How to get wallpaper border down without ripping?

[HWTechGuy]

At this time last year we started removing the hideous wallpaper that we inherited with this house. In some rooms, it was on every wall. In other rooms, it was on one or two walls. With five bedrooms, four bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, and dining room all having at least some wallpaper - it took alot of time. I still have PTSD flashbacks.

We found wallpaper over wallpaper in some rooms. The newer stuff generally came off pretty easily with the Piranha wallpaper remover that I got from Lowes. I also used Dif from Home Depot when I ran out of the other stuff. It worked pretty much the same. Spray it down, wait... Spray it down again, and then start scraping. In my experience, that paper tiger thing was a waste of money.

The old stuff was tough, especially the stuff what was underneath other wallpaper. I broke down and bought a steamer, and agree with the post above - it's money well-spent. The worst part of it for us was that almost all of the wallpaper was applied to virgin drywall. No paint, no primer, nothing.

We had to retexture every single wall which previously had wallpaper. But the end result was worth it.

[gentlearts]

If its just a border, you might get away without the steamer. Just put warm water in a spray bottle, or take a wet sponge to it, give it time to soak in (10 mins) and peel or scrape off. If it is vinyl coated you'll need to get a scorer to make holes, so the water can penetrate.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by HWTechGuy

The worst part of it for us was that almost all of the wallpaper was applied to virgin drywall. No paint, no primer, nothing.

That's one of those situations you say, shoot me. In our house the walls are plaster but it's "modern" from the 50's and super smooth. Possibly one of the reasons it came off so easily.