Who hates wallpaper? What is the best way to remove it? Do you do it yourself or have someone else do it? Can you give me an idea of cost per square foot to remove it?
I HATE wallpaper. Really I do. There's so much that can be done with paint to look just as nice, and not ruin a wall.
Soak the walls down with one of those pump sprayers filled with warm water and a generous amount of Dawn liquid. Let it sit for a few minutes, until you see the water soaking through the paper. Then peel away.
On occasion, I have come across stubborn paper that had to be removed with a putty knife, or 6 inch drywall knife.
Hopefully, the wall was not only lined before it was wallpapered, but it was primed before the lining went on.
It's a messy job, but it doesn't really take that long.
If feasable I prefer just to knock out the wall and re-drywall!! I hate wallpaper. I'll never do that in a kitchen or most baths so i'm stuck with tearing the crap down.
Luckily the newer wallpaper comes down much easier but unfortunatly we aren't all dealing with new houses!
I have a deep hatred for wallpaper you just never know what's behind it! If wallpaper is placed over wood lath and plaster has been painted if you try to remove the painted wallpaper, you will most likely damage the plaster. I hire professionals to tackle wallpaper now!
[addsig]
Hopefully it is paper based. Then you can use alot of things to get it off (I have used this oranage colored/sented stuff from lowes), but about anything that would dissolve the glue would work. Sometimes if you score it lightly with a knife, the water based mixture will soak in better. If it is Vinyl wallpaper, you can try scring it with a knife and soaking it. It will probably stay attached. Thus you are on to the steamer option, leaving it, or drywall. Have fun swearing at it (my language when doing this has not been acceptable for my kids to hear).
Steamers work great on both paper and vinyl wallpaper, but leave a big mess behind.
If you're steaming walls with nice wood mouldings, then be sure to protect or continually wipe the wood because the steams of glue water can do some serious damage.
DIF is also an effective method.
The best way I've found to apply the DIF is by using one of those $12 garden pump sprayers to hose down the wallpaper. Again, protect those wood mouldings because this makes for one soupy mess.
Either way, this is hands-down one of the worst jobs in rehabbing.
To give you an idea of how much is sucks, I just paid two guys $2000 to strip a 1500 sq foot condo.
Sure it sounds steep, but believe me, once you've stripped wallpaper enough times, you realize no price is too high.
Im actually going thru this now. I had a buddy come over with one of those industrial steamers and the only thing that helped with was to get off the top paper and not the glue underneath.
Dif seems to work the best because its a gel that keeps it constantly wet. When you get down to the drywall and there is just a glaze of glue, scrub dif off and scrub with the vinegar or dtergent.
This has proven to be the quickest way in my personal situation however the whole time I was doing it I was still saying to myself 'theres got to be a quicker way'.
I highly recommend that you purchase a steamer anyway. that way when you find the person who installed the paper you can torture them with it.
Hated it.
Like everyone else...
Give it a try yourself by first permiating the surface with a paper tiger, then DIF (gel or liquid), let stand 15 minutes. Scrape! Viola!
If no Viola....Hire it done...
Sam
I have recently been told to Kilz over the existing wallpaper and then paint. This would basically eliminate bubbling. Has anyone had any experience with this? Please give me some input.
Well I have been following this topic for a while now in my own personal house I have this hallway with this wallpaper that is got to be 30 plus years old which I found under paneling. I called a contractor out who said they would remove it for 250 bucks I thought why not better then killing a day doing it. Well I thought and thought about it some more and decided to use a spayer and hot water with dish soap in it 2 hrs later the whole hallway is done and I saved 250 bucks also.
I HATE wallpaper. Really I do. There's so much that can be done with paint to look just as nice, and not ruin a wall.
Soak the walls down with one of those pump sprayers filled with warm water and a generous amount of Dawn liquid. Let it sit for a few minutes, until you see the water soaking through the paper. Then peel away.
On occasion, I have come across stubborn paper that had to be removed with a putty knife, or 6 inch drywall knife.
Hopefully, the wall was not only lined before it was wallpapered, but it was primed before the lining went on.
It's a messy job, but it doesn't really take that long.
Dif and a paper tiger are where I would start.
And, if the Dif and paper tiger don't work, you can rent a steamer that WILL work.
Wallpaper sucks!
If feasable I prefer just to knock out the wall and re-drywall!! I hate wallpaper. I'll never do that in a kitchen or most baths so i'm stuck with tearing the crap down.
Luckily the newer wallpaper comes down much easier but unfortunatly we aren't all dealing with new houses!
GOOD LUCK
I have a deep hatred for wallpaper you just never know what's behind it! If wallpaper is placed over wood lath and plaster has been painted if you try to remove the painted wallpaper, you will most likely damage the plaster. I hire professionals to tackle wallpaper now!
[addsig]
I have had success with vinegar and water. The key is to be patient and wait till it soaks in to the paper.
Hopefully it is paper based. Then you can use alot of things to get it off (I have used this oranage colored/sented stuff from lowes), but about anything that would dissolve the glue would work. Sometimes if you score it lightly with a knife, the water based mixture will soak in better. If it is Vinyl wallpaper, you can try scring it with a knife and soaking it. It will probably stay attached. Thus you are on to the steamer option, leaving it, or drywall. Have fun swearing at it (my language when doing this has not been acceptable for my kids to hear).
Steamers work great on both paper and vinyl wallpaper, but leave a big mess behind.
If you're steaming walls with nice wood mouldings, then be sure to protect or continually wipe the wood because the steams of glue water can do some serious damage.
DIF is also an effective method.
The best way I've found to apply the DIF is by using one of those $12 garden pump sprayers to hose down the wallpaper. Again, protect those wood mouldings because this makes for one soupy mess.
Either way, this is hands-down one of the worst jobs in rehabbing.
To give you an idea of how much is sucks, I just paid two guys $2000 to strip a 1500 sq foot condo.
Sure it sounds steep, but believe me, once you've stripped wallpaper enough times, you realize no price is too high.
Good luck!
[addsig]
Im actually going thru this now. I had a buddy come over with one of those industrial steamers and the only thing that helped with was to get off the top paper and not the glue underneath.
Dif seems to work the best because its a gel that keeps it constantly wet. When you get down to the drywall and there is just a glaze of glue, scrub dif off and scrub with the vinegar or dtergent.
This has proven to be the quickest way in my personal situation however the whole time I was doing it I was still saying to myself 'theres got to be a quicker way'.
I highly recommend that you purchase a steamer anyway. that way when you find the person who installed the paper you can torture them with it.
good luck
Hated it.
Like everyone else...
Give it a try yourself by first permiating the surface with a paper tiger, then DIF (gel or liquid), let stand 15 minutes. Scrape! Viola!
If no Viola....Hire it done...
Sam
If any of yall need help with installing the new wallpaper, just let me know.
_________________
Mike J
I believe in adding value with quality.[ Edited by mikejaquish on Date 01/19/2005 ]
I have recently been told to Kilz over the existing wallpaper and then paint. This would basically eliminate bubbling. Has anyone had any experience with this? Please give me some input.
David
Well I have been following this topic for a while now in my own personal house I have this hallway with this wallpaper that is got to be 30 plus years old which I found under paneling. I called a contractor out who said they would remove it for 250 bucks I thought why not better then killing a day doing it. Well I thought and thought about it some more and decided to use a spayer and hot water with dish soap in it 2 hrs later the whole hallway is done and I saved 250 bucks also.