I really, really, really want to get rid of it. But I've never stripped wallpaper and I need some advice. My friend just removed the paper in her bathroom and she had to have the room re-drywalled! Apparently, the old wallpaper glue has a tendency to take chunks of drywall with it as you strip the paper off. I think the previous owners papered over already painted walls, which tends to protect the wall, but I'm still a little nervous.
Have you removed wallpaper? Do you recommend electric steamers or the old-fashioned spray and strip method? Any tips?
It was hard to get good pics:
The kids bathroom - light blue and silver paint!
My bathroom. My favorite part is the clear lightswitch plate.
7 comments:
When removing wallpaper I found it best to have every tool EVER created for the job! Seriously, I used the sprays, I steamed, I peeled, I used tweezers. There really is nothing that will make the job less horrible. The steamer worked well at taking off the wallpaper but it did tend to take the drywall off with it. Good luck!
It's true... be prepared for horribleness. But the end result will be so worth it.
The best tool I found was called a Paper Tiger... it scores the wallpaper with lots of little tears. Then spray it with either fabric softener or wallpaper stripper, let it soak in and scrape it off with a large metal putty knife.
Have fun!
Good luck! I wish I had some advice for you, but I am absolutely terrified of the whole DIY home improvement thing. Hence our walls are still all white, after being in our house almost two years. I'm sure whatever you come up with will end up looking fantastic in the end, though!
I agree that the Paper Tiger is great, and it feels so good to own something called a Paper Tiger.
We recently bought a home that has wallpaper in more than half of it. We used the paper tiger thing as well and the special wallpaper remover that was next to it at Home Depot. It worked really well, at least for the half room we did.... only 5 1/2 rooms left!
so it's painted over? that makes it tougher. in a couple of bathrooms, i shut the door and ran the shower until it got really steamy and it peeled off pretty well. if you use a paper tiger to score the paper first, it should work better.
if that's not enough, then you might try scoring it, then wetting it down with warm water, and scraping it off with a plastic putty knife. i didn't find the solutions to be much more help than plain water.
or, if it ends up peeling off in 1/4" strips, like one project of ours, you can hire someone to do it for you. that's what we did when the wallpaper threatened to drive me insane.
i hope your wallpaper is nicer to you. and it's worth it. it's so nice when it's done!
and after my long-windedness, i just realized everyone else pretty much said what i did. ha!
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