Wallpaper!!!?
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at
8:00 pm
We are re-doing my in-laws family room and it has a wallpaper border around the top of the wall. We can’t paint over it because the was is textured and the outline of the border will show through. What is the best way to get ALL of the border off?
Tagged with: laws family • wallpaper border
Filed under: Wall Covering
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Get a perforater and some wallpaper remover spray. These you can get in the wallpaper/paint section at hardware stores/WalMart. You run the perforater over the paper, spray the adhesive remover, wait a few, them pull paper off. Usually comes off easily enough. Use a paint scraper tip to gently pull up edges of any stubborn pieces. spray more, and pull. Good Luck.
Its a little more work than renting a steamer, but being its just a border…….I have had success in the past by brushing on warm water with a paint brush and waiting a little while for it to penetrate and soften,(might take several applications), then scraping it off with a putty knife.
Borders generally don’t have as strong of an adhesive as full-length paper, so should come off pretty easy.
If you run into trouble getting it completely off where the wall meets the ceiling, consider cheating by putting in crown moulding.
If the border is not printed on mylar, (foil,) try soaking the border with a really wet sponge. After a short time, that will soften the glue under the border and it may peel off or you may be able to scape it off. (If you have to scrape it, be very careful not to dig the scraper in the sheetrock. If that happens, fill with compound and texture.)
If it is mylar or if the wallpaper is really tightly attached, you can mud over it with compound. Do a couple light coats until the texture from the wallpaper is covered and add the texture to match the rest of the wall.
Either way, be sure to prime that portion of the wall before painting or the paint will soak into the wall.
spray with water mixed with glue de-activator, then peel/ scrape- it has to be really wet to come off easy
There is a tool which you can get at a paint or wallpaper store or a Lowes or Home Depot typ store that you run over the border and it makes little holes in it. Then you ask for this stuff (I forget the name) that you apply over it and let it sit a while–then work at pulling it all off in one strip–may have to add more stuff.
It can also be done with a steam cleaning tool or even just hot water, but the first idea works fastest and best.
Maggie
It won’t be fun. First tear off the paper. This should be relatively easy. You will then see a paper liner on the wall. You can use warm water with fabric softener mixed in and spray this on the paper. Let it soak for about 10 to 15 minutes and then with a wide plastic putty knife scrap the liner off. Do a small space at a time. Do not spray the entire room. If you have textured walls and there is glue left on them get some Diff glue remover. You can get it at Lowes and probably Home Depot
I have had good luck using a spray bottle of warm water…soak it, let it set for a minute or two and then scrap or peel. I have also used a my blow dryer (yup—my hair dryer) to heat up the the adhesive a bit and then scrap or peel. It’s worth a try before spending any money.
You could use a wallpaper removing tool that puts holes in your paper, but you may put holes in your plaster also. So try to peel off the front layer and soak the backing left on the walls with warm or hot water(the hotter, the better) and wait til the paper changes color(darker color) and it is ready to be peeled off like as if you are just putting it on. You could use a putty knife, but you take the chance of gouging the plaster since it is a rough texture. If this is still a challenge, try using an clothes iron that sprays steam and remove as you go. Verses renting a wall paper removing steamer. approx. $35.00 at a rental store. make sure to wash off any glue left behind, Hot water and vinigar does wonders and cheaper than diff bought at stores. tsp also works for cleaning. Do this as the glue is still activated and you will save labor time.
Very hot water and a couple of sponges. Keep wetting the paper until it completely penetrates the paper and then the paper should just pull right down.
Aprox 1-2 Min of saturation should allow the adhesive to release without a lot of residue.
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