House with Every Single Wall Covered in Wallpaper (Big Giant Scream) Plus Remodeling

[umsami]

Why?  Why do people do this??  When I say every wall, I mean every wall.  Hallways included.  Right up to the ceiling.  Over 3,000 square feet of early 1980s wallpaper in all of its fabulous 80s glory.  Each room is a different loud pattern. 

 

Tell me truthfully.  How bad would it be to have it removed, either professionally or as a DIY?  Are we talking $5k or so for professional removal?  Is DIY possible with one of those steamers or will I regret even thinking about it?

 

 

[Ellie]

It depends. If the homeowners primed the walls before putting up the wallpaper, it should easily peel off. If they were idiots and put that paper right on the wall, it just might be worth it to pay a professional. I have no idea how much that would be.

 

We have removed wallpaper in almost every house we've owned. None had been installed properly.   :banghead:   We have papered, too, but we always prime first. In this house, all of the bathrooms and the kitchen have wallpaper. I *like* the wallpaper, but wanted something different in a couple of the bathrooms (there are *four* bathrooms!!). Turns out that the builder had all the wallpaper installed directly on the wallboard, such that the wallpaper peels off in tiny little pieces no matter what method you use. We ended up painting over one bathroom with oil-based primer and then painting over it because the wallboard was peeling off with the wallpaper. :banghead:  My next project is to strip the kitchen wallpaper, which I like but it's 20 years old, time for something else. I'm considering paying someone.

[elegantlion]

You will curse the day you bought the house, but if the house is great otherwise, you'll get over it. I have no idea about cost to professionally remove. I'm frugal and I would consider it for an entire house. 

 

Ds says people who put up wallpaper should be obligated to remove it once they sell the house.  :lol:

[MotherGoose]

Hire someone if you can possibly manage it. What took me days took them two hours.

[OneStepAtATime]

Get estimates from different companies.  The prices may vary widely.  And yes, how hard it is to remove will depend on how it was installed.  It may peal off right away, but even if it doesn't you still might be able to get it off yourself, especially if you use a wall paper tool to punch tiny holes in the paper and then steam it (the tiny holes allow the steam to penetrate the glue.  However, it may also be a MASSIVE pain in the rear to take off, like MASSIVE.  

 

Try one room.  See if the paper peals off pretty easily.  If not, then definitely seek quotes from professionals.  It could save you months and months of misery.

[Arctic Bunny]

I didn't know my dad's house was for sale! The matching olive green shag carpet is a keeper though, right?

[Farrar]

It was the style at the time. I know it's messed up, but I'm oddly charmed by it. Of course, I don't have to remove it.

 

We didn't have to deal with this, but my mother did. One thing they did was have paintable wallpaper hung after the old stuff was cleared as best they could. That was a good solution for some rooms - covered imperfections in old walls, meant the old paper didn't have to be 100% gone, yet allowed them to paint.

 

If you're DIY'ing one room at a time, I think it's doable. But if you want it all just done, yeah, hire professionals if you can.

[gardenmom5]

Why?  Why do people do this??  When I say every wall, I mean every wall.  Hallways included.  Right up to the ceiling.  Over 3,000 square feet of early 1980s wallpaper in all of its fabulous 80s glory.  Each room is a different loud pattern. 

 

Tell me truthfully.  How bad would it be to have it removed, either professionally or as a DIY?  Are we talking $5k or so for professional removal?  Is DIY possible with one of those steamers or will I regret even thinking about it?

 

they left the ceilings bare . . . . (and yes, some people paper the ceiling.)

 

as for how bad - first you'd have to try.  score the paper (it allows water to get to the glue, you can buy a scorer in home décor depts.), then soak it with a spray bottle and see how it comes off. 

 

when I removed my 1980s paper, most of it can off reasonably okay - and I was too lazy to score it.

 

it also depends how it was put up.

[cintinative]

It depends. If the homeowners primed the walls before putting up the wallpaper, it should easily peel off. If they were idiots and put that paper right on the wall, it just might be worth it to pay a professional. I have no idea how much that would be.

 

We have removed wallpaper in almost every house we've owned. None had been installed properly.   :banghead:   We have papered, too, but we always prime first. In this house, all of the bathrooms and the kitchen have wallpaper. I *like* the wallpaper, but wanted something different in a couple of the bathrooms (there are *four* bathrooms!!). Turns out that the builder had all the wallpaper installed directly on the wallboard, such that the wallpaper peels off in tiny little pieces no matter what method you use. We ended up painting over one bathroom with oil-based primer and then painting over it because the wallboard was peeling off with the wallpaper. :banghead:  My next project is to strip the kitchen wallpaper, which I like but it's 20 years old, time for something else. I'm considering paying someone.

 

This was our experience in our old house. One of the bathrooms had vinyl wallpaper--super duper easy to get off. The kitchen--had something more modern and it came off in little bits. I tried everything--the gel stuff, vinegar and hot water, etc. It came off with hours and hours of scraping. Not fun, especially in the kitchen where there are lots of cabinets to work around.  ETA: i did score the wallpaper in all cases.

 

IF you can afford it, I would consider getting an estimate.  You *could* test a bit of the wallpaper in each room and see how difficult it is to take down.  That would be sort of committing yourself though. 

 

The other thing is you could ask around about using one of those steamers for removing wallpaper. I think you can rent them. I am not sure how well they work--hopefully someone on here can comment on that.

Edited July 7, 2016 by cintinative

[Tanaqui]

they left the ceilings bare . . . . (and yes, some people paper the ceiling.)

 

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Junie]

We had a lot of wallpaper in our old house that was installed by a previous owner.  I hated all of it.  Most of it was pink.  Some of it we removed ourselves.  Other wallpaper (such as the vertical pink stripes in the two-story tall foyer) we paid to have removed.

 

We saved samples of most of it so we could remember and laugh about how bad it was.

 

In the master bedroom, my husband was having trouble removing the (dark blue with white swirl) wallpaper from one corner.  After a few minutes he realized that whoever installed it had run out of wallpaper and had painted the last foot or so to match it.   :lol:   And underneath all of this wallpaper (in my bedroom) were scrawled the words "I love Hotrod" -- in marker, ballpoint pen, etc. :huh:   :glare:  :laugh:

 

So, I guess that's another thing about wallpaper.  It might be worse underneath.

[SparklyUnicorn]

bad bad bad!!!  I won't sugar coat...it's BAD!!!!

 

But, it's doable. 

 

 

[Katy]

LOL, it's easy to get off, it just takes time.  Buy a scoring thing or five that punches holes in the paper, mix fabric softener 50/50 in a spray bottle, and saturate the paper after you score it.  Let it set 10 minutes.  If it peels off easily, that's all there is to it.  If not, worst case scenario you have to rent a steamer and buy some razor blade scrapers to peel it off.  Silk and Grasscloth are more difficult to get started, but more likely to come off in one piece.

 

FWIW, it's actually coming back in style now. Especially brands like de Gournay or Thibaut.  If I were you I'd spend a day or two learning about the trends.  It's possible half the house will be on-trend within the next few years.

[SparklyUnicorn]

LOL, it's easy to get off, it just takes time.  Buy a scoring thing or five that punches holes in the paper, mix fabric softener 50/50 in a spray bottle, and saturate the paper after you score it.  Let it set 10 minutes.  If it peels off easily, that's all there is to it.  If not, worst case scenario you have to rent a steamer and buy some razor blade scrapers to peel it off.  Silk and Grasscloth are more difficult to get started, but more likely to come off in one piece.

 

FWIW, it's actually coming back in style now. Especially brands like de Gournay or Thibaut.  If I were you I'd spend a day or two learning about the trends.  It's possible half the house will be on-trend within the next few years.

 

No....no it is not always easy.  This depends on the wallpaper.  It depends on how old it is.  It depends on how it was put on there and the type of wall underneath. 

 

I did all of that and it was still HELL....MAJOR HELL.....

 

I used tools, steam, chemicals, etc...etc.....Still some came off in little itty bitty pieces. 

 

Whoever brought it back needs to be stopped.  They are a menace to society!!!  :laugh:

Edited July 7, 2016 by SparklyUnicorn

[umsami]

LOL, it's easy to get off, it just takes time.  Buy a scoring thing or five that punches holes in the paper, mix fabric softener 50/50 in a spray bottle, and saturate the paper after you score it.  Let it set 10 minutes.  If it peels off easily, that's all there is to it.  If not, worst case scenario you have to rent a steamer and buy some razor blade scrapers to peel it off.  Silk and Grasscloth are more difficult to get started, but more likely to come off in one piece.

 

FWIW, it's actually coming back in style now. Especially brands like de Gournay or Thibaut.  If I were you I'd spend a day or two learning about the trends.  It's possible half the house will be on-trend within the next few years.

 

Not these patterns.  Dear God no.   One of the hallways is faux malachite.  This matches up to bedrooms with either stripes, paisley, or flowers....or mixtures of all three.  

 

[Katy]

Not these patterns.  Dear God no.   One of the hallways is faux malachite.  This matches up to bedrooms with either stripes, paisley, or flowers....or mixtures of all three.  

 

 

Oh my.  That is quite taste-specific, isn't it?  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CpS1bZGcmeU/U0hz1DZNCuI/AAAAAAAAvPQ/HKMszjqofEk/s1600/dawnridge-home-tony-duquette-malachite-wall-panel+(1).jpg

[umsami]

Oh my.  That is quite taste-specific, isn't it?  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CpS1bZGcmeU/U0hz1DZNCuI/AAAAAAAAvPQ/HKMszjqofEk/s1600/dawnridge-home-tony-duquette-malachite-wall-panel+(1).jpg

 

Yes, it's just like that... only a much longer hallway.  It is um..... interesting in such a large amount.  One is surrounded by the malachite.  LOL

[Caclcoca]

We bought the same house.  lol  We have taken the wall paper off most of the walls.  We painted over the paper in the dining room.  It was a blue on blue striped floral (horid).  That went well. The paper in my dd's bathroom came off easily, but the rest of it was a pain.  We didn't have the money to hire someone, so we borrowed a steamer and scraped it off ourselves.  It took a long time.  If it is in your budget, I would hire it out.

[zoobie]

If you live somewhere with cheap labor, hire it out. The industrial steamers and expertise is worth it.

 

We had a house where the wallpaper was put directly on the Sheetrock with no prepping. Then the woman sponge painted over it. Pink, white, and green stripes. In several rooms and the hallway.

[kbutton]

If it comes off badly but you are handy with sanding, consider just ripping it off however it comes off, watering down some joint compound until it's a bit less heavy (drywall mud), and doing a thin coat to smooth it all out. You have to sand afterward. 

 

We had walls papered half in stuff that came off easily but left patches of glue everywhere. Above it was paper that came off in tiny pieces and pulled the paper off the drywall at times. My dad came planning to peel and do a skim coat. Eventually, he just tried mudding over it. Apparently watered down drywall mud was exactly what the paper wanted because it started peeling off in clumps! It was still messy, and he did the skim coat/sand thing, but it saved HOURS of additional work trying to tear the old stuff off.

 

I believe my dad has also just put drywall mud right over paper entirely, sand it, and had it turn out okay. If the paper is peeling anywhere, you do have to take off the bits that are sticking up first. Applying mud as a way to peel paper was a new thing for him at our house!

 

 

[Ravin]

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

Not any worse than that popcorn stuff that was so popular once upon a time!

[trulycrabby]

Not these patterns. Dear God no. One of the hallways is faux malachite. This matches up to bedrooms with either stripes, paisley, or flowers....or mixtures of all three.

 

No advice, but we definitely need pics! :)

 

Actually, my advice is to have it professionally removed. Life is too short to remove all that wallpaper unless you are getting aid to do so.

[J-rap]

Hmm..  I don't think it's quite as bad as what people are saying.  We moved into a 100-year-old house where every room had 7 layers of wallpaper (except the bathrooms).  We rented a machine/tool and did it ourselves.  (Honestly, it has been so long now that I can't quite remember what the machine was... a steamer I think?  And a special scraper?)  For the bedrooms, we generally made it a day project for two people (for each bedroom).  My sister and I did all the bedrooms.  My husband and a friend did the living room and dining room and halls and stairs, but don't recall how long that took.  The stairs were definitely the trickiest.  

 

So yes, it was a big job, but not as big as other jobs and we did take our time doing it.  (Spread it out over a period of a few months.)  But it wasn't awful, and it was worth it to get our home.  

 

After removing everything, we went right back in and wallpapered everything again!   :D  Not the kitchen or bathrooms though.

 

[Ellie]

LOL, it's easy to get off, it just takes time.  Buy a scoring thing or five that punches holes in the paper, mix fabric softener 50/50 in a spray bottle, and saturate the paper after you score it.  Let it set 10 minutes.  If it peels off easily, that's all there is to it.  If not, worst case scenario you have to rent a steamer and buy some razor blade scrapers to peel it off.  Silk and Grasscloth are more difficult to get started, but more likely to come off in one piece.

 

 

 

I promise you that it is not, not, not always that easy. We've done all of those things and still fought the wallpaper.

[Farrar]

Save pieces of it. A friend moved into a house that was all papered and they saved bits to frame as they removed it all.

 

That house was fascinating. Every little thing was papered - every outlet was papered and the paper on each was perfectly lined up to meet the paper on the wall around it. They had a huge bar in the basement and the bar was papered too. And, of course, the paper on the bar lined up perfectly with the wall behind it.

[lmrich]

installing wallpaper and then removing old wallpaper is part of my real-world pre-marital counseling - if you can survive this with a sense of humor, you are golden!

[Sherry in OH]

If you are getting quotes, also get some for installing ¼†sheetrock.  If the walls were not primed before the paper was applied, a thin layer of new drywall is quicker and easier than repairing large expanses of damaged walls.  If you decide to install new drywall, you can sandwich the wallpaper between the old and new drywall.  

[Guest]

Add some brass fixtures and some mauve sculpted carpet and just call it Retro. Tres chic. :)

[Guest]

I didn't know my dad's house was for sale! The matching olive green shag carpet is a keeper though, right?

As long as it has the velvet matching brocade drapes and wallpaper!! My parents house had RED shag carpet and black and red velvet wallpaper and drapes when they moved into it. It looked like a Spanish bordello.

[Arctic Bunny]

As long as it has the velvet matching brocade drapes and wallpaper!! My parents house had RED shag carpet and black and red velvet wallpaper and drapes when they moved into it. It looked like a Spanish bordello.

The couch has velvet brocade. Does that count?

[mamiof5]

Aaaagh!!!!! 😠😠😠 No comments/advice, but just commiseration. What A PAIN 😭😭

[SparklyUnicorn]

Not these patterns.  Dear God no.   One of the hallways is faux malachite.  This matches up to bedrooms with either stripes, paisley, or flowers....or mixtures of all three.  

 

 

tell ppl you love the retro look

 

LOL

 

If it's not in terrible shape, you could just do one room at a time and take your time.  It is a pain, but I don't think it would be a deal breaker for me even after going through having to remove it.  Of all the remodeling stuff we did, it wasn't the hardest thing.  It's just not always quick and easy. 

Edited July 7, 2016 by SparklyUnicorn

[LifeLovePassion]

In our basement, there was paneling in a bedroom. They wallpapered the closet, including the ceiling. It didn't come off nice at all, later we took out the while wall to expand storage.

[elegantlion]

Pretty sure Sisyphus had his choice, pulling down wallpaper or pushing the rock. He chose wisely

[Guest]

The couch has velvet brocade. Does that count?

Welcome to the club. :)

[Matryoshka]

Not these patterns.  Dear God no.   One of the hallways is faux malachite.  This matches up to bedrooms with either stripes, paisley, or flowers....or mixtures of all three.  

 

 

Hey, I'll take the 80's over the 70's any day.  Guess what our house was all papered in when I bought it?  Pink and teal ain't got nothing on avocado green, harvest gold, and orange.  And the 70's prints....  :ack2:

 

We were fortunate in that there was only one layer of paper, and they do seem to have primed most of it, so we were able to take most of it off ourselves without too much difficulty.

 

Then we paid someone else to repaper it.  Why repaper?  Horsehair plaster!  House is almost 100 years older than the 70's wallpaper was....

[Happy]

Pretty sure Sisyphus had his choice, pulling down wallpaper or pushing the rock. He chose wisely

Oh yeah! Too true!

 

For what it's worth, I just painted over my bathroom wallpaper. We know this less than ideal builder did not prime the sheetrock prior to hanging the paper. There's no way we could have peeled that off. I've been there and done that....NEVER again.

 

We did two coats of oil based primer, then a thin coat of paint. You could still see the texture of the wallpaper. Ugh. My dh got in there and put two thick coats of paint on it to fill in all the texture. If I remember right, he lightly rubbed the wall with sandpaper after painting one of those coats. Now if you didn't know there was wallpaper beneath you would not be able to tell. I'm in a lot of houses each week and I see bad jobs all the time.

 

Make sure all the seams are glued down well before you prime. I doubt this will work on velvet flocked paper, so pay someone to remove that.

 

Good luck!

[SparklyUnicorn]

One of the rooms in our house had extremely old wallpaper.  I really do not know how old, but it was this thick textured puffy stuff with a weird pattern.  When we removed it it had been laid over plastered walls which were not very even.  And the patter from the puffy part can still be faintly seen on the wall even though we primed it 2 times and painted three times.  It's in the bedroom of the younger kid and we let him do whatever he wants to the wall (stickers, draw on it, clings...whatever).  You can't ruin it at least.   LOL

 

That was the absolute most difficult to remove wall paper.

Other parts of the house had those lovely murals of things like woodland scenes.  The newest stuff was that ivy pattern in the kitchen.  That was the easiest and quickest to get off. 

[Storygirl]

When I removed wallpaper from a house, in a few places I was able to grab a little corner and peel the paper off of the entire room in minutes. But then it took me five hours standing on a ladder with my arms over my head to scrape off one wallpaper border that ran across the top of the master bedroom wall. So it really depends. It might be easy or horribly difficult.

 

My mom loved wallpaper in the 80s, so I grew up in a very patterned (but carefully coordinated) house. When they wanted to sell that house, she wouldn't listen when I suggested pulling the wallpaper down. At the time it had pepto pink and white stripes down the main hallway and a pink and white toile pattern in the living room. It took a long time to sell that home.

[TranquilMind]

Why?  Why do people do this??  When I say every wall, I mean every wall.  Hallways included.  Right up to the ceiling.  Over 3,000 square feet of early 1980s wallpaper in all of its fabulous 80s glory.  Each room is a different loud pattern. 

 

Tell me truthfully.  How bad would it be to have it removed, either professionally or as a DIY?  Are we talking $5k or so for professional removal?  Is DIY possible with one of those steamers or will I regret even thinking about it?

 

I bought a house like that at auction once. Fortunately, it was done in actual paper, not vinyl, from the 20's and 30's, believe it or not. 

 

It was very easy to remove.  The newer stuff can be harder.  Though a recent house did have wallpaper that had dried out enough that my son peeled it off an entire room in about 5 minutes.  It was great.

So- you never know.  You can use a steamer and Zinsser wallpaper remover if you want.  I have never hired it out. 

[TranquilMind]

Hey, I'll take the 80's over the 70's any day.  Guess what our house was all papered in when I bought it?  Pink and teal ain't got nothing on avocado green, harvest gold, and orange.  And the 70's prints....  :ack2:

 

We were fortunate in that there was only one layer of paper, and they do seem to have primed most of it, so we were able to take most of it off ourselves without too much difficulty.

 

Then we paid someone else to repaper it.  Why repaper?  Horsehair plaster!  House is almost 100 years older than the 70's wallpaper was....

 

Ahhh, the 70's.  Worst clothes.  Worst home design and decorating decade, in my opinion, and I was there. 

[4ofus]

I just removed 3 rooms of wallpaper. We were lucky; the walls had been primed beneath. An employee at the paint store recommended that I first try to remove the paper using a dawn + water solution without the perforating tool. It worked like a charm. I washed the wallpaper sheet with the solution, peeled off the top layer, washed the glue layer with the solution, peeled off the glue layer. It can be done if the paper was put up on a primed wall. Good luck!

[Guest]

Yeah, it definitely depends on many factors, especially what the application method was. I had to take some down, but it was easy-peasy. I didn't even score it. Just started peeling, sprayed generously with warm water and then used a large putty blade to push it back. I mean, it took several hours, but it came off in sheets.

 

I have certainly heard of older papers coming off in tiny 1" pieces. That would make me stab myself with the putty blade.

[speedmom4]

If they primed the walls before they put the wallpaper down it should come off quite easily. None of the wallpaper in my house was done that way. It came off in tiny little bitty microscopic pieces. In some places it took sheetrock off with it. In one room we literally just gave up and put wallpaper over it... :leaving:  

Edited July 7, 2016 by speedmom4

[Ellie]

Ahhh, the 70's.  Worst clothes.  Worst home design and decorating decade, in my opinion, and I was there. 

 

I'm so thankful that we were a single-income family in the 70s and didn't have the money to invest in all that orange and avocado and all that stuff. I think we managed to be fairly neutral, lol.

[Arctic Bunny]

Welcome to the club. :)

My dad rents the house out, and my MIL thinks we should buy it from him and renovate it. It'll probably be my problem some day anyways, and I definitely don't want to talk my dad into selling me his house so I can flip it, all while 4 hours away.

[Upptacka]

You will curse the day you bought the house, but if the house is great otherwise, you'll get over it. I have no idea about cost to professionally remove. I'm frugal and I would consider it for an entire house.

 

Ds says people who put up wallpaper should be obligated to remove it once they sell the house. :lol:

A friend of mine actually put it in the purchase agreement that the sellers had to remove the wallpaper before closing. Sellers agreed......I think they ended up paying someone to remove it, but everyone ended up happy.

[TranquilMind]

I'm so thankful that we were a single-income family in the 70s and didn't have the money to invest in all that orange and avocado and all that stuff. I think we managed to be fairly neutral, lol.

We were lower middle class but managed to get the lovely double decker copper tone oven, at one point. No avocado, that I recall.

[Guest]

If it's glued down well, I believe you can always hire someone to come spray texture over it. Or rent one yourself- but for all the work of taping off and getting the right technique for us it's always been worth hiring. It will update the texture type as well. That's a dead giveaway on the age of the house, so when we've updated other houses we always retexture the walls to a more preferable style. It's the little stuff sometimes like that and door hinges and knobs that aren't fun to pay for but really make a difference.

[kiwik]

I am considering just replacing the wall linings. It will mean I can insulate the walls while I am at it. I have hardboard walls in the bedroom with 2 layers at least of wallpaper of which the top is peeling in places. The lounge paper I will just paint over.