Striping wall paper from plasterboard

[Chris French]

I need to strip wallpaper from plasterboard walls. Standard wallpaper, not vinyl, an inpreinted sort of vertical strip pattern., direct to the plasterboard, no skim.

No option really, this is the old bathroom I'm turning into bedroom. Walls mostly plasterboard over lathe and plaster and brick walls (I assume to get a nice flat surface for tiling?). It was tiled up to about

4 feet all the way round. As I expected trying to remove the tiles left the plasterboard in such a mess, that we just ripped the lot down.

Plan is to replace the plasterboard. and then get the whole lot skimmed

So have the rest of the walls covered in paper. Any tips on removal?

Steam it and then try to pull off rather than scrape?

The alternative thought is to leave paper on, replace plasterboard , not skim and then lining paper over the whole lot. But then there is the messing about with taping/filling/sanding.

[The Medway Handyman]

I've done it, horrible job. You have to be very careful with the timing. You have to leave the steamer head in place for 'just' enough time to soften the wallpaper, then move it before it starts to soften the paper face of the plasterboard.

I'd never do it again as a paid job. More a labour of love.

[stuart noble]

+1. I'd wet it with a big brush rather than steam it if I was forced to ever do it again. And I certainly wouldn't tackle a woodchip on PB CEILING!

[Andrew Gabriel]

If the wallpaper is well stuck on, and the glue doesn't come apart when wet (you can test this on an area), then you can skim over the wallpaper. If it is non-absorbant, it will need PVA'ing immediately before skimming.

OTOH, if you are skimming the room anyway, I would consider removing the over-boarding and lath and plaster, and start fresh with new PB on the timber frame.

[Chris French]

In message , Phil L writes

Sorry for not being clearer.

Trying to remove the tiles from the plasterboard left it in too much of a mess. It made more sense to just to remove it as well

Probably.

I had a previous house where skim had been done over papered plasterboard, it came detached in patches. so I'm wary of doing it it I can avoid it.

I might do that.

This is all the work of previous owners.

Thanks

[Chris French]

In message , Chris French writes

And really, the question I was asking was just the one about stripping the wallpaper of the plasterboard.

The rest of it was extra info, because IME of uk.d-i-y a bald question tends to get 'why do want to do that' responses as well , sometimes totally off at tangent replies not really relevant to the situation. So I try to give bit of background/context for the question.

[Chris French]

I've read it again, and whilst I can see a bit of ambiguity I though it was pretty clear, though there is an element of thinking aloud in the post. However, sorry Phil that it wasn't clear enough.

Which was kind of what I expected, but you know you hope someone has that magic 'here is how to do it easily tip' :-)

Thanks folks, got some other jobs to do before I have to bite this bullet.

[Chris French]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

I might do that, TBH, I'm feeling a bit wussy about the effort and mess involved at the moment:-)

Anyway, got some other bits to be getting on with while I put this off.

- lay a soil pipe through to the next door room for when we potentially convert that into an en-suite, electrics - no sockets in the room and not even a handy cable under the floor or handy sockets in neighbouring rooms, patch holes in the ceiling where spotlights used to be, block up an old doorway.

Thanks