Removing wallpaper- HELP!

Sally
by Sally

When my kitchen was redone the new drywall wasn’t primed. I sized and hung wallpaper and now I can’t get it off. I’ve used the stuff that you spray and then used roller that perforated paper. Gouged out small pieces of dry wall. Same when using vinegar and water. HELP!

  6 answers
  • Sandy McElhose Dunleavy Sandy McElhose Dunleavy on Jun 30, 2018

    try scoring it with a wallpaper scorer, it creates tiny holes through the wallpaper and using liquid fabric softener and water let it sit for 10-15 minutes and then try scraping it off with a putty knife. If this won’t work, you may want to look into renting a steamer.

  • Gk Gk on Jun 30, 2018

    Hi Sally. Did you have any paint or primer at all on your drywall before you installed the wallpaper? If the wallpaper was installed directly on drywall with no paint or primer you will probably not be able to remove the wallpaper from the drywall and trying to do so will just cause more damage. If you just put sizing directly on drywall with no paint or primer this is what happens. You may have to have a skim coat put over the wall paper and start fresh OR wallpaper over the wallpaper but then you are stuck always having to have wallpaper in those areas because the bottom layer will never come off without doing damage. I can't stress enough how important it is to prep your walls well before wallpapering with primer, paint, and sizing--but I also learned the hard way the first few times I did wallpaper--and ended up in the same place you are right now.

    • Sally Sally on Jun 30, 2018

      What is a skim coat? Not a fun lesson to learn. 😔

  • Ken Ken on Jun 30, 2018

    You may end up having to remove what you can and skim coating with drywall compound to make a smooth surface. You learned a good lesson about painting before installing wallpaper.

  • JudyH JudyH on Jun 30, 2018

    Try using a steamer and a wide plastic spatula. And good luck getting the wallpaper off without damaging the drywall! The whole process is very labor intensive and requires lots of patience. When you finally get the paper off you need to be sure you wash the wall several times to be sure you get all the paste residue off, otherwise your new paint will be splotchy and might not even stick in spots.

    • Sally Sally on Jun 30, 2018

      I’m dreading it but the wallpaper has got to go!

  • Gk Gk on Jul 01, 2018

    A skim coat is a thin layer of sheet rock mud. It will hide the wallpaper underneath and looks like a normal wall that has never had anything done to it. It gets sprayed on and smoothed out or you can add texture to it in the form of what they call knock down--some people call it orange peel. You would prime and paint it. Most of the time you have to have it professionally done unless you are really good at mudding sheet rock. I do not know what the cost is and I would assume it varies from area to area and contractors. But--it is one solution to hiding the wallpaper you can't get off. My suggestion is that if you do want to wallpaper again that you prime any sheetrock that hasn't been painted and then paint with a satin finish or semi gloss paint. Then you can size before you wallpaper. Once you go through those steps the next time you want to remove that wallpaper it comes off fairly easy--and you can either wallpaper again or paint once you have removed the glue and sizing from the wall. Hope this all turns out for you!!

    • Sally Sally on Jul 02, 2018

      Thanks for all the good info. Wish my contractor had told me all this. I’ve always sized and never had a problem. I thought sizing was all it took.

  • Gk Gk on Jul 01, 2018

    A skim coat is a thin layer of sheet rock mud. It will hide the wallpaper underneath and looks like a normal wall that has never had anything done to it. It gets sprayed on and smoothed out or you can add texture to it in the form of what they call knock down--some people call it orange peel. You would prime and paint it. Most of the time you have to have it professionally done unless you are really good at mudding sheet rock. I do not know what the cost is and I would assume it varies from area to area and contractors. But--it is one solution to hiding the wallpaper you can't get off. My suggestion is that if you do want to wallpaper again that you prime any sheetrock that hasn't been painted and then paint with a satin finish or semi gloss paint. Then you can size before you wallpaper. Once you go through those steps the next time you want to remove that wallpaper it comes off fairly easy--and you can either wallpaper again or paint once you have removed the glue and sizing from the wall. Hope this all turns out for you!!