How do I remove wallpaper that was painted over?
The people who used to live in my house have painted over wallpaper in the master bedroom. I tried to remove it but it is only coming off in small peices the size of medicine bottles.
I have tried asking my relatives and friends but they said they don’t know how either. I need advice on a quicked way to remove the wallpaper with paint over it.
First get razor blade to score the wall. Don’t press too hard while doing this or you will damage the dry wall. You are doing this so that the next step the water will penetrate under the first layer of paper.
Then use a water bottle with a little fabric softener in it. Spray on the wall saturating as much as you can and let it sit for awhile to soak into the paper. It should start peeling off easier. If it gets stuck in places, spray more fabric softener water on it. Use a flat handled spackle blade like this: http://www.do-it-yourself-help.com/images/chisel_knife.jpg
This makes it easier to get under the paper and scrape it off.
Also, if you have one of those hand carry little steamers this helps tremendously in loosening that wallpaper! They look like this:
http://wallmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4360372
Once the paper is removed you want to wash the walls with TSP to get all the residue of the wallpaper glue off the wall. Going to a HIC and asking questions is recommended.
You have to resign yourself to it being a very messy and frustrating job. The finished results however you will be very happy you put in the time and effort. You will probably despise wall paper after this job and wonder why anyone would ever put it on their walls! LOL I speak from experience.
Go to Home Depot. Get a wallpaper scorer, it will be much quicker than using a razor. Get Diff. Apply it as it says on the bottle. The paper should come off in larger strips.
You could alternately use a steamer, but its more time consuming and more expensive.
It took me 3 days to get down wallpaper in a bathroom that had been painted over. I scrubbed and used the above things as directed by the Home Depot guys and it worked! Just remember (I forgot lol) to wash the walls down when you’re done before applying paint or other wall paper.