Wall paper steamers

[Booboo3604]

Sounds like with as much fun as you are having just getting walls taken care of, good luck with the crown molding. Not sure if you have cut it before, particularly the corners, but its an exciting adventure for first timers. Learned myself a few months back. Let's just say it was an experience

 

[CMC122]

I just went through this for three large rooms and a hallway. Steamer didnt work. Finally had a professional come by. After removing the top layer of the wallpaper by just peeling it off, he used a garden sprayer full of warm water, sprayed down the wall really well and then stuck that cheap plastic tarp from Lowes (actually looks like a gigantic sheet of Saran Wrap) over the sprayed paper, it clings by itself. Left it on overnight and in the morning the paper on the walls just fell off. If you are in a hurry, mixing fabric softener with hot water in a spray bottle works well too. Vinegar does damage to the wall underneath and you can see the drops even when painting with three coats and a primer (as in my case), the drywall hadnt been prepared well by the original builder who then slapped wallpaper over it. Since you have paneling underneath, I would hesitate on the vinegar as well, even though it does a great job removing the glue and paper.

Good to now about the vinegar for future wallpaper adventures! Thanks

 

[ShyGirl]

Wallwik

I had great success with a product similar to DIF called WALLWIK.

http://www.wallwikcompany.com/demo.asp

 

[MDTerps]

I just did this. I had vinyl wallpaper in my bathroom. I just gently pulled the vinyl top layer off. That left the gluey background paper. I bought this stuff..DI something, it was three initials. I mixed it up in an old windex spray bottle and sprayed it in sections..and left it for about 10 minutes and it came off like a charm. What I did was pull vinyl, spray..move onto another section of pulling vinyl and spraying. When you're done with pulling the glue paper off, you have to wipe the wall with the solution to get all the residual glue off. It's time consuming but very easy. I was surprised at how well that glue remover worked.

Sounds like DIF the soultion you mix with water, not the gel kind. I got the gel stuff once and I hated it! But the other you mix with warm water worked like a charm on 3 rooms I did a couple years back.

 

[cattitude]

Sounds like DIF the soultion you mix with water, not the gel kind. I got the gel stuff once and I hated it! But the other you mix with warm water worked like a charm on 3 rooms I did a couple years back.

Yeah, it was the concentrate. We were amazed. It almost slid of the wall.

 

[Katie]

OK I know what I am doing sometime this weekend. I REALLY want to get the rubber duckie border off the bathroom wall.

 

[Cowgirl]

I think I have it figured out. I'm going to get the DIF stuff from lowes and try to take off the paper. I'll paint the top half of the wall (probably a dark blue...I'll try to find a picture of what I'm thinking). The bottom half with be the beadboard with a chair rail on top. The only hitch in my plan is if the paneling behind the wallpaper isn't smooth enough to be painted. I think it is though. Guess I'll wait till the weekend to tackle it.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[Cowgirl]

Well, I'm about 1/2 way done removing the wallpaper....my boss had a bunch of DIF left over from his house....so he gave it to me. It's the gel kind. It's a little difficult to get good coverage spraying it..sometime's it's spotty. I've started rubbing it in so it covers completely. It definitely works better when I remove the outer layer first and then spray it on the paper backing. It still requires some elbow grease, because of the paneling behind it...oh and there's spackling on parts of the paneling. I guess they were trying to smooth it out. :shrug:


So....I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to do with it once I'm done taking off the paper and smoothing it out. I still want to do the beadboard with chair rail on the bottom half and paint on the top half, but it's more expensive than just painting it.

What do you guys think of just a chair rail trim on painted walls? I've seen some pictures of that, but I don't know how common that is.

 

[Nickel]

What do you guys think of just a chair rail trim on painted walls? I've seen some pictures of that, but I don't know how common that is.

Do you mean chair rail with the top and bottom just painted (no wainscoting)? If so, my parents did that in their dining room. It looks pretty good.

 

[Cowgirl]

Here are a few examples. I still like the one with the beadboard better....

 

[Cowgirl]

Do you mean chair rail with the top and bottom just painted (no wainscoting)? If so, my parents did that in their dining room. It looks pretty good.

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. It is pretty now that I look at more pictures of it. Definitely cheaper without the wainscoting/beadboard!