I have read many of the solutions to removing wallpaper. Most
solutions end with "then strip the wallpaper . . .". This is where I'm
struggling. That part seems to need more explaining, which I have not
yet found. Here is what I am doing so far.

1. Scoring the wallpaper with a Paper Tiger.
2. Using a Paint Roller to apply Hot Water with a small amount of
dishwashing detergent.
3. Let it set for a few minutes and then attack it with a puddy knife
type tool.

What is happening, is the outer printed wall covering peels off in very
small pieces. 6" x 6" pieces if I'm lucky. After this comes off, the
backing soaks up pretty well and almost slides off. But it is the
initial outer print that is the problem. It is a pretty small 1/2 bath
that I am doing, but this will still take me days and days to do.

I guess my questions a
1. Is this normal?
2. What can I do to speed this up?
3. Am I just unfortunate in the fact that this wallpaper was put up
with the best adhesive known to civilized man?

If you have a Paper Tiger use it - what you are aiming for is getting the water
to penetrate through to the wall. You don't have to use PT, you can use
anything like razor blade or putty knife, paint scraper to make holes in the
paper.

There are many kinds of wallpaper - depending mostly on how long it's been up.
I had some heavy vinyl paper in kitchen that I just tugged on the corner and it
came off in one piece. Easiest thing ever.

The bathroom paper (which I had hung and did everything I was supposed to do -
prepping wall etc.) was harder. It came off in layers. The top layer came off
leaving a tissue paper undercoat which had to be wet and scraped.

The trick is to get it wet but not soaking...you might add some vinegar to the
water. I'm not sure what it does but it's always recommended.

On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 14:50:17 +0000, Dorot29701 wrote:

If you have a Paper Tiger use it - what you are aiming for is getting the water
to penetrate through to the wall. You don't have to use PT, you can use
anything like razor blade or putty knife, paint scraper to make holes in the
paper.

I have one. I just threw it away. What a PITA, though to be fair it
wasn't entirely PT's fault.

There are many kinds of wallpaper - depending mostly on how long it's
been up. I had some heavy vinyl paper in kitchen that I just tugged on
the corner and it came off in one piece. Easiest thing ever.

What it's op over, how it was put up, what *moron* put it up...

The bathroom paper (which I had hung and did everything I was supposed
to do - prepping wall etc.) was harder. It came off in layers. The top
layer came off leaving a tissue paper undercoat which had to be wet and
scraped.

The trick is to get it wet but not soaking...you might add some vinegar
to the water. I'm not sure what it does but it's always recommended.

My first floor bathroom had paper that was curling, so I decided
to rip it off and paint (I've come to despise wall paper of any sort). I
toook the PT to tha paper, wet it down as directed. ...wet it down with
the remover. Futzed with it. Scraped it. Cursed at it. It finally came
off in itty bitty pieces, with most of the sheetrock underneath. It took
fully a week to get the crap off the walls, and another to repair the
damage. After a year the paint is cracking around the ceiling. It would
have been far easier to rip out the walls and put up new sheetrock.

The only thing I can figure is that the walls had a skim-coat of mud and
the paper appled directly (no paint or sizing) to that. When the paper
got wet the mud turned to, err, mud. What a horrible mess. I gave up and
didn't even put the trim back on. I'll take it up again this spring when
I can tile the damned room.

Wall paper? Not this guy!

--
Keith