HappyLady Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 We're going to start taking down the wallpaper in our bedroom this weekend. I've never done this before. I did a test to see if the wallpaper would come right off and it didn't. It looks like the backing is staying glued to the wall. I'm wondering if it would make the job easier to rip off as much wallpaper as possible and then score it (I was planning on trying to use water and vinegar to remove it) or leave it as is because it won't really matter. If it matters, I don't know how old the wallpaper is, but it's at least 8 years old. It looks like it's in pretty good condition so I don't think it's terribly old though. Thoughts? Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 i've always just gotten it wet and allowed to soak. use a spray bottle and rags to catch drips. some places need to be scraped. other places needed more water. never had a problem and did most of my bedroom in under an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyLady Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 i've always just gotten it wet and allowed to soak. use a spray bottle and rags to catch drips. some places need to be scraped. other places needed more water. never had a problem and did most of my bedroom in under an hour. How long did you let it soak? Were there fumes when you scraped it off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Go to the hardware store and get one of those little pokey-roller thingamabobs. It perforates the wallpaper, but doesn't harm the wall at all. Then you can use a spray bottle and dampen the wall paper. I used my steam iron after that to get the glue to give up. It all came off very easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Back about a million years ago, my mother and I removed wallpaper that had been painted over multiple times using a wallpaper steamer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 I've removed a house full of wallpaper--that foul, foul invention--and the best advice that I can give you is to keep trying until you find something that works. How easily (or not) it comes off depends entirely upon what product was used to put it up there in the first place. I've tried every method out there, and some worked well on some rooms and not others, or vice-versa. Everyone's "it'll be a piece of cake if you do it with X product" worked for them, but that does not necessarily mean it will work for you. MY wallpaper never responded well to the scoring, but yours might. I had one room with one wall on which the wallpaper adhesive could not even be sanded off--the wallpaper came off with vinegar and hot water, but the glue is still there. I finally just embraced the texture and painted. Newer wallpaper is generally easier to remove than older, but yours could have been put up with super glue for all you know. It also could have been put on unprimed dry wall, and it may take the drywall paper off no matter what you do. I have picked many dozens of square feet of wallpaper off with my fingernails. Ahhh, memories.... So good luck, and don't feel like you're doing it wrong if someone's sure-fire method doesn't work for you. Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Second on using a spray bottle of warm water. Tear it off wherever possible, use the water to soak the remaining backing and then use a large spade tool to push the mushy paper off. 8 year old paper should come off pretty easily. It's 30 year old paper that will give you nightmares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Jen* Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 I had good luck with pulling the main paper off and then soaking the backing/glue with hot water/fabric softner. The backing and glue came off without a problem. I did have to wash the walls after I was done with each 5-6 foot section so that the glue didn't harden to the walls again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 How long did you let it soak? Were there fumes when you scraped it off? maybe a couple minutes - you can sort of tell when the paper softens up. sometimes the top layer will come off, leaving the bottom layer. then I do it again - and it is much faster (and it changes color so you can see where it is wet.) was the top layer can have a moisture resistant finish. I got it good and wet to where teh water was practically running down. but it works well. If you score it with one of those wall paper scorers, the water will probably get under the surface layer and do a better job of softening the glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 I've removed a house full of wallpaper--that foul, foul invention--and the best advice that I can give you is to keep trying until you find something that works. How easily (or not) it comes off depends entirely upon what product was used to put it up there in the first place. I've tried every method out there, and some worked well on some rooms and not others, or vice-versa. Everyone's "it'll be a piece of cake if you do it with X product" worked for them, but that does not necessarily mean it will work for you. MY wallpaper never responded well to the scoring, but yours might. I had one room with one wall on which the wallpaper adhesive could not even be sanded off--the wallpaper came off with vinegar and hot water, but the glue is still there. I finally just embraced the texture and painted. Newer wallpaper is generally easier to remove than older, but yours could have been put up with super glue for all you know. It also could have been put on unprimed dry wall, and it may take the drywall paper off no matter what you do. I have picked many dozens of square feet of water off with my fingernails. Ahhh, memories.... So good luck, and don't feel like you're doing it wrong if someone's sure-fire method doesn't work for you. Terri :iagree: We've rented the steamer and spent hours and hours with it, peeling off bit by tiny bit. The next room over came off with a quick squirt of plain water from a generic squirt bottle. I'm pretty sure bits of some were put down with super-glue, as Terri said. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure Terri and I have a lot in common regarding wallpaper war stories. We had the scorer thingy -- I think it's called a Tiger -- leave gouges on the wall even though they don't gouge the wall. It sounds like you can rip the upper layer off, then use water (or something stronger) to remove what's left. If you've got the upper layer off you don't want to use the scorer -- the scorer is used to poke holes in the waterproof upper layer so the liquid you're using to dissolve the glue will be able to get in between the wallpaper and the wall. Does that make sense? So you use the scorer as first step, not as a second step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 We tried several methods in the house we bought two years ago. We started with a non main floor room so we could hone our technique. DS1's room only had one wall of paper, so it wasn't too bad. We soaked, ripped off what we could, scored, etc. In the end, once he got the technique down, DH was able to steam off the paper using a steamer someone loaned us, and we found that was the neatest method. After some practice, he was able to get it off so the entire sheet would come off at one time. Scoring left little marks, picking and tearing sometimes messed up the drywall paper underneath. After it was all off we also went back and cleaned the walls thoroughly because there is still residue and so forth on there. You may have to experiment. And hopefully it was applied correctly, because sometimes people paper on naked drywall, which I've heard is a nightmare. If you can start with a room that is less visible, I'd do that as well. We also encountered a few seams where the adhesive was clearly different. My guess is that the previous owner superglued down where the paper was curling or coming up at the seams over the years. It wasn't visible until we had the paper all off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kari C in SC Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Spray bottle with cheap fabric softener added. We had to remove a TON in a rental property. I tried many things and this worked the best. Do not score because it damages the wall. I would soak the first layer, peel, repeat with second layer. Plastic scraper worked well. Oh and the hotter the water the better. You should probably get some liquor and chocolate to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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