From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: who knows about wall paper that wont come off easy
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:13:21 -0400
Message-ID: <47a5u3hlqhvbds537g65ej3obcgh4qtle0@4ax.com>

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:36:07 -0500, "Dave" <rave@usit.net> wrote:

>I tackled a bath to remove some paper. I first stated with vinegar and
>warm water 1to1.. No good results I got one for those round scrapper
>disk. I scared it and got some spray called DIF from lowes. This did
>pretty good but left some scars places were it took off the wall... Any
>suggestions will be appreciated email me and I will send you some
>pictures. So you can tell me how to fix the walls now

There is only one really practical way when you have a lot of wallpaper to remove.
Steam.  Rent a steamer.  Also get a perforator.  This is a spikey gadget that pokes
numerous holes in the wallpaper as you roll it over the paper.  This lets the steam
penetrate the paper much faster.

With a steamer, the wallpaper lifts off as easily as it went on in the first place.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: who knows about wall paper that wont come off easy
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:41:36 -0400
Message-ID: <3446u316hl6f22viudgkp24urca3hvok8r@4ax.com>

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:38:20 -0500, "Dave" <rave@usit.net> wrote:

>What if you do all of that and use the spray as well?  Seems that would
>really make it easy. I hear more horror stories on wall paper and I NOW
>believe them...

All that other stuff is superfluous.  Steamed/perforated paper comes off like it had
never been stuck.

Several years ago I bought and refurbished a 100 year old apartment building.  If I
recall correctly, we counted 9 layers of wallpaper plus several layers of paint on
one wall.  I assaulted it with everything I could think of including a belt sander
with 40 grit paper.  Then someone suggested a steamer.  I removed all the wallpaper
in all the units in less time than I'd spent on part of that one wall.  There is
simply no comparison.

Especially if there is any vinyl or other water resistant paper involved, the
perforator is vital.  The one I bought looked like a small edge paint roller except
with spikes instead of sponge. I simply rolled it randomly over the paper, applying
fairly strong force, before applying the steam.  Magic.

The steamer has an electric powered boiler that sits on the floor and a wand attached
by an insulated hose.  The wand face is probably 1 sq ft.  It is simply held against
the wall and slowly moved.  I learned to move it back and forth while slowly lowering
it from the ceiling to the floor.  My wife stood on a ladder and pulled the paper
away from the wall right behind the wand.  It's hot and dirty work but compared to
anything else, it's a dream.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: who knows about wall paper that wont come off easy
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:01:35 -0400
Message-ID: <sdmiu3hunl2uddotg8gjukn1rh208okn77@4ax.com>

On 25 Mar 2008 14:25:30 GMT, Terri <Terri@micron.net> wrote:

>I know enough about wallpaper removal that I chose to paint over it!
>It can be done and I'll have pictures and how I did it soon.
>As far as your scarring, the easiest way I think would be to get some
>joint compound and go to town filling them in, smoothing it on the
>walls and sanding, if necessary. You'll probably need to do it twice
>since the first layer will shrink a bit.

Try that with 100 year old plaster covered with 8 or 10 layers of wallpaper and with
paint between several layers.  Dealing with the crusty, dusty lime blisters is the
most fun part.  Of course you can just smear paint over all that.  After all, that
technique is what puts the ghetto in places like NYC.

John