then stripped the paper from the walls. He said the wheel thing just makes smaller pieces to clean up, and in his experience getting it wet and waiting were the keys to easier removal. It took a while, especially in the kitchen where even the ceiling was wallpapered. Then they washed all the walls down with clean water–but I think they used a glue remover product from Dunn Edwards paints. I was so happy to see all that paper leave!</p>

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<p>Maybe I’ll skip the wheel thingy or just use it to do a straight line down a strip to help it absorb better.</p>

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<p>I’m in the midst of the same project. I no longer use that scoring gadget, and I have also given up the chemical products. Now I’m down to just sponging on very hot water & letting it sit 15 minutes. If the paper doesn’t come off easily, I’ll apply another coat of hot water.</p>

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<p>I second the fabric softener method. I’ve seen it in action. t works, it’s easy, and it smells good.</p>

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<p>I had good luck with a handheld steamer that I use for clothes.</p>

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<p>Rent a steamer. If it was installed ten years ago, they used a glue that will come off easily with a steamer.</p>

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<p>Another vote for the cheap pink fabric softner. We’ve used it multiple times. It works better than anything else we’ve tried. You don’t ned to use the wheel thing either.</p>

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<p>Is it a paper or a vinyl? If it’s a vinyl surface, normally used in kitchen and baths, it may be a “peelable” vinyl. This very simply means that the vinyl surface can be peeled from the paper backing. This exposes the paper backing which is adhered to the wall. Trying to get your stripper, hot water, or fabric softener solution to soak through a vinyl surface is a waste of solution.</p>

<p>Stay away from the wheel thingy (Paper Tiger is Zinsser’s trade name for this device) if you have sheetrock, and not plaster. You can be as agressive as you want with that little sucker on hard, sound plaster, but if you press too hard on drywall, you’ll leave a gazillon tiny holes in the surface of the drywall. Depending on how hard ypu press, you may be into skimcoating the drywall to prep for new paint or paper. Sometimes these holes may cause lifting/peeling paint conditions down the road, especially in heavily damp environments, like a bathroom. The trick with this tool is knowing your underlying surface, and gauging your pressure as to only perforate the surface of the wall paper, not the paint layer or drywall paper surface underneath. </p>

<p>Properly prepped walls (primed and sized) speed the process of removal. If you have paper
hung on raw, unprimed sheetrock, you are in for a headache. It will not budge without causing major drywall repairs necessary. It’s best just to paper over the existing paper if it’s sound. A job best left to pros, and a number of pros don’t recommend paper over paper. A flat 4 or 6 inch taper’s knife (putty knife) held flat helps to remove large loose pieces once the stripper works. Don’t use a razor scraper often sold as a wallpaper removal tool. These are meant to be used on plaster, not drywall. </p>

<p>The paste used in hanging the paper is another issue. Prepasted papers soaked and hung without a paste activator are the easiest to remove. The standard vinyl pastes (except those for vinyl over vinyl applications) are also fairly easy. The heavy duty or clay based pastes, normally used in hanging heavy papers are notoriously hard to remove, can be time consuming, and require multiple wall washings to eliminate all paste residue.</p>

<p>Steam is effective, but you can overdo it, breaking the seal of underlying paint to drywall or the paper layer to the rock’s gypsum core.</p>

<p>Take your time. Soak the surface, let the stripper work, and work in small sections lest it dry out. When it wants to come off, you’ll know. I’m not a fan of the gel strippers, they are messy. Zinsser’s DIF is too sudsy in my opinion, requires too much rinsing and cleanup. If you can find it, Imperial’s wall paper remover concentrated solution (mix with water) is the most effective.</p>

<p>Edit: As for the remaining glue residue, you’ll have to do a complete wash and rinse afterwards (or as you go along). Try one of the heavier scotchbrite type pads for the wash (brown in color, available at paint centers). The aggressiveness of the pad is a function of color: the white pad is the softest, the black is most aggressive. Rinse the surface with clean, hot water, and a GOOD sponge. I prefer the grout sponges, they don’t disintegrate. If you don’t get all the residue, it is notorious for coming off in your roller and brush when you go to repaint. </p>

<p>Good luck. Sometimes it will take you 4 times as long to strip a 5x7 bath than a 16x18 dining room.</p>

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<p>Thanks Violadad!</p>

<p>Our walls are plaster and the paper is not vinyl and not heavy. I’m pretty sure it was primed and sized beforehand. </p>

<p>I’m going to buy some fabric softener tonight and hopeful give a small area a test in the next couple of days before I go wholehog!</p>

<p>And I’m dumping the wheel!</p>

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<p>If it’s plaster, the wheel is not an issue.</p>

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<p>But doesn’t sound like many have found the wheel to be helpful…</p>

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<p>The wheel tends to be most effective on non-peelable vinyls, where you need something to score the surface to allow the solution to penetrate through the visible wallcovering’s surface to the paper and past layer beneath. (Pros will score the surface with a floor grade sandpaper, a well controlled utility knife to open channels and make penetration easier.) </p>

<p>The wheel can also help on some of the applications with clay based or heavy duty paste, or if you are removing a paper that has been painted over, again giving more points of access to the adhered paste. It’s an unnecessary step in applications involving removal of fabrics, absorbent cloths, or “papers”. </p>

<p>It’s a tool. It has it’s uses, but it’s not a miracle fix, nor applicable in all scenarios.</p>

<p>Have fun.</p>

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<p>I came to the same conclusions that violadad has just given. Just wish I had read his good advice before I had to learn from my mistakes!
If you use the wheelie thing on wallboard, then the paper backing on the wallboard adsorbs water and little shards of paper stick up, even through the skim coat of joint compound that you try to use to cover them…
If you have one of those pump garden sprayers that hasn’t been used for anything toxic, use that. Otherwise your hand will cramp up from all the spraying.</p>

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<p>I really hate wall paper.</p>

<p>I’ve had luck with the chemicals applied liberally with a spray bottle, and yes, waiting quite a while, and often re-spraying, before removal.</p>

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<p>Where was this thread when I needed it a few months ago? My first and last room (master bath) for wallpaper was done on somewhat sanded orange peel textured walls by a professional years ago. I looked online for help and managed to need a sponge plaster retexturing of the walls (spraying would have been an even bigger job). The painter said he would have just used water… I will consider the costs of wallpaper removal in any future house we buy…</p>