Solution for wallpaper disaster?

Question

In my house there is a room that was a bathroom, but it is now converted into a bedroom. I want to paint the room, but there is this nasty ugly stubborn wallpaper that will not come off by any means. It was probably meant to stand up to the heat and humidity of a bathroom.

I thought about just knocking the plaster down (it is an old house with plaster walls not drywall), but after knocking a hole in the wall I ran into another problem that will make that impossible (I'm not going into detail, lets just say knocking down walls is out of the question).

Does anyone have any good solutions to my problem?

I really don't want to do more wallpaper.

Answer 1

Dryline and paint (you could even add some insulation whilst you are at it. You will lose about two inches in each direction (less if you are lucky), so much will depend how much space you have. At a pinch if the paper is well stuck you could apply bonding agent and have the walls skimmed, but this carries some risk of delamination.

Answer 2

To remove the wallpaper, you need to buy a scoring tool that will actually cut into the wallpaper and allow your solution to soak in behind the outer surface of the paper.

If you just want to skip that, you have 2 choices. One would be to just cover the existing paper and plaster with drywall and finish as you would new construction (float & tape joints, etc) or you can try to roll on a coat of a very good sealer/primer and then try painting over that. The bad part is you may still see some defects in the wall from the paper.

Answer 3

Drywall over it, paint it, put a more attractive wall paper over it.

Answer 4

sounds like an old stucco type wall, does the hole appear to have a wire mesh on the backside?, cover the walls with thin sheetrock, comes in 4x8 sheets easy too use, drill directly to the old wall with sheetrock screws, apply some liquid nail to the back of the sheetrock because you may not find a solid surface for the screws to hold.sheetrock mud the holes over the screwheads. tape and mud (skim the joints) sand smooth after drying. i like to use a damp cloth it cuts down on the dust. prime and paint, replace trim and base after trimming them the additional thickness of the sheetrock. wood putty nail holes and touch up paint.

Answer 5

When ever I remove wall paper put ammonia, and water in a spray bottle. Soak it down, wait a few minutes, and remove with ease. Being that your living in an older home that might not work, but try it anyway, and see what happens.