remove wallpaper that has been painted over?

Hi I want to redo a room in my Cape Cod home. It has cheap white paint over cheap light green paint over ugly wallpaper.

What is the easiest way to get it all down so I can paint it?

There are ugly lines showing through the paint, seams I guess. Half of the rest of the house WAS done in paneling with no drywall behind it. I fear finding that in this room too! The ugly lines are even on the ceiling.

Tips? Steaming? A razor? Nu Wall over it? (worked very well on the paneling upstairs) THANKS Tara

Reply to
TaraDanielle
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I vote new drywall thruout the house. And in the process reinsulate the exterior walls at a minimum. PJ

Reply to
PJx

A sponge and a 4 inch putty knife. Sponge on get an area wet and then let the water do its job. Takes a while but the stuff will come right off. Not much clean up for painting either. I just removed 3 rooms from wallpaper hell recently. Just do not let it dry out. I started at the top and worked down. Better when it is warmer.

Reply to
SQLit

A wet sponge is fine ONLY if the paint allows the moisture through to the paper!

Reply to
PhotoMan

You might want to try a Paper Tiger, a device that makes holes in the surface of the paper so that water can get through the paint.

Reply to
Alan

way too much money also too much mess, I have a 3 year-old and a dog When we get new siding we hope to add a lot of insulation downstairs Tara

Reply to
TaraDanielle

Go to the local Hope Depot or Wal-Mart and get what is called a Paper Tiger. This scores the wallpaper and allows the water to get behind the paper to dissolve the glue... Also, get one of the solutions designed for wallpaper removal. They dissolve the glue much faster than water does, and you really will need it to get all of the glue off the wall so that paint will adhere properly.

Reply to
Daniel L. Belton

My wife and I tried this approach on a bedroom and it almost ended the relationship. It's very time intensive and messy. For the next room we went to Home Depot and bought a wagner steamer for $50 bucks and finished the house with much happier results. That was the best $50 bucks I ever spent and without it there would still be plenty of the previous owners wall paper throughout the house.

I would strongly suggest not using the chemicals and instead use a steamer. If you don't want to buy one you can most likely rent one but I think you'll spend the same money either way.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Lauer

I have the all time best and cheapest, least hot way to remove wallpaper. Instructions must be followed to the letter. Garden sprayer with hot water and Ivory liquid dishsoap. Tiger claw/paw the whole wall and spray it down with the hot water/ivory mixture. Critical step - sit down and drink a whole can of soda/beer. then use a putty knife to take paper off the wall. DO NOT touch until the soda/beer can is empty or it won't all come off.

use same sprayer to apply TSP to the wall when the paper is off and wipe the wall down. NOW paint away.

Unless you need the steam to warm up the home anyway ;-))

Reply to
Claudia

But beer works better than soda, doesn't it? ;)

Reply to
xymergy

UGH I got the paper tiger, spent three hours removing about 3 feet times three feet (behind a couch) to find that there is no drywall. Just plywood. The paper doesn't peel off in sheets, it comes off in tiny chips.

So I'm gonna avoid all of this work for no reason, just sand the wallpaper lines, prime (maybe twice) and paint. Coral color I think :-) Tara

Reply to
TaraDanielle

Tape and compound the wallpaper lines.....use alcohol base primer or Kilz, etc. then regular primer then topcoat. Use 1" roller to get a little texture into paint surface.

Art

snipped-for-privacy@croton10520.com

Reply to
art

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