Wallpaper Removal

Richie-C

Hi All!

I am in the midst of removing wallpaper for a client. Three layers in all. The last layer is almost impossible to remove. It seems as if it was placed directly over the drywall. When I get down to the drywall, I can see the orignal joint compund, etc. I am using traditional method of DIFF in a pump sprayer, wallpaper tiger, scrape, etc.

The ultimate goal is to prime, skim the walls, and paint. Any tips for making this less painful??

Pro-Wall--surely you have some tricks up you sleeve (pretty please?)

Richie-C

Txpainter

When it comes to wallpaper that wont come off theres two ways to fix it.Home depot or lowes carries a sealer for dameged sheetrock it works well and will seal the remaning wallpaper so that you can mud back over it without the wallpaper bubbling out on you.Or you can pick up a box of plus 3 sheetrock mud and mix it to texture form and put on a light coat and it will loosen up what wallpaper you cant get off.Its a little meesy but it works.Ive done alot of tape bed texture work and thats the way ive always done it.There may be other ways to go about it but i think sealing it first and then mudding the walls is the fastest.Hope this helps.

:Thumbs:

ProWallGuy

I would either keep soaking and scraping, unless its just destroying the drywall. Other option is to coat it with a heavy-bodied, slow-drying long oil, or 2 coats Zinsser's Gardz or Scotch Paint's DrawTite. Then mud it smooth, and go from there. I hate wallpaper hacks who don't prime before they hang.

__________________
Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

Txpainter

Sorry that i forgot the name of the sealer it was late when i posted and couldnt remember it.Also after using gaurdz some spots may still bubble out just cut it out with a utility knife and reseal then mud over it.If you have some spots that give you problems use some 20 min. mud and let it almost come to set then fill the spot and let dry then sand.I personally try not to take jobs where there is wallpaper involed but work is work but its still a pain in the ass.Wallpaper sucks!

__________________
Wilson@Sons Painting
Dennis Wilson

chris n

Wallpaper sucks!

I will take exception to that.

chris n

I hate wallpaper hacks who don't prime before they hang.

You got that right! :Thumbs:

ProWallGuy

Thank God there are so many contractors with this frame of mind, that just don't understand how to hang or remove it properly. Keeps me busy all year long, and makes me good $$$. And I will add its more unknowledgable contractors that hang it inproperly than homeowners. If you don't know how to do it right, don't do it at all.

__________________
Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

chris n

( If you don't know how to do it right, don't do it at all.)


You got that right again! :Thumbs:

Txpainter

Sorry guys im not trying say all wallpaper is bad its like you said some people do not know how to hang it.Ive had wallpaper come off real easy,but then there is wallpaper hangers that dont prime before they hang and thats why its hard to take it off.It just pisses me off that some people do not take pride in their work and make it harder for the next guy that has to take it down.Ive seen some cool wallpaper go up and the guy doing it knew what he was doing.Ive also seen some vinyl go up that looked like stone that i thought was neat.Im not knocking all wallpaper just the dumb ass that doesnt prime before put it up.

__________________
Wilson@Sons Painting
Dennis Wilson

chris n

Im not knocking all wallpaper just the dumb ass that doesnt prime before put it up.

All we wallpaper hangers(professional) and removers hate them also, believe me.

ProWallGuy

Yep, ditto.

__________________
Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

Richie-C

Thanks all for the advice. I scraped all that I could, and decided to go with Gardz--since it seems to be the cure for damaged drywall. I'll then be skim coating. We'll see how it goes!

Thanks!

Richie

Unregistered

Quick question to those that have used Zinsser's Gardz, I've used it but the fumes from it when it was being applied were really bad, some of the guys who were using it started getting really sick, we had to close up the place for the day, do you think that it is the product its self, or maybe it expired or something? We'd really like to find out, maybe we just got a bad can of it or something like that, but does it normally have really strong fumes?

ProWallGuy

Yep, it usually smells pretty strong, always use with decent ventilation.

__________________
Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

Richie-C

Yeah--the fumes are strong. If you've used BIN you've probably experienced the same. Except With BIN, I've had to run outside it was so bad!

=CCCC=Alek

I just finished a projuct with the same problem... the third layer would not come off. So i first sanded down the overlaped wallpaper with a belt sander, washed the walls, Primed then mudded the walls. It took me aprox. 4 hrs to do the whole kitchen. Next day i sligtly sanded the mud, primed one more time, and the second coat of paint made it look like new drywall job. I ran into this before and found that this method is the most time and cost effective.

__________________
=CCCC=
Complete Construction & Contracting Corporation
Lyons, IL