Have you ever been successful removing wallpaper from drywall? If so, what is the secret? Mine is peeling back in some sections, but someone at a DIY store said that he knows no one who has been successful with drywall. Any tips or tricks you can share?
I went to home depot and got a product that dissolved the glue. I followed the instructions and it peeled right off.
ETA: I believe the wall I had to remove the paper from was primed but not painted before the wallpaper was put on. Don't know if that makes a difference.
It all depends on how the wall was prepped before the paper was put up. Peel off what you can by hand. For the rest, soak it in a wallpaper remover such as Dif. Work in small sections. Use a paper tiger that lightly scores the surface and allows the gel to soak in. The wetter the better. Then start using about a 6 inch scraper. If you run into problem areas, just soak the area again in the gel. Be sure to get the glue off before painting or you could have issues.. Use more gel and then scrub the wall down with TSP. Then rinse the wall really well with a clean sponge and clear water. I would probably prime the wall before painting, unless it looks as though it has a good coat on it. If you have any gauges in the drywall from the scraper, fill and prime those before painting.
Usually professional paint stores will have more experienced employees that can give you all this type of info and they will have the supplies you need, as well. Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, etc.
Hubby is a contractor: Your ability to remove the wallpaper depends on what was done to the wall before the paper was applied. If it was applied to raw drywall then there will be damage. Unless you are very skilled at repairing drywall you'd need to hire someone to fix the damage.
If the wall was painted or at least primed then the paper should come off well. There's a tool that you can buy that will score the surface of the paper to allow removal easier. If you have a lot to remove you can rent a steamer to take it off or go to lowes or home depot and get wall paper removal solution that will work too.
Its a messy, time consuming job to make sure you use drop sheets to protect anything you don't want messed up and allow yourself enough time to work on wallpaper removal.
Being married to a contractor there is no wallpaper in my house. Period. I stenciled a design in a couple rooms which will be easy to paint over.
We rented a steamer from a hardware store. It worked really well but the wall paper was on painted drywall.
We have remodeled several homes. We use a steamer. That being said, we have had to repair some walls.
Depends on the wall paper.
If it's a plastic type, the water won't soak through it - you might try a blow dryer to heat up the adhesive and very gently pull.
For paper - moisten it - wet glue will lose it's hold, then gently peel.
You don't want to over soak it - that's bad for the drywall.
We've been successful with this in a bathroom and dining room.
I was going to mention what Michelle said- the key when I did it was getting the tool that puts tiny little holes in the paper to allow whatever solution you use to really get behind the paper. The one I got was a little round palm-sized thing that you just run around in circles over the paper. Made a huge difference. I think I just used whatever liquid Home Depot had listed as wallpaper glue remover and it was fine.
On all the DYI shows, like on HGTV, it says to fill a spray bottle with fabric softener and water. I am not sure the amounts but they all recommended it. You spray, let it sit for a few and then use the scraper to get it off.
A LONG time ago, we sprayed it with water and used a steam iron.
My house had one kitchen wall covered with thick textured wallpaper. Even worse, the people who applied it used no kind of base or primer on the drywall. I started to try to remove it and realized it was beyond a normal DIY level for me.
The professional painter I hired was worth every cent. He was able to get the paper off the drywall with very minimal damage. Only superficial repair/smoothing was needed before priming and painting.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/17011348?wmlspartner=wlpa&...
and the DIF gel spray that loosens the adhesive.
its hard, and it sucks but it eventually all came off and i only had a spot or two that i had to smooth with plaster.
I have removed wall paper before using a steam machine and a scraper. It was a lot of work but it came off well, just had to be careful not to gouge wall with the scraper.
Wash it off with fabric softener.
I've heard that scoring it and spraying fabric softener can help. I removed some heavy vinyl wall paper and the drywall peeled off with it. Big mess. We had to retexture wall. I'll never use wallpaper again!
