Difficult wallpaper removal?
Question:I have removed a lot of wallpaper before, but the wallpaper I'm currently removing is the worst. I use "Diff" and a various removal tools, but when I pull off the wallpaper it often takes part of the wall with it. Is there any way to prevent this? Why is it so hard this time? Was the wallpaper applied incorrectly? LASTLY... how to I fix all those tears and gouges in the wall? I'm afraid I'll never be able to get joint compound smooth enough.
Answers:
Either way too much glue was used when they put the wall paper up, or the drywall was, and is, in bad shape causing it to tear easily. Use the light joint compound, put it on flat, even if it shrinks. It's much, much easier to put two or more coats on than to sand down a thick coat. There should be almost no sanding at all, just a quick hit with a sanding pad should do it. If you find yourself sanding one spot for more than about 15 seconds, then you are probably putting too much mud on the wall. Remember to paint your drywall patches with a primer before painting, otherwise you'll have "flashing" which simply means that the paint will look different over your patches because more of it will be absorbed by the open patch.
the best thing for stubbour wallpaper is those steams you can rent at home depot or lowes, in my opinion its the only way to go, as far a gouges and tears, a little DAP, or some kind or plastering compound should do the trick, if they are just little tears and gouges you can even use toothpaste, it makes a great touchup tool.
mike v
ok you need to go to HOme Depot or Lowes and buy a wall paper steamer. It will cost less than 50.oo and well worth the money.. I live in an 80 year old house that i had to remove like 12 layers and 80 years worth of wall paper. Don't even bother with that chemical stuff. hold the steamer on the wall for about 45 second then with your scraper it (and I mean all the layers ) should come off. as for the gouges ya gotta just putty those and then sand them down. Good luck!
If it's REALLY old paper, put on with glue, that's a toughy.I've seen that just primed and painted.
But generally, using a spray bottle, use HOT water, let it soak, and then with a plastic 4" scraper, take off the print half of the paper.Keep spraying as it soaks in.Then do the same for the remaining glue half. Wash the remaining residue with hot water and T.S.P., and then fill any damaged area's with drywall compound, sand, spot prime, and then full prime, light sand and two coat your finish colour.
Been there before. Even a professional could not remove it. It could be that no sizing was used prior to putting the paper up. You have to use sizing even on prepasted paper. Try this: Score the paper all over with a Tiger tool. Then mix liquid fabric softener (about 1/2 C. softener with a quart of water). Work on one section at a time. Spray the scored paper generously, wait for about 15 minutes. Spray another section so it can be soaking. Return to the first section and try to pull it off. Actually, you'll probably have to scrape it off with a putty knife. This is very messy but it was the only thing that worked for me.
You can repair the gouges with compound and when dry, sand it smooth.
They have solutions that will help remove the wall paper. That's not my real answer. I say keep ripping, when you're done. patch with joint compound. believe in yourself. use a 8 or 10 inch putty knife smear it on as thin as possible. then let it dry, then sand, if you don't like the results then put on another layer. the thinner the coats the better the end result will be.
The Wall paper Steamer is great. But I also used a product called DIF.
I purchased an old home that had 4-5 Wall paper layers. You cannot get it all in one shot but you can take one or two at a time. Most likely you will get a little aggrevated because it takes time. You'll probably scratch the the wall board. Hopefully it's sheetrock and not plaster.
I removed all the paper and then coated the wall in a few areas with with compound. Sanded it and it's beautiful now.
If you do not want to deal with all that compounding because it's really that bad, I would tear all the rock off the wall and start over( i done this before too). installing sheetrock is not so dificult. Careful not to touch the ceiling though. you do not want to re rock the ceiling. Compounding a few joints is not so bad and takes a lot less time than scraping all the rock. Use paper tape and paper corners w/ metal, none of that new fangled vinyl stuff. The paper is thin and takes less coating and sands down nicely with the compound.
Cutting the rock off is easily done with good razor knife. Cut it off in pieces so you are not handling large amounts. Most of it can go inside trash bags too. Dampen the wall to relieve some of the dust.
Good Luck!
I'm no expert, but I watch "Sell This House" all the time, and they always paint over wallpaper that was applied incorrectly (usually this means that the wallpaper was glued directly to the drywall, and this is a no-no. The drywall needs to be prepped first with a primer.) They have learned from experience that it is not worth trying to remove it, because it does just what you are describing, and often times people have to replace the drywall! I wouldn't do any steaming, you will get the drywall wet and it will even get worse.
Steam will only get some wallpaper off.
As for the joint compound, you'll have be extra careful when applying that or putty to fill the wholes so you won't have to sand an extra long time. If you get the steam to work, I think you'll find your job will be a lot easier.
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