I just purchased a 27 year old house that has tons of wallpaper which I can't stand. My dilema is that I want to paint but not sure how to start. My question is do I remove all the wallpaper or paint over it. There is wallpaper in the living room, dining room, family room, kitchen & breakfast nook, laundry room and 2 bathrooms in the house. It's a massive job but I'm willing to remove it. What the best soluction remove it or paint over it. Also some of the wallpaper is starting to peel in certain room that has already been painted. How do I remove wallpaper already painted and how do I remove wallpaper in hard to reach areas such as behind the stove and kitchen cabinets? Thanks for your help.
COMMUNITY FORUM
If it's peeling I would not paint over it. My wife just painted over some wallpaper. It looks good. The paper had a little texture to it which made the paint look better than normal. Our wallpaper was stuck down good and it's our 1 year old's room. We didn't want to displace her for the time it would take to remove the paper and then paint.
As far as removing it. No luck just pulling it down? I didn't think so. They sell a tool called a ?paper tiger? It's round and you just run it over the paper. There are little knives that cut into the paper, but not the drywall. Once you've done that then you use a mix of ?vinegar? and water to wet the paper and it should come off. The directions on the paper tiger will be better.
Devildog
I agreee with RET on the steamer as that is best way to remove alot of wallpaper.
But if you find that the walls were not sized or primed before the wallpaper was hung and you are tearing the face paper off of the drywall(if that is the type of walls you have) I would stop and paint over it. But if it is peeling you will to remove thoes areas and then skim out the wall with joint compound. The primer you will want to use is oil based and can either be a quick dry stain killer type or a slow dry, it just depends on how much time you have. This will pretty much make it a part of the wall.
Do not paint over wallpaper that is already peeling. Your paint will only fall off as the wallpaper continues to fall off. You can spot-repair the peeling parts and hope that doing so solves the adhesion problem, but the best way to do it would be to remove it, entirely.
How you remove the wallpaper depends on how well it was installed and what kind of wallpaper it is. Essentially, what you need to do is get water, soap, steam, or a product called "DIF" underneath the paper to dissolve the glue holding the paper on the wall. Some glues will dissolve with only warm water, some more with soapy water, even more with steam, and virtually all will come off with DIF.
Some wallpapers are multi-layered with a top layer that peels off, leaving a fuzzy paper layer glued to the wall that is water permeable. You probably do not need to score this paper, just soak that fuzzy layer with water, soap, steam, or DIF, and it will get through to the glue.
For papers that do not have a top layer that peels off, you need to score/perforate the paper with a Paper Tiger or scoring knife with enough holes that the DIF or water can get through to all the glue. LOTS of holes. But not so deep that the holes perforate the drywall cardboard underneath the glue.
How you remove the wallpaper depends on how well it was installed and what kind of wallpaper it is. Essentially, what you need to do is get water, soap, steam, or a product called "DIF" underneath the paper to dissolve the glue holding the paper on the wall. Some glues will dissolve with only warm water, some more with soapy water, even more with steam, and virtually all will come off with DIF.
Some wallpapers are multi-layered with a top layer that peels off, leaving a fuzzy paper layer glued to the wall that is water permeable. You probably do not need to score this paper, just soak that fuzzy layer with water, soap, steam, or DIF, and it will get through to the glue.
For papers that do not have a top layer that peels off, you need to score/perforate the paper with a Paper Tiger or scoring knife with enough holes that the DIF or water can get through to all the glue. LOTS of holes. But not so deep that the holes perforate the drywall cardboard underneath the glue.
Painted wallpaper is the same as wallpaper you need to score/perforate with a Paper Tiger: the holes will go through the paint and allow the solvent (water, soap, steam, or DIF) to get to the glue underneath the paper.
Removing wallpaper behind cabinets requires you to remove the cabiunets. I don't see the question, there. I also don't see why you would want to do so: just keep it there.
Removing wallpaper behind cabinets requires you to remove the cabiunets. I don't see the question, there. I also don't see why you would want to do so: just keep it there.
