Wallpaper and Wallcoverings - Removing backing from textured walls
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jordeebec
10-23-05, 09:57 PM
My husband and I are trying to prepare a 10' x 10' nursery by removing the wallpaper in the room. We plan on painting the room if we can ever get the wallpaper out.
The wallpaper appears to be fabric with paper backing. It was installed two owners ago (10+ years?). The last owners had someone try to take out the paper, but he only removed the fabric from about half of the walls. All the paper backing is left which we're very slowly removing.
The biggest problem is that the wallpaper was applied over unprepared textured walls (troweled texture). Some high points appear to have been sanded; others were not sanded. There are some patches of what appears to be drywall compound: dark grey and white patches randomly thrown up over the painted walls. The many damaged spots on the wall that are torn down to the drywall or even through the cardboard layer were not patched, so I'm not sure what the compound is there for. (We will need to fix these and make some effort to match the texture before we paint as well.)
So far we've tried water, vinegar/water and fabric softner/water, but the backing refuses to come off in even 1" pieces. We have DIF concentrate to try next, but I'm wary because the instructions indicate that you'll still have to scrape. With the texture on our walls, scraping tools even 1" wide cannot stay close enough to the wall to remove the paper (and damage the wall, but that damage isn't really noticeable compared to the other spots). Right now we're using a 1/2" wide plastic tool and my fingernails to scrape. Obviously, these are neither efficient nor completely effective. They're also leaving behind lots and lots of scraps of the paper backing that are even harder to get off. After hours of working, we have yet to finish a single wall.
Is there any easier way to remove this backing? (And we still have yet to tackle the full paper; I imagine we'll end up tearing the fabric off and removing the backing.) The baby is due in 15 weeks and I'd like to have his room finished sometime before his 5th birthday. We're looking at any option at this point, including tearing out the walls (the house is 50 years old and we're afraid to find out what's behind the walls!) and installing new drywall, skim coating or drywalling over the existing walls & paper, etc. We're willing to try any suggestions!
The wallpaper appears to be fabric with paper backing. It was installed two owners ago (10+ years?). The last owners had someone try to take out the paper, but he only removed the fabric from about half of the walls. All the paper backing is left which we're very slowly removing.
The biggest problem is that the wallpaper was applied over unprepared textured walls (troweled texture). Some high points appear to have been sanded; others were not sanded. There are some patches of what appears to be drywall compound: dark grey and white patches randomly thrown up over the painted walls. The many damaged spots on the wall that are torn down to the drywall or even through the cardboard layer were not patched, so I'm not sure what the compound is there for. (We will need to fix these and make some effort to match the texture before we paint as well.)
So far we've tried water, vinegar/water and fabric softner/water, but the backing refuses to come off in even 1" pieces. We have DIF concentrate to try next, but I'm wary because the instructions indicate that you'll still have to scrape. With the texture on our walls, scraping tools even 1" wide cannot stay close enough to the wall to remove the paper (and damage the wall, but that damage isn't really noticeable compared to the other spots). Right now we're using a 1/2" wide plastic tool and my fingernails to scrape. Obviously, these are neither efficient nor completely effective. They're also leaving behind lots and lots of scraps of the paper backing that are even harder to get off. After hours of working, we have yet to finish a single wall.
Is there any easier way to remove this backing? (And we still have yet to tackle the full paper; I imagine we'll end up tearing the fabric off and removing the backing.) The baby is due in 15 weeks and I'd like to have his room finished sometime before his 5th birthday. We're looking at any option at this point, including tearing out the walls (the house is 50 years old and we're afraid to find out what's behind the walls!) and installing new drywall, skim coating or drywalling over the existing walls & paper, etc. We're willing to try any suggestions!
Annette
10-25-05, 11:52 AM
sounds like you've given it your best effort. it also sounds like the paper that's still up there isn't going anywhere and you've got a wall that is pretty damaged & ugly already. i'd get all the face paper off that you can and any loose backing, then break out the joint compound & start skimming. :thumbup: