You could go buy one of thoes tools that that will break the surface of the paper (one brand is called a paper tiger) and then use the steamer.

I just finished a room in my house that I just recently bought, that had the same problem as you did, in one of my other rooms, they had painted over the wallpaper..I wasnt about to go thru all that work in steaming and strippin all that , considering that I have plaster walls, I did the next best thing, I textured paint the walls and it came out beautiful...

Serena.....he said the seams were loose.....what did you do about those????

mfurman.........Peel off what you can then use the steamer and/or stripper to remove the remaining wallpaper.......It all has to go......doug

Doug..if the seams are loose, most common sense thing to do is peel it off, he doesnt necessarily have to steam the entire wallpaper off in order to texture paint, he already stated there isnt any way of steaming the paper off..We are in a new era, were they do make primers specifically to cover up and seal wallpaper.

the rooms I have completely had wallpaper which in fact wouldnt come off, i have an old house which I inherited plaster walls, I peeled off much as I could and repaired areas of the plastered where it needed. I havent had a problem at all....If he is going to texture paint his walls, all of that will cover everything.

No the seams aren't loose they are showing. They are hard as a rock, or like plaster. If I press them with my finger they don't move, like plaster. I'm sure if I hit it with something it would chip.

The problem is also that all patch repairs were done on top of the paper. So in addition to all of the visible seams, there are very poor patches.

This won't strip. I'm gonna have to go texture or skim coat.