We are selling a home and (stupidly) decided to strip the wallpaper.

Fill you a bottle of warm water with dish washing liquid, use your flat trowel the kind you do sheetrock with.... Take a deep breath spray wall down really good, start peeling! Be patient, but it really is not hard, and you will be done before you know it! Been There Done That

You will have to refill bottle several times but it is not hard peeling the paper off.

Thanks for your advice. I think the problem is that the original wall wasn't prepped correctly because the paper peeling off of the sheetrock. I think we're going to have to do something to the walls whether we continue the stripping or not.

In your situation with the drywall paper peeling, I would lightly sand the rough drywall smooth. Fill any gouges with drywall patching compound. Sand the edges of the remaining wallpaper feathering them to the wall. Then use a stain blocking primer and paint.

Be sure you get all the glue off once the wallpaper is removed. And as William suggests use stain blocking primer on any patches. I did not and in certain lighting all my patches show up (it's call flashing--google it). Good luck.

Oh wow, goodluck!!! Please keep us posted as you go so we can learn too!

I had a house I wanted to remove the wallpaper from and I rented a steamer, it saved alot of time and my sanity,

It's also possible to buy a wallpaper that is made for the purpose of covering a wall to paint it. It has another name that i don't recall, but a wallpaper store would know. You would still need to follow the advice above to smooth the surface before covering it, but it is a possible fix.

Yes, we tried the steamer, too. It worked great on the first layer, but it's the second and third layers that are the problem. I think because the wallboard wasn't prepped so the paper is coming off the plaster. I wish I could go back and not be the daughter-in-law who said, " we HAVE to strip the paper because no one will buy the house." In retrospect, it's not worth it.

If the wallpaper is really stuck, you can simply paint it. Try sealing with KILTZ and watch for bubbles. Then paint.

Thank you, Sheilah.

I once painted wallpaper-worst decision ever. The water in the paint made the seams curl up and you could see that it was paper below... You can buy heavy paper at Home Depot etc. This would mean re-papering the entire area, making sure the new seams are not near the old ones. If you do not have a house full of wallpaper I would suggest putting new sheetrock in the area and then priming and painting. Less money and aggravation in the long run.

Straight up white vinegar did the trick for me in a similar situatio... your home might smell like a salad, but it works!

How about just having new sheetrock installed over it? Tape, float, sand and paint! Good as new and LOOKS new!

Use fabric softener in a spray bottle, spray like crazy, let it sit 10 min or so and SCRAPE. No fun but it's the proper way...

My friend is an independent property manager and is working on a property now that has up to SIX different kinds of wallpaper sandwiched in between as many layers of paint throughout the house. Apparently the family that sold it to him liked to paint over the wallpaper and THEN wallpaper again!! He is getting as much as he can off with commercially available wallpaper stripper (the hot water and vinegar I suggested was no match for this mess) and then he's getting a contractor buddy to skim coat just about the whole house. It sounds crazy, but the walls are plaster, not drywall, so there's no point in trying to get all the way down to the wall . . . the wall might come down with the last layer of paper/paint. It sure is fun finding new wallpaper patterns in the meantime! PS - I've seen the tool used to skim coat a wall . . . it looks like a 5 foot wide putty scraper, so once these guys get going, it doesn't take as long as you think.

Ugh. I guess I'm going to be learning to skimcoat.

Here's a good video on how to skim coat. First, try to remove any wallpaper that wants to come off. Then sand any raised areas. Use a good primer to seal the wall and any remaining wallpaper. You don't have to get up tight against the trim. Then, skim coat with pre-mixed drywall compound. Let dry. Sand any imperfections, like raised bumps. Tape off any trim and paint your finish coat using a "paint and primer all in one" (ask at the store) two coats. Hope this helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aawh6CEyMTk

Yes, it does! Thank you.

Thank you to all of you who responded. What we ended up doing was to strip as much as we could, then let it dry. This weekend we went down and sanded it all, feathering in all the rough areas. We'll prime it with a quick drying bin-type paint and see how that goes. It may need another sand if it lifts up any of the seams as one poster mentioned, but then the plan is to paint if we can or skim coat if the paint isn't enough. Such a process! The worst part is that it was my idea. My sister-in -law and her husband weren't on board, but my husband and I, emphaiss on "I" went ahead anyway. (if you ask my son, he'll tell you that I am...ahem....assertive. I really want to make this right since it was my folly n the first place. Thank you all, again.

Good job on recognizing the consequences of one's own strong assertiveness. It only took me 60 years or so!