What is the best way to remove 50 year old wallpaper?
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Oh boy, are you in for a PROJECT!
I am not trying to be discouraging, really. It is just that I have the same thing and really can't figure out how to do it either.
If you find out a good way to do it, will you please let me know, cuz I really need to do it too, but have been putting it off and putting it off because I know it ain't gonna be easy.
But hey, maybe you will find out a really easy way to do it and then we will both be happy, eh?
go to Homedepot or some hardware store and they will know. goodluck
I think you'll have a hard time trying to remove 50 year old wallpaper. I think you can get these steam devices that help to lift off the wallpaper. I dont think that your ordinary scraper will work.
Im sorry that i cant offer you a more specific answer, but i am sure i saw something on the tv which gives out steam and lifts the wallpaper right off the wall.
When we bought our house and tried taking the paper off we tried saturating it with a liquid that was supposed to do the job. Then we bought a steamer for about $39.00 and used it for every room in the house. It was tedious, but it did a great job. After peeling off a huge strip of paper, we found a note written on the wall by the previous owner's son. He wrote each family members name and the date the paper went up. November, 1956. I think that answers your question.
good luck with that. we tried EVERYTHING in my house, but nothing worked. we ended up putting a new sheet of thin drywall throughout the whole kitchen, right over top of the old drywall. It wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought it would be. I'm really happy with the result, and wish I wouldn't have wasted all that time and money trying to remove the old wallpaper.
But if you still want to try to remove it:
You can rent a steaming device, but it didn't work any better than these options below...
They make a solution you can buy at most stores called "dif"
You can also try a mixture of water and fabric softener.
some people even suggested vinegar and water.
You can buy a scoring tool that is supposed to help these solutions penetrate to the glue.
I found that you had to spray it on, rub it in with your hand, and let it soak for at least 15 minutes before trying to pull it off. Sometimes I repeated the spray several times before pulling.
We even used putty knives to try to get under it. But like I said before, this didn't really work well at my house. Sections of it would come down like a dream, and other sections would tear down to the drywall core. If you have the same problem, I would suggest new drywall over top of the old, as I stated above.
Another option is to try to paint over the wallpaper instead of removing it. I would test an area first, because the paint may even cause the wallpaper to come away from the wall.
Best of luck to you!
You can buy or hire out a steamer. A good tip is to leave the steamer on in the room to build up a good steam.(for maybe 15minutes with the door closed. then put the steamer on the walls and it should come of easily. With a steamer if you have laminate floors down make sure you put something underneath the steamer ad they can get hot and damage the floor.
Taking the wall paper off is hard work with mostly disappointing results. If money is not the question then hire a contractor to do the job. It would definitely be done faster and neater and save you headaches.
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