Wallpaper removal tips and tricks needed

[lspst8]

I've slowly been remving all the wallpaper from my house. I've lived here 4 years, and only have one little area left to do, but it is definately the hardest. My former owner put a wallpaper border in the dining room. Sounds easy enough to remove, but the walls are textured plaster! I cannot figure out how to get this wallpaper off since I can't just spray it down and scrape it off with a putty knife.

My DH and I bough some sort of wallpaper remove goo at Home Depot and the really big scrubby sponges, but it is such slow going. One of us can maybe get 6 inches of paper off in an hour. The front "vinyl" side of the wall paper peeled right off, but the papery-gluey side of it is still completely stuck to the wall.

Any secrets we don't know? Anyone have this experience? Or should we admit defeat and just put up another border to cover the wallpaper?

 

[dawson5]

Can you use one of these:

I helped my neighbor remove paper that was on the walls for 10+ yrs. She is the second owner, original owners put up the wallpaper, builder cut corners and did not prime the walls well enough. Paper was stuck to the drywall and when we took it off, it took off the paper lining of the drywall. What worked best was using one of those (above) and lots of dif wallpaper solution. Break the vinyl with the paper tiger and then keep wiping down the walls with lots of hot water and dif. (I want to say we liberally applied the water & dif five times before even trying to pull at the wallpaper.)

Be careful with the paper tiger, it will leave perforations if you press too hard.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

The things people did to their homes! Have you tried vinegar? If the vinyl stuff is off, the vinegar should dissolve the glue and residue. Use a cloth, and get it good and wet, repeat and let sit for a long while, the glue should start to dissolve on its own. You may want to crack a window or it will begin to smell like Easter in there.

 

[cjlvsccm]

The things people did to their homes! Have you tried vinegar? If the vinyl stuff is off, the vinegar should dissolve the glue and residue. Use a cloth, and get it good and wet, repeat and let sit for a long while, the glue should start to dissolve on its own. You may want to crack a window or it will begin to smell like Easter in there.

^^ I second the vinegar suggestion. It worked for us when the paper tiger and dif did little to help, with wallpaper on unprimed drywall.

We used a 50/50 mixture of vinegar to warm water, and sprayed from a squirt bottle. The vinegar did a great job of dissolving the stickiness, and you don't have to worry about chemical residue left on the floor/carpet.

Good luck!!

 

[gregokdisney]

Third the vinegar. You have to score it somehow so the vinegar can get through to the glue, but it dissolves it almost completely and it scrapes off.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I've used DIF and a Paper Tiger before with quick and easy results.

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

I used a mixture of liquid fabric softener and water in a spray bottle when I took down wallpaper border in my kitchen. But I can see why vinegar works too, since that seems to be good for just about anything!

 

[MarilIncredible]

DH & I removed wallpaper from unfinished walls in the kitchen of our house and it was S-L-O-W going. We tried vinegar, then fabric softener (both were budget suggestions) and ended up just using the DIF and taking a LONG time. It was a real PITA and I will never paper a wall, personally, after that experience.

Good luck!

 

[pixiewings71]

LOL OP we had FABRIC wallpaper on one wall of our house when we moved in!!! LOL Well when we bought it, after we bought it we hired a guy to scrape the popcorn off the ceilings and retexture them was flat and we asked him if he could scrape the wallpaper off, he said sure thing but then it turned out to be too much work for him so we did it.....we used Dif and Paper Tigers but it took forEVER.....LOL So I sympathize with you but don't have any more advice, just wanted you to know you're not alone in your wallpaper nightmare. LOL

 

[Explodo]

there is this enzyme stuff thaty works like gangbusters...You can get it at homedespot or Menards...or Lowes.

 

[penguin087]

Oh do I feel your pain. We had a whole house full of layers of wallpaper with layers of paint over it. It was horrible. We tried everything. Finally my husband got a block of wood and drove a bunch of screws through it so they stuck out the other side. he scored it up with that. Worked much better than the paper tiger. then he used mass amounts of windex. Dont know why the windex worked or why he even tried it (desperation I suppose). but it worked. Got through and loosened the glue. SHould mention the house has plaster walls not drywall so we could dig in a lot harder without too much damage.
Good Luck!

 

[pioneer89]

The best way to remove wallpaper is right-click somewhere on your desktop, select "properties", then click on the "Desktop" tab. In the box labeled "Background" you can choses "None".

Click the "Apply" button.

*presto* wallpaper removed!

 

[anna_chronistic]

I'm not sure if this will work on a textured wall (although some of my sister's walls were, if not textured, definitely not smooth), but I cannot recommend highly enough a steamer. Your local hardware store might rent them out. My sister asked for one for her birthday because she had bought a big house in which every room but one was covered -- including the ceilings! in wallpaper.

She was able to strip the wallpaper soooo much faster, didn't damage the walls, and has lent it out to friends (and me) to remove wallpaper. Just a few weeks ago, my mom and I used it to remove the wallpaper border she had put up in the living room 15 years ago. Once we let the steamer get hot enough, we just placed the little tray on the paper, held it there for a few seconds, and when we moved the tray, the wallpaper came off so cleanly. It was super fast, too. It took a lot longer to climb up the ladder and move the cords than it did to remove the wallpaper itself.

 

[daisyduck123]

We hired someone else to do it. Neither DH nor I had the patience to do it.

We were going to have the entire room painted (we will never put up wallpaper/borders again) and the guys we hired to paint removed the peeling paper for us, for a fee of course!

 

[DawnCt1]

I've used DIF and a Paper Tiger before with quick and easy results.

This has worked best for me too. If its really tough, she can rent a steamer. Comes right off.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I used a mixture of liquid fabric softener and water in a spray bottle when I took down wallpaper border in my kitchen. But I can see why vinegar works too, since that seems to be good for just about anything!

We did our whole house with fabric softener. It's the only thing that works & doesn't smell bad.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I've slowly been remving all the wallpaper from my house. I've lived here 4 years, and only have one little area left to do, but it is definately the hardest. My former owner put a wallpaper border in the dining room. Sounds easy enough to remove, but the walls are textured plaster! I cannot figure out how to get this wallpaper off since I can't just spray it down and scrape it off with a putty knife.

My DH and I bough some sort of wallpaper remove goo at Home Depot and the really big scrubby sponges, but it is such slow going. One of us can maybe get 6 inches of paper off in an hour. The front "vinyl" side of the wall paper peeled right off, but the papery-gluey side of it is still completely stuck to the wall.

Any secrets we don't know? Anyone have this experience? Or should we admit defeat and just put up another border to cover the wallpaper?

If you lived closer I would lend you the black puss

She has removed all the wallpaper in my house including woodchip paper.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would use vinager. I have used it many times with no problems. Another thing you can try is "Krud Kutter" it is a cleaning liquid sold at Home Depot/Lowes and Walmart. I buy the gallon jug of it. I love to use this stuff to get the sticky hair spray off the bathroom floor. With some warm water the krud kutter makes the hard task of removing hairspray, very simple. I would think it would work on wallpaper removal too.

 

[mlittig]

Well, misery loves company because I am in the tedious process of removing wallpaper from unprimed walls The builder had told me the walls were all set to paper and I believed him What a pain in the butt job

 

[S. C.]

Another vote for vinegar, mixed 50/50 with water in a spray bottle worked like a charm.