Successful wallpaper removal techniques?

Question

i've heard of a lot of techniques for removing wallpaper, but no definitive answer. we will be removing borders mostly from every room in the house (so there is quite a bit of work). is steaming the best method for this amount of wallpaper? and has anyone ever tried it with a clothes steamer instead of a wallpaper-specific steamer?

Answer 1

The bathroom in a house we rehabbed had several layers of vinyl wallpaper, including on the ceiling. What worked pretty well for us was a tool called a 'paper tiger' (a few bucks at a home center or hardware store), an enzyme-based wallpaper removal liquid concentrate from DIF (again, a few bucks) and a medium-width putty knife. You roll the 'paper tiger' around gently on the wallpaper, and it leaves tiny perforations all over which allow the liquid to penetrate. Then you mix a batch of the removal liquid and spray, brush, or wipe it onto the paper. Let it sit for a while, then scrape gently with the putty knife. For us, the paper mostly peeled off in strips. For the areas that didn't we repeated the process. A few spots required 4 treatments, most came off in 1 or 2. As I recall, we had it all down in a couple of days.

Instead of the enzyme liquid, a mixture of dishsoap and water or fabric softener and water would probably work pretty well, too. Good luck!

Answer 2

I have seen several home shows and they swear by fabric softener, it looks like it works and much easier than steaming its worth a try.

Answer 3

Yes, steaming is the best method and a clothes steamer might work if it gets really hot and pumps out the steam big time. You could probably rent a wallpaper steamer, too. The effectiveness will depend on how welded to the walls the border is. YES!!!!!!!!! I said welded because before you're through, you'll be swearing that it is welded down.

Can you tell I've removed a lot of wallpaper and I hated it? If the wallpaper is not vinyl coated, it helps a lot to sponge water on it first to soften it up as much as you can. Then steam it and be ready with fairly wide flat edge scrapers. What a nightmare, but there is no other way to do it.

Try steaming alone first. Sometimes, if the gods are smiling on you, it will peel right off. I was never so lucky!! : S

Good luck and I truly mean it...