We have stripped the wall paper off of our LR, DR and hallway walls, and the painter is coming on Monday to start painting. This weekend we will be washing the walls to remove any remaining glue. We've been given advice about how to go about this: vinegar and warm water, warm water and dish detergent, warm water and fabric softener. We're confused...can anyone steer us in the right direction?
TIA!
Liz
Just use the same stuff you removed the wallpaper with, let it sit for a few minutes, and wipe it with a sponge.
If you have "stripped" the walls, I would prime them. Stripping exposes different substrates. Some areas will be more porous than others. If you don't prime it, the absorption will be different, and the new paint will not have an even appearance. That's just what I would do. Please keep us posted as to just what you do and how it comes out.
Steve
I would just like to add use an oil base primer to seal in the wall.
i suspect warm water alone would also work, but ive used both vinegar and fabric softener with success. i cant say much for wallpaper remover, never used the stuff. i just use a wet rag and a scraper to get wallpaper off.
as you realize, you need to get the glue globs off. even primer wont stick well to them so its not wise to just primer over them. after you have done that, wash the wall again real quick with water to get all the vinegar/fabric softener off.
prime and paint as usual.
randy
I will add that cleaning the walls with TSP, before the painter comes would be my choice. Plenty of ventilation and warmth depending on where you live. Walls need to dry out.
tsp = tri sodium phosphate
wear rubber gloves with this mixture
We have stripped the wall paper off of our LR, DR and hallway walls, and the painter is coming on Monday to start painting. This weekend we will be washing the walls to remove any remaining glue. We've been given advice about how to go about this: vinegar and warm water, warm water and dish detergent, warm water and fabric softener. We're confused...can anyone steer us in the right direction?
TIA!
Liz
Not sure what you used to remove the wallpaper but a few years ago, when I decided to remove the wallpaper from my kitchen walls, I used DIF. It worked well. I believe I used it to also clean up any glue residue that may have been left behind.
Lynn
I've removed paste a number of times, and all that is needed is water. Add a touch of your favorite detergent, if you want. Remember, it was dry when purchased, mixed with water when applied, and held until you wet it again. If you have a painter coming on Monday, be sure you don't get the paper coating on the wallboard wet - wouldn't hurt to remind the painter when you washed the wall. It needs to be real dry when he paints. Past that is painted over will likely adhere just fine, but runs the risk to transferring any texture remaining from old wallpaper. For good measure, I vacuum the wall when dry to be sure dust/lint is removed before painting. My old towels leave a lot of lint :o)
Norminn, underneath the paper we had at least 3 coats of paint (we're in this house over 30 years), and 99% of the paper came off easily so we didn't have to do much scraping. Therefore, the wallboard paper isn't exposed anywhere that I've noticed, but we'll be extra careful about checking for that. I hadn't thought of vacuuming the walls so thanks for that tip. I'm not looking forward to washing all these walls but at least now I know how to proceed.
I hope everyone else has a nice weekend!
Liz
this works well, but you need to clean the tsp off the wall when you are done with a final warm water only wash, or it 'may' cause problems with the primer or paint.
randy
yeah it sucks, but just remember: the paint job is only as good as the prep job.
randy
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