What is the best way to remove old wallpaper???

Question

NOw the problem is our home is from the early 1900's and there are several layers of wallpaper as well as layers of paint on top of that, how can I remove the wallpaper?

Is this something that I should leave to professionals? I don't want to destroy my walls or get in over my head...please help.

Thanks so much

Answer 1

I'm not going to lie... It's going to be a pain, especially if it was not painted before. Best way I've found is to soak it with DIFF and then use a steamer. They make steamers especially for this. If it wasn't painted before you're going to tear  the drywall paper beneath it. You will need to do a skim coat of drywall mud. I have a handyman business and I've done this before. The last one I did was $850 for a half bath. Its going to be expensive because its very time consuming. BUT if it is not peeling from the weight of the paint I wouldn't touch it until it does! Hopefully this helps you out...

Answer 2

You can buy wallpaper remover in a bottle. Spray it on and then scrape it off. If you don,t have wall paper remover spray water from a spray bottle on the wallpaper and scrape it off an area at a time.

Answer 3

Buy a small steamer...it removes old wallpaper really fast.

Now...on the other hand....if your walls were covered in the early 1900's...those papers were backed with a cloth...almost like cheese cloth. I would use a large blade putty knife and try to slide it under a few layers of paper and paint. Once you get it started it will be easy to follow it on out across the wall. Just don't dig too deep....no more than 1/8 an inch... otherwise you'll dig into the old plastered walls.

Answer 4

I got my wallpaper off by spraying it with water, let it soak for a few minututes, wipe off the extra water then peel & scrape it (i used for a scraper one of those "Pampered chef things for stoneware.)

it worked well!!  good luck!!

Answer 5

vinegar and warm water

Answer 6

You need to be very careful when you get into something like this.  First off when was it painted?  You need to know because is there lead in the paint?  If so it is extremely dangerous for you to remove.  Also if you find the paint is okay and you start to take the paper off you can damage the walls as they are most likely not gypsum wallboard and if you soak them in water to get the paper off the plaster will just crumble.

Answer 7

rip it off