Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K

"Harry K" wrote in message
ups.com...
Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Dontcha just love working with old wallpaper?

Steve

Harry K wrote:
Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Good of you to post this type of thing Harry. Most don't. Most come,
get advice, do their job, and never let anyone know different. Not that
they have to but it would be nice to tell others of their experiences
or at least the outcome.

"G Henslee" wrote in message
...
Harry K wrote:
Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Good of you to post this type of thing Harry. Most don't. Most come, get
advice, do their job, and never let anyone know different. Not that they
have to but it would be nice to tell others of their experiences or at
least the outcome.

Most people do not know Murphy's Law:

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. If anything can go wrong, it will.

Most people only remember #3.

And Murphy was an optimist.

Steve

SteveB wrote:
"G Henslee" wrote in message
...

Harry K wrote:

Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Good of you to post this type of thing Harry. Most don't. Most come, get
advice, do their job, and never let anyone know different. Not that they
have to but it would be nice to tell others of their experiences or at
least the outcome.


Most people do not know Murphy's Law:

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. If anything can go wrong, it will.

Most people only remember #3.

And Murphy was an optimist.

Steve



You know you just describe marriage.

Who the hell was/is Murphy, anyway? Curious minds, etc.

Harry K wrote:
Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Only way I have ever removed wallpaper, and always works, is to spray
the paper backing with a windex or similar spray with warm water. Let
it rest about 5 minutes, spray again, wait, and start scraping gently
until the goop comes off. If the outer layer doesn't pull off, I use
coarse sandpaper to score the surface VERY CAREFULLY, horizontally,
spray and let soak as above. Scoring it horizontally keep the water
from all running off and it will soak into the paper/paste. Never had
paper that would not come off using this method, including two layers
that had both been painted over. I usually wait a day to wash remaining
paste from wall to avoid getting the paper coating of the wallboard too
wet. I do one or two strips at a time so's the first doesn't dry too
much before I get back to it.

Norminn wrote:
Harry K wrote:
Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Only way I have ever removed wallpaper, and always works, is to spray
the paper backing with a windex or similar spray with warm water. Let
it rest about 5 minutes, spray again, wait, and start scraping gently
until the goop comes off. If the outer layer doesn't pull off, I use
coarse sandpaper to score the surface VERY CAREFULLY, horizontally,
spray and let soak as above. Scoring it horizontally keep the water
from all running off and it will soak into the paper/paste. Never had
paper that would not come off using this method, including two layers
that had both been painted over. I usually wait a day to wash remaining
paste from wall to avoid getting the paper coating of the wallboard too
wet. I do one or two strips at a time so's the first doesn't dry too
much before I get back to it.

The real ****er is that I knew better. This isn't my first time I have
pulled wallpaper in this house using a steamer. My surprise was the
way the paper backing acted. Wet with two sponges to the point water
was dripping, grab my spatula, one scrape and the paper was already
dried back on the wall. Didn't think to try the spray bottle but doubt
it would have helped.

Harry K

"Harry K" wrote
My surprise was the
way the paper backing acted. Wet with two sponges to the point water
was dripping, grab my spatula, one scrape and the paper was already
dried back on the wall. Didn't think to try the spray bottle but doubt
it would have helped.

Harry K


I removed the wallpaper from an 1800 sf house. They put wallpaper on
everything but the floor.

It had different types of wallpaper in different areas. Each acted
differently to the warm water and spatula.

Actually, I was surprised to hear of someone else using a spatula. At the
start of the project, I found an old metal one that was springy. Through it
all, that was the best tool.

Steve

My hat's off to ya, Harry. Like G Henslee said, most won't share their
mistakes so that others don't have to repeat them. I guess it's a pride
thing or the experience of life that tells you that people are pretty darn
judgemental and will condemn you for the very thing they did too.

"G Henslee" wrote in message
...
Harry K wrote:
Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Good of you to post this type of thing Harry. Most don't. Most come,
get advice, do their job, and never let anyone know different. Not that
they have to but it would be nice to tell others of their experiences
or at least the outcome.

G Henslee wrote:
SteveB wrote:

"G Henslee" wrote in message
...

Harry K wrote:

Need to re-paint the kitchen. Had been wallpapered yay many years ago
and a patch of the vinyl coating had pulled off. Aha, thinks I, "I'll
just pull off all the vinyl coating and then use sponges and soak off
the paper backing". No sooner said than done, at least the pulling
portion.

Even using two sponges I couldn't keep the paper wet enough with warm
soapy water to strip. Off to the rental place for a steamer. Yep it
worked but...the paper backing comes off in small pieces and the job
took three times longer than if I had done it right to begin with.


Harry, too soon old, too late smart, K


Good of you to post this type of thing Harry. Most don't. Most
come, get advice, do their job, and never let anyone know different.
Not that they have to but it would be nice to tell others of their
experiences or at least the outcome.



Most people do not know Murphy's Law:

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. If anything can go wrong, it will.

Most people only remember #3.

And Murphy was an optimist.

Steve


You know you just describe marriage.

Who the hell was/is Murphy, anyway? Curious minds, etc.


Use Google. IIRC he was involved in the NASA space program. Law was
named after him.


--
Respectfully,


CL Gilbert

C & M wrote:
My hat's off to ya, Harry. Like G Henslee said, most won't share their
mistakes so that others don't have to repeat them. I guess it's a pride
thing or the experience of life that tells you that people are pretty darn
judgemental and will condemn you for the very thing they did too.

Well hell, I'm too old to -care- what people say. If it wasnt' for
people calling me stupid I'd have no conversations at all

Harry K

SteveB wrote:
"Harry K" wrote
My surprise was the
way the paper backing acted. Wet with two sponges to the point water
was dripping, grab my spatula, one scrape and the paper was already
dried back on the wall. Didn't think to try the spray bottle but doubt
it would have helped.

Harry K


I removed the wallpaper from an 1800 sf house. They put wallpaper on
everything but the floor.

It had different types of wallpaper in different areas. Each acted
differently to the warm water and spatula.

Actually, I was surprised to hear of someone else using a spatula. At the
start of the project, I found an old metal one that was springy. Through it
all, that was the best tool.

Steve

I guess I misnamed it. What I was using was my 4" taping knife with
others up to 12" ready if they worked...they weren't needed.

Harry K