Wallpaper Woes. Remove it or paint over it?

[Tacori E-ring]

I love the red too. But then again I love dramatic paint colors. We just painted a room chocolate brown. FYI use a tinted primer if you are doing a dark/bold color. Otherwise you will need 4+ coats. We have done both, removed the WP and other times used a high quality primer and painted over. Some wallpaper is easier to remove than others. Some will actually ruin the walls therefore you are forced to texture the walls for a decent look. I would probably try to remove it if it were my home.

Congrats on your new home!!!

 

[Lynn B]

OK, I have stripped MORE wallpaper in my life than I care to recall. I have tried most of the ways listed above, with variable success. In the last few years, though, I finally figured out a really EASY and virtually fool-proof method. It''s very low-tech, but it WORKS! Trust me!

I''m sure that your new home has vinyl, strippable wallpaper. That type of wallpaper is made in 2 layers... the vinyl outside and the paper backing. SO, to remove it, carefully peel off the vinyl "top coat"... it should come off in fairly large pieces. LEAVE THE PAPER BACKING IN PLACE as best you can. Once the vinyl is all off, wet a sponge with warm water and saturate the paper backing. Give it a few minutes to penetrate and loosen and you should be able to PEEL THE PAPER right off the wall. It should also come down in fairly large pieces. Then, depending on what kind of product was used on the wall pre-paper, you may have to wash it down with a mild vinegar wash or Spic N Span... just use whatever works best to get the walls clean and residue-free.

That''s it! I told you, totally low-tech, but it WORKS! You can use a putty knife, but honestly, I just use my fingernail. Now this method will really only work like this for newer, vinyl, self-adhesive wallpapers. Some older homes have those paper wallpapers that were literally GLUED to the walls. THAT is a bear, let me tell you! But what you likely have in your house should really be fairly easy to remove. I bet you can get the whole kitchen done in one day.

I have tried the Tiger tool, and all the other "tools", and the steamers, and the gadgets, and the fabric softener, and the strippers, andandand, and I''m tellin'' you, this method works better for me than ANY of them!

Oh, almost forgot to mention -- beautiful home! Congratulations!

 

[happilyeverafter]

Date: 7/5/2007 10:25:39 PM
Author: Lynn B
OK, I have stripped MORE wallpaper in my life than I care to recall. I have tried most of the ways listed above, with variable success. In the last few years, though, I finally figured out a really EASY and virtually fool-proof method. It''s very low-tech, but it WORKS! Trust me!

I''m sure that your new home has vinyl, strippable wallpaper. That type of wallpaper is made in 2 layers... the vinyl outside and the paper backing. SO, to remove it, carefully peel off the vinyl ''top coat''... it should come off in fairly large pieces. LEAVE THE PAPER BACKING IN PLACE as best you can. Once the vinyl is all off, wet a sponge with warm water and saturate the paper backing. Give it a few minutes to penetrate and loosen and you should be able to PEEL THE PAPER right off the wall. It should also come down in fairly large pieces. Then, depending on what kind of product was used on the wall pre-paper, you may have to wash it down with a mild vinegar wash or Spic N Span... just use whatever works best to get the walls clean and residue-free.

That''s it! I told you, totally low-tech, but it WORKS! You can use a putty knife, but honestly, I just use my fingernail. Now this method will really only work like this for newer, vinyl, self-adhesive wallpapers. Some older homes have those paper wallpapers that were literally GLUED to the walls. THAT is a bear, let me tell you! But what you likely have in your house should really be fairly easy to remove. I bet you can get the whole kitchen done in one day.

I have tried the Tiger tool, and all the other ''tools'', and the steamers, and the gadgets, and the fabric softener, and the strippers, andandand, and I''m tellin'' you, this method works better for me than ANY of them!

Oh, almost forgot to mention -- beautiful home! Congratulations!

Yes, I forgot to mention that the wallpaper I took off was pretty old, at least 20 years but probably more like 40. I also peeled the top layer off first, otherwise my stripper didn''t soak thru enough to peel the backing right off. That Zinsser stuff has a pamphlet with it telling you to try a few things to your wallpaper to see what kind you have - you can read it right in the store (just a free flyer thing in the wallpaper section with it''s products).

 

[lumpkin]

What a lovely home! Great curb appeal and the kitchen is nice and roomy.

I love strippable wallpaper! Hopefully that''s what you have. If it''s not and it''s a major mess (like in our older home) what we did was to take sand paper and go over the seams and make sure any loose wallpaper was removed and sanded so that there was no visible edge. (To get nice sharp corners you can also take a utility knife and gently run it down the corner, then pull up the loose paper and sand along the edge.) Then we used Kilz on it to block any color bleeding through and painted over it. Honestly, if the paper is really, really stubborn, it''s not a bad option, because you avoid all the scarring of your dry wall and the inevitable, time consuming task of putting putty over the gouges and sanding after that. You can''t tell there''s paper under the paint.

Congratulations!

 

[metro]

I really appreciate all the information and helpful tips!

THANK YOU!

Okay, so it''s pretty much an overall consensus that I should not paint over the wallpaper, or put new wallpaper over the existing paper.

If I''m gonna do it, I''m wanna do it right!

I would LOVE to pay someone to do the work but we just won''t have the extra cash - so any and all work will be done by me and DH. We have one week to get things in order before our furniture arrives. I want to get as much done as possible.

The wallpaper was put up in 1993 so I pray it won''t be too hard to remove. The house was built in 1989 and the current homeowners said when they bought the house, there was purple wallpaper in the kitchen that they replaced with the current. I have no idea if it''s vinyl or not - but hopefully so.

I am concerned about damaging the drywall during removal and causing way more work than I can handle. I think I''ll try Lynn B''s method first since it''s chemical free and buget-minded and let''s see if I can have success with that route. Maybe try a little test area?

A few more questions for ya:

How long do you think it will day to take the wallpaper down? A day?
What can I expect to find behind wallpaper - drywall?
Will I have to texture the wall before I paint?

 

[Lynn B]

Date: 7/6/2007 10:46:06 AM
Author: metro

A few more questions for ya:

How long do you think it will day to take the wallpaper down? A day?
What can I expect to find behind wallpaper - drywall?
Will I have to texture the wall before I paint?

I think you could easily get it done in one day. (Call out for pizza and keep on a''strippin''!

)

I expect that you will find drywall underneath. Primered drywall at the least, but most likely primed and painted drywall. It all depends on what the owners at the time did (or had done) before the wallpaper went up, of course. But my vote would be paint.

Why would you think you''d have to texture the walls before you paint? I see nothing to indicate that. After you get the wallpaper off, and clean the walls of all residue... I think you can expect a nice smooth surface for your paint. (Which, by the way, I would do in some beautiful soft color... like a sage green, or a smoky aqua, or even a warm butternut color... yum! I LOVE color, but that red did look a little sharp/stark to me. Just my humble 2 cents, though!)

 

[metro]

Date: 7/6/2007 2:23:59 PM
Author: Lynn B

Date: 7/6/2007 10:46:06 AM
Author: metro

A few more questions for ya:

How long do you think it will day to take the wallpaper down? A day?
What can I expect to find behind wallpaper - drywall?
Will I have to texture the wall before I paint?

I think you could easily get it done in one day. (Call out for pizza and keep on a''strippin''!

)

I expect that you will find drywall underneath. Primered drywall at the least, but most likely primed and painted drywall. It all depends on what the owners at the time did (or had done) before the wallpaper went up, of course. But my vote would be paint.

Why would you think you''d have to texture the walls before you paint? I see nothing to indicate that. After you get the wallpaper off, and clean the walls of all residue... I think you can expect a nice smooth surface for your paint. (Which, by the way, I would do in some beautiful soft color... like a sage green, or a smoky aqua, or even a warm butternut color... yum! I LOVE color, but that red did look a little sharp/stark to me. Just my humble 2 cents, though!)

I don''t remember who told me, but someone mentioned to me that you can''t paint on drywalll, that you have to texture the wall first

Of course, you''ve done this tons of times, so I''ll take your word on it.

 

[upgrading mama]

Metro, our current home is our first home, and not our last. No one will live here but us, when we save some dough, we are going to start over and build here again. (We own a business and our home is on the same property.)
Anyway, this place was wall papered in many places and we have painted over all of it. The place is about 35 yrs old and we painted 4 years ago. Paint has held up well everywhere, and we have had no problems. We also have a red kitchen,...It is actualyy Ralph Lauren''s Balmoral Red, I love it!


My hubby will kill me for posting this picture, but it is the only one I have of the kitchen...lol......


I say do what works for you, alot depends on the condition of the paper. We had a small child and I was prego so painting was the fastest choice but removing would definately be a selling point in the future...

 

[Blenheim]

Maybe they''re talking about using primer?

I was able to remove the wallpaper from the bathroom walls in about five minutes the other night, which was great after spending a whole weekend working on removing the kitchen wall paper.

When I was getting out of a long, hot shower I realized that it was starting to lift some, and I was then able to pull it right off. Maybe running the hot water for a while in your master bath before removing yours could help too.

Also, if you don''t want to get a steamer, what my mom suggested was taking an iron (you''ll probably ruin it, so use a cheap one), wetting towels, holding the wet towels up to the wall, and then ironing over the towels. It really helped us with the kitchen.

And congratulations on your new home!

 

[Lynn B]

Date: 7/6/2007 2:45:00 PM
Author: metro


I don''t remember who told me, but someone mentioned to me that you can''t paint on drywalll, that you have to texture the wall first

Of course, you''ve done this tons of times, so I''ll take your word on it.

Well, I dunno what they meant by that?! We have drywalled a LOT of times, and when it''s done, it''s smooth as a baby''s behind!

I mean, you CAN "texture" it if you WANT... but the beauty and appeal of drywall is (usually) the fine, smooth finish. "Raw" drywall does have to be PRIMED, though... but even that''s smooth - like paint.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised with how the wallpaper removes. I mean, it''s no walk in the park, but it''s hardly excruciating, back-breaking labor, either!

When we were 20, DH and I (and our little baby) bought our first home... a real fixer-upper. And we did it ALL ourselves. I can''t tell you how many nights we all slept on the floor, surrounded by construction and in a TOTAL *mess*... bone weary but so happy... a few empty baby bottles and a few empty wine bottles

and we all fell asleep cuddling, just to wake up and do it again the next day. Those were actually very wonderful days. We firmly believe that every young couple should fix up a house!