OK...maybe not a nightmare, but a real pain: The previous owners of my house put wallpaper on the upper part of the tub walls. Dumb. The tiles end at about 5-1/2 feet and the wallpaper begins there. The first 1/4" of the wallpaper is peeling away and there's mildew under that edge. All the wallpaper will be removed as part of a bathroom renovation project next spring. But meanwhile, this is ugly and I'm wondering what will remove the mildew without destroying the wallpaper. I'd like to reglue the edge, but I doubt it'll work well in its current condition.
Household cleaner with water and a LITTLE bleach (separately). I've reglued edges using diluted Elmer's glue, but it will probably take some of the paper off the wallboard if I ever remove it. I papered our bath about a year ago - paper isn't in shower enclosure but goes right up to the edge and meets the tile. I masked the edge and put a fine line of caulk along the shower opening and the entire lower edge of the paper. So far, so good. Moisture runs down and seeps under edge of paper and veneer at lower end of door, so always paint bottom of door, too.
I would use deluted bleach and a small brush such as an old tooth brush or fingernail brush to gently clean the mold problem up. Let it dry thoroughly before proceding.
Then I would use hot melt glue gun and glue along and under the edges of the paper to glue it down. To smooth out the edges after using the hot melt glue gun I would use an old iron (iron for clothing) and place news paper overlapping the tile and iron the newspaper to melt the glue and smooth out the wallpaper right up to the edge of the tiles. You must pull the newspaper loose as soon as the hot iron passes where you have ironed to prevent it from sticking to the wallpaper. Excess glue will be able to be scraped off the slick surface of the tile. The drywall or backerboard will retain enough heat to smooth the paper down before it cools using a small putty knife. Hot melt glue and a glue gun are cheap at craft stores. Old irons can be found at thrift stores that still heat ok but the handle may be broken or abandoned because people just don't need them anymore with all the no press fabrics. Hot melt glue is waterproof and when your ready to remodel the old glue can be wicked out of the wallboard with a hot ironing method with newspaper or paper towels.
You think the hot glue would be preferable to wallpaper repair glue for this situation? I've got that and a leeetle tiny roller, but I'm not obsessed with using these things if they won't work well.
I would find a corner and try it first if you question it working. The hot melt glue would be waterproof and perhaps seal the top edge of the tile if done carefully. My only concern would be using this method with walltex® or a plastic coated type wallpaper that is used in bathrooms that would melt. Yes, I think it would work with *paper* but every part should be as dry as possible first.
This is the way I would have approached this problem if I would run across this myself. I have used an iron to smooth out and do something simular with hot melt glue before that involved a paste-board project. The glue had hardened too fast and left a gap between two pieces and the iron remelted the glue and spread it out to close the gap. That is why I recomended the iron because the hot melt glue will cool quickly and not be as pleasing a finish if you just use a glue gun alone. The wall will absorb the heat and leave little working time. The newspaper keeps the glue from sticking to the bottom side of the iron and being spread where it's not wanted.
Practice glueing down some paper on something such as an old brick or chunk of concrete, scrap of drywall, that will leach the heat from the glue before the paper is in the proper position and use the iron and news paper method to rescue and reposition and smooth it after it has set up.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.