# Wallpaper is not coming off!



## Joshie (Apr 1, 2014)

Hey guys, my grandmas wallpaper that I'm trying to get off is not coming off at all! If it does it comes off in little tears. Steamed, used dif (covered everything this time!) I'm guess it was applied right to the drywall. I want to paint over it...what kind of steps should I take to paint over it? Primer? Skim coat? Just not 100% confident that I can do it based on my own knowledge.

Thanks for the help everyone! I appreciate it!


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Welcome to the world of wallpaper removal. There are several things yet to try such as a scoring tool and lots of hot water. I would highly recommend against painting over wall paper.


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## VAProPainter (Jan 29, 2014)

Try scoring a section, and rolling on a solution of hot wallpaper and fabric softener. You may have to roll several times before adhesive starts to loosen, but I have found fabric softener to be more effective than dif on difficult removals. Also a zip strip tool works much better than a standard broad knife for scraping. Good luck.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

remove the drywall. replace with new drywall.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Fix'n it said:


> remove the drywall. replace with new drywall.


You got to be kidding?


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

ToolSeeker said:


> You got to be kidding?


absolutely not. i have removed wallpaper before. what a PITA and freaking mess.
THEN, i had to fix the damaged DW. of course some WP comes off easy enough to not warrant this'


Joshie
how much time & effort do you have into what you have done so far ?


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

In my opinion, wallpaper is either going to come off, or it is not. We can talk about hotter water, longer soak times, fabric softener, paper tigers, etc. However, those approaches simply pale in comparison to how the wallpaper was applied. It reaches a point where it simply is not worth it.

Replacing the drywall is obviously an option, but when you consider removing the toilet, sink/vanity, lights, all door, baseboard and window trim, etc., I think it's really overkill. Don't forget the wall/ceiling corner seams. If the ceiling is popcorn, you have a whole 'nother kettle of fish, because now you either have to remove a popcorn ceiling as well, or try to feather in the popcorn at the edges after finishing that seam. Even if it's not, you still have to tape the ceiling joints, and then repaint the ceiling as well. (You can sometimes get away with caulking that joint rather than taping.)

Painting over wallpaper actually works fine, if prepared right. If the wallpaper is vinyl, then it's laminated - i.e. it's in basically 2 layers - the outer plasticy layer, and the paper layer attached to the wall. Normally you can peel off the outer layer, leaving the rough paper attached to the wall. If the wallpaper is paper, then you don't really need to do anything.

Even if you're painting over, you should still wet the wall first, to help find any areas that are not really well attached. You may notice some bubble ups, or some peeling areas. These should all be removed.

Scrape and scrub and areas that you _have_ gotten off, to remove any wallpaper paste.

Fill in any larger holes or gouges created when trying to remove the wallpaper, with joint compound. Let dry and sand.

Give everything a coat of Gardz, to seal off the paper and and residual wallpaper paste. Lightly sand when dry.

Skim coat the entire wall with drywall compound. I think the best method is to add water to the compound to get it thinner, apply to the walls with a paint roller (1/2" or 3/4" nap), and smooth with a squeegee. Lightly sand to final smoothness.

Prime again with Gardz to seal the drywall compound.

Paint.

Here's a pretty good explanation. The "primer" in your case is Gardz. I don't find a need for a second or third coat of compound, but YMMV. This tutorial recommends 120 or 100 grit sandpaper, but I think that's too coarse. Your final sanding should be done with grit in the range 150 - 220. Today's paints are thicker and will fill in hairline sanding marks, but you still want smaller marks than 120 will deliver IMO.

http://www.familyhandyman.com/drywall/how-to-skim-coat-walls/view-all


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## rbriggs82 (Mar 4, 2013)

Use a palm sander with 60 or 80 grit paper and buzz the entire thing. That'll break the surface tension and allow water to absorb through.

Don't use a scoring tool they work but can make for a nightmare when it comes off. If you press too hard with it water will get under the first layer of the sheetrock which will make for a fun time cutting out bubbles and whatnot. 



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


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## ltd (Jan 16, 2011)

Fix'n it said:


> remove the drywall. replace with new drywall.


sorry , no. I think joe would agree ,but no.


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## Danahy (Feb 23, 2014)

Joshie. 
You have already said you can't get the paper off and you want to paint it , fine. Wallpaper that is applied to bare drywall sucks more then, well pretty much anything. All options require a ton of effort, even for a pro. For me, Working for grandma pays not much more then a coffee, conversation and a fried egg sandwich which is more than I ask of her. 
How you should paint over paper has already been mentioned, so I won't go there. I will just share that the last time I painted over paper that was applied to bare drywall I took the opportunity to try something fun. First it was in my own spare (basement) kitchen, and secondly I had a bunch of leftover paints available. 
Primed everything with cover stain (oil and it stinks). Patched areas that needed lovin'. Painted and did a faux brick backsplash using 1/4" tape and mud.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

I've removed dozens of rooms of wallpaper over the years and rarely do you have so much trouble that you consider drywalling over it all. Lots of good advice above. I just want to add that PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE is the rule of the day. You have to soak, soak some more, soak it again, over and over and over. Give each section you do at least THIRTY minutes of soaking after you have scored the paper. Use a garden sprayer or even a Wagner power sprayer to keep the water on the wall. PATIENCE. You can't just wet it for 10 minutes and expect it to come off.

I just did a bathroom full of 1970's wallpaper adhered with clay-based adhesive and no sizing or primer was used on the wall. What a bi***. But, with patience, lots of hot water, and some elbow grease, it came off. Not easily, but it came off.

I did have some areas of damage where I gouged the wall, but with some Gardz and joint compound, they were repaired and the walls are as good as new.


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## Joshie (Apr 1, 2014)

Fix'n it said:


> absolutely not. i have removed wallpaper before. what a PITA and freaking mess.
> THEN, i had to fix the damaged DW. of course some WP comes off easy enough to not warrant this'
> 
> 
> ...


I have about 4 hours into it. Lotta effort haha maybe the scoring tool would work... Thanks for the help everyone


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## housepaintingny (Jul 25, 2009)

As previous posters have mentioned it takes patients. We some times use a scoring tool and sometimes an orbital sander, as another poster mentioned. The key is to get all the loose paper, the face off and let the water or chemical dwell long enough to work. Sometimes placing plastic over the areas that you have put your chemical or water onto will help with the dwell time. Patience, patience and more patience is usually how it goes when removing wallpaper. I don't recommend painting over it and I've never seen a wall that needed to be dry walled over due to the fact that paper would not come off. We have removed some stubborn wallpaper over the years, but not once have we considered painting over it or dry walling over it.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

As stated adding fabric softener to the water really helps.


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## ront02769 (Nov 28, 2008)

If you are going to sell the house to someone that you don't like, by all meansaint over the paper. If you are going to keep it, do the right thing and remove using one of the many solutions suggested here. Ron


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

ront02769 said:


> If you are going to sell the house to someone that you don't like, by all meansaint over the paper.


?? Painted over correctly, it works fine. Perhaps you only notice the jobs that were botched. The ones that look fine, you wouldn't know they were painted over wallpaper.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Read gymshu's post #11

then read it again:yes: :laughing:


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## ront02769 (Nov 28, 2008)

jeffnc said:


> ?? Painted over correctly, it works fine. Perhaps you only notice the jobs that were botched. The ones that look fine, you wouldn't know they were painted over wallpaper.


The point is that at some point someone will want to remove and do new paper.....and that which has been painted is doubly hard to remove. Ron


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

If wallpaper has been painted over correctly, then no one would think to remove the old first. If it was the original homeowner, they would know it was too hard to remove the first time, so they would just wallpaper over the paint. If was a new owner, they would never know it was ever wallpapered, so they would also wallpaper over the paint.

The only reason you would paint over wallpaper in the first place is if it was difficult to impossible to remove, so obviously trying to remove after painting would be out of the question.

Yes, there are people that paint over wallpaper without even trying to remove it. I'm not talking about that case - that's not what I'd advise to do.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

And truthfully a lot of them have failures. Yes some get away with it. But your taking the chance of the water in the paint finding a few places where it's not stuck so good so a few months into it you start getting bubbles in your paint. Or along the seams. I have seen this happen even with oil primer used first.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

Josie, I'm in the same situation. Took me 4 months to finish kitchen, then a couple if months on a bathrm.

My best tool is a long handle scraper with Replaceable 4" blade. Water, water, water is key.

Everything I learned was on here. I'm working on final room, my bathroom, and bored out of my mind, so quit for awhile.

Perseverance! It's all worth it in the end. What's hard for me now is awkward places, behind toilet, plus areas up high where I have to work on a ladder.

Just keep plugging along and eventually you'll get done.


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## Joshie (Apr 1, 2014)

Wow,

Thank you all very much for the help. Ill take all the suggestions into account. I'm definitely going to try and keep plugging away at this untill something works. At the same time I will exercise Patience, Patience, and, Patience...

Thanks all for the help!


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

So to expand on toolseeker's point, even if you've decided you don't want to take the wallpaper off, you should still soak it well and look for places that it's separating. In other words, still _try_ to remove what you can, even if it's not much. This will help get rid of bubbles that might form later on.


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## emerkh (May 2, 2014)

I had my first experience a few months back! Taking down wallpaper should be a capital punishment! In fact I told my children I had a new consequence for them next time they got in any trouble! I found vinegar and water work great and also an old credit card or gift card is an amazing cheap tool good luck! I'm now having to try and paint over my over scoring before I learned about the ones that cost almost nothing.


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## emerkh (May 2, 2014)

:laughing:I had my first experience a few months back! Taking down wallpaper should be a capital punishment! In fact I told my children I had a new consequence for them next time they got in any trouble! I found vinegar and water work great and also an old credit card or gift card is an amazing cheap tool good luck! I'm now having to try and paint over my over scoring before I learned about the ones that cost almost nothing.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

I would really advise against vinegar. It's very acidic and will soak into the drywall and drywall paper and the moisture in the latex paint can re activate it and give adhesion problems down the road. Cannot understand what the advantage to using it would be.


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## Joshie (Apr 1, 2014)

Wallpaper is off! Skimmed and painted!! Thank you all for the help! I want to post a picture but I don't know how haha.


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

That's great.

Last time I took down wallpaper, it was still attached to the drywall. :laughing:


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

123pugsy said:


> That's great.
> 
> Last time I took down wallpaper, it was still attached to the drywall. :laughing:


 
If whomever installed it had applied a proper primer( ie, wall covering primer) that would not happen:no:


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## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

ToolSeeker said:


> As stated adding fabric softener to the water really helps.


All that does is makes the job site smell pretty. I have done more wallpaper removal jobs than I can count. It's the water doing the work. The warmer the better.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Matthewt1970 said:


> All that does is makes the job site smell pretty. I have done more wallpaper removal jobs than I can count. It's the water doing the work. The warmer the better.


 
and even that is a matter of opinion, I think it STINKS:laughing:


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Matthewt1970 said:


> All that does is makes the job site smell pretty. I have done more wallpaper removal jobs than I can count. It's the water doing the work. The warmer the better.


What the fabric softener does is actually make the water wetter it will soak in better and stay wet longer. Probably not a good analogy but you get the point.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

chrisn said:


> and even that is a matter of opinion, I think it STINKS:laughing:


Maybe you need to change brands.:whistling2:


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

ToolSeeker said:


> What the fabric softener does is actually make the water wetter it will soak in better and stay wet longer.
> 
> TS, this may be the all time greatest quote on DIYchatroom!:yes:


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

ToolSeeker said:


> Maybe you need to change brands.:whistling2:


 
I certainly don't use it but I DO smell it in clients homes:wink:


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Try it. You'll like it. LOL


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## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

ToolSeeker said:


> What the fabric softener does is actually make the water wetter it will soak in better and stay wet longer. Probably not a good analogy but you get the point.


If you say so.


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## VAProPainter (Jan 29, 2014)

The fabric softener softens the adhesive, making the removal process require less soaking than using just hot water.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

this works WAY better than fabric softener


http://www.safeandsimple.com/ :yes:


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## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

VAProPainter said:


> The fabric softener softens the adhesive, making the removal process require less soaking than using just hot water.


I used to think that too until I seen just how good plain ole' water does.


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## TopherMcGill (12 mo ago)

jeffnc said:


> In my opinion, wallpaper is either going to come off, or it is not. We can talk about hotter water, longer soak times, fabric softener, paper tigers, etc. However, those approaches simply pale in comparison to how the wallpaper was applied. It reaches a point where it simply is not worth it.
> 
> Replacing the drywall is obviously an option, but when you consider removing the toilet, sink/vanity, lights, all door, baseboard and window trim, etc., I think it's really overkill. Don't forget the wall/ceiling corner seams. If the ceiling is popcorn, you have a whole 'nother kettle of fish, because now you either have to remove a popcorn ceiling as well, or try to feather in the popcorn at the edges after finishing that seam. Even if it's not, you still have to tape the ceiling joints, and then repaint the ceiling as well. (You can sometimes get away with caulking that joint rather than taping.)
> 
> ...










A
Any thoughts on this? I have tried everything. 30 year old laminated paper, sun baked in Florida, on orange peel textured walls.


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

Yep, you should start a new thread.


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## ZTMAN (Feb 19, 2015)

You can start a new thread, but their is no easy way to strip that. I just spent about 20 hours stripping a 5x6 fireplace mantel section that was painted, wallpapered and painted.

Tried the traditional methods with minimal results. The best thing that worked for me was to score the area with a utility knife. (wall paper scoring tool did not score deep enough to penetrate the paint). Did a checker board pattern. Wetted the area down with warm water and vinegar, then used my multi tool with a scraper blade. In some areas the multi tool could not bite, so I used a razor scraper tool.

Tedious, but it came out good and getting ready to prime.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

TopherMcGill said:


> Any thoughts on this? I have tried everything. 30 year old laminated paper


I'd sand it with 80 grit, prime with Gardz and then skim coat the wall.


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## woodco (Jun 11, 2017)

Wallpaper installer here: If its on so good that it aint coming off, then Gardz it and skimcoat it.


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