Wallpaper and Wallcoverings - Can you (safely) remove wallpaper from plaster?

I recently bought a house that is almost 100 years old. The previous owner wallpapered the plaster walls throughout the house in the early 70s. Needless to say, this needs some updating!

My plan was to strip the paper and paint throughout. My aunt and uncle keep telling me this is a bad idea, that stripping paper from plaster walls will destroy the surface and the plaster will start coming out in chunks. They say I should paper over the existing wallpaper, or tear down the walls and put up drywall.

Normally I would assume they know what they're talking about; they've renovated 2 old homes and my aunt's dad hangs wallpaper for a living. But a lot of other people are telling me it shouldn't be a problem to take the paper down and I haven't found anything online saying not to do this.

Are there problems stripping paper from plaster? Should I paint over the paper? Paper over the paper? Start from scratch, tear down the walls, rewire, insulate, and drywall?

Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

If the plaster walls are sound, that will be the easiest removal of paper possible. The walls shouldn't crumble unless there is a underlying problem. If thats the case, I wouldn't want to repaper over that either.

I would opt to strip the paper. Start in an inconspicuous spot and see how it goes. Plaster, if prepped right, is very easy to remove from. If you start having problems, stop and address that situation.

Plaster, in my opinion, is the easiest type of wall to strip wallpaper from. You shouldn't have any problems. Yes, occasionally, you can run into a bad spot or two, but this holds true with any wallcovering removal job.

Tap the surface with your hand/fingers..If there is a hollowsound just about every where then the walls have blown and will have to be re skimmed..
If the majority sounds solid then the advice above is also sound.

So how should I go about stripping the paper? Should I rent a steamer? Someone told me they had a lot of success mixing 3 parts water to 1 part fabric softener, heating it up, and spraying it on.

Also, if I don't take the plaster out, what is the best way to add insulation in the walls? Can I blow in insulation or do I have to do foam injection? And if I need to work on the wiring at all (such as adding electric outlets), what is the best way to do that?

Thanks!

As for stripping the paper, go back to the top of the wallpaper threads, click on wallpaper faq. There is a link for stripping paper instructions. As for the insulation, I have no idea, that is out of my area of experience. Sorry:rolleyes:

If you have a cavity wall the foam is pumped in from the exterior wall.
Any electrial cables are usually channeled into the plaster and plastered over..An electrician will advise you!!

Steamers are ok but can somtimes damage the old plaster skim coat ..Just use hot water in a garden spray cannister and soak the paper 3/4 times before trying to remove.