Removing wallpaper.....

So I finally got the ambition to tackle my spare bedroom, and there is wallpaper on the walls from like 1920
What is the best way to remove it?
Do I rent one of those irons?
Then do I have to sand the wall to remove the dried glue??

Thanks

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

After removing it from 90% of the surface of our house, I just want to say good luck

And if you do find a good way to remove it, let me know. We tried everything - DIF, vinegar and hot water, detergent and hot water, just hot water, steamer.... It was hell

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Good luck!! We tried and wound up re-sheetrocking instead!

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

we just did it at our house, 2 bedrooms and the bathroom were covered.

got it the wall wet, with a water pump and steamer
peeled it off scraped the glue, so much work, but fortunately the wall paper didnt give us a struggle, the glue sure did.... good luck and do it slow....
heres a b4 and after of mine
(this is the 3rd bedroom, which will be an office for now)
B4

and after (dont mind my windex bottle there, and that hole u c on the bottom, is covered now, (its the heating vent)

Message edited 11/11/2005 4:14:27 PM.

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

UUUUGHHH>...We did this to my DH's old Bedroom, now computer room and the master bath..(M.B. was done last weekend) and there's still one little piece he cannot get.
Anyway, we used the DIF and I believe a scrubby sponge.
We are thinking of doing our main bathroom after the holiday and the wallpaper has "like" aluminum foil behind it...contractor told us not to use an iron..Sorry, cant remember the reason..
I would ask maybe someone in Home Depot or Lowe's.
I hate wallpaper and again, best of luck!
Here are before and after pics of our computer room!

Image Attachment(s):

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Where do you live? I have a steamer you can borrow if you want. It's a small one, you can rent a bigger one that would probably be more effective for you.

It's a really messy job. We tried with everything, the steamer, DIF, hot water, nothing worked. We ended up having to hire a professional to come in and take it down. The walls and the ceiling in our kitchen were done a really long time ago, and the sheetrock wasn't prepped right, so the glue had been absobed into the sheetrock and wouldn't release no matter what we did.

Good luck!

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

I have removed wallpaper from all of the bedrooms in our house. We used warm water and downey fabric softener. Or any fabric softener. It worked great. I tried the steamer and the diff - I got much better results with the Downey.

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Posted by LisaW

Good luck!! We tried and wound up re-sheetrocking instead!

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

We used the DIF and they have that little tool that has little spikes that you're supposed to rub all over the wallpaper first and then spray on the DIF.

Removing wallpaper is a huge PITA...good luck!!!

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

what is a DIF??

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

I'm in Wantagh, if you want the steamer. It wasn't that expensive (less than $100) at Home Depot.

DIF is this chemical stuff that you spray on the paper after you've scored it. It's supposed to seep in and release the glue. If your paper was hung properly, it will work great. Unfortunately, you won't really know until you start trying to remove it.

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

I used DIF and didn't find it helpful at all. Removing wallpaper is definately a PITA. I will Never put up wallpaper after removing it when I first moved in. A steamer and a scraper will do the job. Just be careful that if you have sheetrock that it doesn't rip!

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Posted by ODonnell

After removing it from 90% of the surface of our house, I just want to say good luck

And if you do find a good way to remove it, let me know. We tried everything - DIF, vinegar and hot water, detergent and hot water, just hot water, steamer.... It was hell

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

how it comes off, will depends on the type of paper and how it was put up.

The wallpaper in our kitchen came down pretty easily with DIF and a scraper. It was a vinyl paper so I was able to peel the paper off and then just attack the backing/glue with the DIF.

My parents just had wallpaper taken down and it was ridicluous how easily it came off. The walls were property prepped before putting it up, and it just peeled off completely in full sheets.

The wallpaper in our living room had been painted over a number of times (we didn't even realize there WAS paper in there until we looked closely). It was much more difficult to remove. It came off in small pieces at a time, and I eventually gave up and hired the painters to finish the job.

Now I've got the dining room to tackle, and I don't even think I'm going to try it myself. Its also been painted over and I don't want to be breathing in the DIF fumes.

Good luck!

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

I want to add that we were advised to spackle over the seams in the wallpaper in our kitchen to hide them and then just sand it down paint over it all instead of taking the paper off. In some parts of our house they papered right onto the sheetrock without using a primer first and our only other option was to sheetrock over it, but the spackle actually did the job

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

We used DIF & HOT HOT water. It came off in strips.

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

Re: Removing wallpaper.....

When I rented a house - I hired my painter to do it --- he charged only 350 to remove the wall paper and to paint. IMO --- that is worth every penny!!!!