ari wrote:

My husband and I recently bought an old house just outside of
Philadelphia, and are currently learning the joys of such things as
wallpaper removal. After two treacherous weekends removing wallpaper
in the hall bathroom, we had a thought, that we thought we'd run by
online forums, before giving a whirl next weekend...

We KNOW that wallpaper removal steamers are completely different from
Scunci Steamers. However, my mother gave us a Scunci Steamer (two
actually, we're still trying to figure out why), for the holidays,
which are still boxed up. Since the bathroom wallpaper is removed, and
the only wallpaper requiring removal left are strips around the ceiling
in two rooms (roughly 9" tall, running the circumference of each of
the rooms, a border...quite hideous), we thought perhaps it would be
easier than the DIF process we just completed in the hall bathroom.

Our walls are plaster. There is paint under the border, which
doesn't appear to have been applied so expertly, by the previous
homeowner.

Any thoughts?

I'm using an old windex spray bottle filled with mostly water, a squirt
of dish soap and a few ounces of rubbing alcohol. The soap eliminates
surface tension that prevents the water from getting soaked up by the
wallpaper backing. Alcohol may do the same [somebody told me to include
it and it seems to help].

I use a roller scraper tool that puts little gouges in the surface of
the wallpaper to the spray can soak in over a large area. Patience is
critical because it take awhile to soak in.