Removing wallpaper which has been painted over
 

The vinyl wallpaper in my kitchen has been painted over with white
emulsion by the previous owner.
I sense that this may be a swine to strip back to plaster.
Am I right or will lashings of water & a hand paper stripper do the
job?
1970s house, so I expect the base plaster to be mostly intact!

Bruce

Just did a whole house that has had what you described, though it wasn't
White it was Green.... Must admit most came off pretty easy with a wall
paper striper. But in places that it didn't want to come off it just didn't,
(Luckily it wasn't massive areas) just really tricky ones, like the toilet
being the smallest room in the house I managed to turn the entire room into
a Turkish sauna. The paint went to some gooey consistency and got
everywhere. It my experience those roller spiky things didn't really do much
apart from leave marks on the walls. Best thing I found was to score gently
with a sharp Stanley careful not to attack the plaster.
Good luck its not a nice job if it doesn't come of easily
J

.. Best thing I found was to score gently
with a sharp Stanley careful not to attack the plaster.


Thanks.
1. Score with a Stanley knife
2. Douse with warm water
3. Scrape off

Its a lovely feeling when big sections just fall off the wall after
following this procedure. But its a pain when sections remain
stubbornly stuck to the wall!

Bruce

Not sure how big the kitchen is but if its a fair size it may be worth while
hiring a big wallpaper steamer. I did it had a massive water tank took a
while to heat but once heated I was able to do most the house with just a
few fills
wrote in message
oups.com...

. Best thing I found was to score gently
with a sharp Stanley careful not to attack the plaster.


Thanks.
1. Score with a Stanley knife
2. Douse with warm water
3. Scrape off

Its a lovely feeling when big sections just fall off the wall after
following this procedure. But its a pain when sections remain
stubbornly stuck to the wall!

Bruce

Wouldn't even attempt it without one. I removed all the lining paper
from my downstairs, ceilings included and this was one hell of a job. I
also had to get most walls skimmed again due to the horrors it was
covering up. The little ones you can buy from BandQ are not bad either
and as others have said score first. Oh and buy one of those super
scrapers the ones with razor blades in but be careful you dont damage
the wall with it or accidently slip and injure the Mrs however tempting
it may be, they work great.

HTH

Richard

On 14 Jan 2005 06:29:50 -0800, wrote:

Am I right or will lashings of water & a hand paper stripper do the
job?

By hand, as in without steam assistance, it will be a pain and slow.
If you haven't alreday got one get a steam stripper, they really do
speed up the pentration of moisture through to the old paste. I'd use
one of the spiked wheely things (one with 3 set of wheels rather than
just one) rather than a stanley knife.

Another poster has already mentioned that the emulsion will soften, it
will but as there is not a great deal of water about with a steamy
stripper it soon dries, likewise the stripped paper. Thats another
advantage of the steam method, no heaps of sodden paper to deal with.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Bruce wrote
| The vinyl wallpaper in my kitchen has been painted over with
| white emulsion by the previous owner.
| I sense that this may be a swine to strip back to plaster.
| Am I right or will lashings of water & a hand paper stripper do
| the job?
| 1970s house, so I expect the base plaster to be mostly intact!

Vinyl paper will often pull off in almost whole sheets, if you start at an
edge, leaving a slightly furry base layer which is usually ok for
wallpapering or tiling on. It won't take emulsion paint though.

Owain