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We're interested in a house built in 1987. The only thing is that they've put up wallpaper in a couple of the bedrooms, powder room, and hallway. Question we have is how easy (or hard) is it to remove wallpaper? I'm assuming it's only a single layer. Thoughts?
That however hard or easy YOUR wallpaper may be to remove (or cover with a good oil based primer)...
shouldn't be the basis for choosing to buy that house or not.
You'll need a wallpaper Tiger which is a cap looking affair with pinwheels on it to perforate the wallpaper so that the water you are going to spray on it can get thru the paper. The adhesive is water based and goes back to liquid when it gets wet so the paper comes off easily. You don't need to buy a spray wallpaper remover as it's nothing more than water with a wetting agent. Run the Tiger over the walls to perforate the paper, spray the area with water, wait about 1 full minute and start at a corner and peel it off. Sometimes it will tear, just wet it down again with water and wait a minute. A 6" taping knife can be yer friend to work it loose. Once removed, then all you need to do is use a wet sponge to clean the adhesive off of the walls before painting/texturing. It's an easy job but can take a significant amount of time depending on how old the job is- the older the easier it is to remove generally. Because of the moisture in most bathrooms, that will be the easiest to remove. Actually, wallpaper in a bath is a poor choice because of the moisture and a lot of it will turn loose over time.
I gather from watching HGTV that it CAN be relatively easy to remove wallpaper.
My whole house was wallpapered and removal was nightmarish, despite using every method and suggestion known to mankind, including those in the last post and dozens of others. I don't know why it was so difficult but maybe they used a weird sort of paste/glue or something? The fact that there were 7+ layers of wallpaper didn't help.
After removing it bit by bit from a bathroom/dressing room, I gave up. I hired a painter/drywall guy, and told him that if he had to, he could paint it over. He removed it in a few small areas where it could be removed, and painted over most of it, using his drywall expertise to smooth the transitions. He charged $4500 for a 1600 square foot house and it looks fine so far, after a year.
So, what's the worst that can happen? Probably $4500 for a painter, it seems to me. The best that could happen is that the wallpaper would come off easily in big wide strips like on HGTV.
Probably 70% of my current 1970's house was wallpapered, some painted over long ago. After going through the agony of trying to remove it in most rooms (with mixed results) I finally decided on the last bedroom to hire a painting company to remove the paper, prep the walls, and paint. It was the best money I ever spent and I am sort of kicking myself for not doing so on my other rooms (where I see the imperfections daily). They knocked it out in a day and the wall is so smooth it looks like new drywall. I think back on how many weekends I wasted ripped up drywall trying to scrap that wallpaper off (and countless bottles of DIF). Hiring someone wasn't cheap, but it was worth it in my opinion.
I can tell you this, too. If after wetting the wallpaper as the others have described, and it turns to shreds anyway and simply will not come down, stop what you're doing and paint right over it. First, paint a very small section with both latex and oil-based primer. If one buckles up, use the other paint. The reason some wallpaper won't come off is usually because the paper installer did not PRIME FIRST. So, you can pretty much bet it ain't gonna come off when you go and paint over it. Of course, if you paint the whole thing and it falls off, great, you found a wonderful wallpaper remover! Smile.
Metallic wallpaper from the 70's can be pretty challenging. Other than that, DIF and water usually does it. Personally, I rather like to steam it off with a rented steamer. Start at the bottom and by the time you get to the top tis falling off. Wash it down with a little Dawn and water while the glue is soft and the wall is almost ready to paint when you are done. But, I know people hate steamers so I guess its an acquired taste.
i have tried a few different products but had the most success with CHOMP. they sell it at home depot. worked alot better than goof off or goo be gone.
That however hard or easy YOUR wallpaper may be to remove (or cover with a good oil based primer)...
shouldn't be the basis for choosing to buy that house or not.
hth
Speak for yourself
After removing the wallpaper from EVERY wall and half of the CEILINGS in our old house, NEVER again. I won't look at a house that is full of wallpaper, not even walk in the door.
OP-removal will be easy IF they prepped the walls properly, if not, have fun. The trick isn't all the fancy gadgets, sprays, etc. it is to soak the wallpaper and let the water do it's job. Spray down the wallpaper with hot water, let it sit for 20 or 30 minutes, then remove. You have to give the water time to soften the glue. There is a good chance you will be able to remove most of the printed part of the wallpaper without doing anything, slowly peal that off, spray down whatever remains, wait a half an hour, scrape off with a large blade putty knife.
Some friends removed wallpaper they put in properly, we were over to "help". They sprayed the walls, we had a drink, EVERYTHING pealed off in one long, easy strip, wiped the walls when done. Total process took an hour. It took us almost 3 weeks of going pretty much all day to get all the wallpaper off in our old house.
My last experience with wallpaper is use a lot of water and time is your friend, the tool mentioned above will certainly make it faster job but not needed at least in my experience.
The house we just purchased had wallpaper everywhere, I'm guessing it was expensive because it was very heavy. What I did was wet it down with water from a pump up garden sprayer particularly the edges and seams. I let it sit for a few minutes and then wet it down again. From that point the water had penetrated the edges and seams enough I could peel enough off to get it started and was able to pull most of it off with my hands in one large sheet exposing the papery/glue residue. That had to be soaked with a lot of water and scraped off with a 10 inch spackle knife, it came off easily at that point. Finally washed it all down with a sponge.
That worked for all of it except one wall where it was much thinner paper, you're mileage will vary and reading some stories it could be a lot more work.
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