Help removing painted over wallpaper?

[beanma]

Hey y'all,

We're planning to redo our kitchen and one of the things that has to go is the painted-over wallpaper. It's peeling back in some places so painting it again is just not an option, but it's mostly stuck tight in other spots. I'm afraid it's original to the house and just stuck straight on the drywall. That's the way it was in the bathroom. Anyone have any tips for removing it easily without tearing up the drywall and prepping the wall underneath for paint? It's a pretty big kitchen/dining room, so a lot of wall space. I'm kind of overwhelmed at the prospect, but we want to DIY.

thanks for any tips.

[mosesface]

i'm watching this thread. we have this problem in every room of our new (1960s) house, plus they textured over the paint! ack!

[Ola_]

Have you tried a mix of fabric softener and water? Spray it on, let it sit for a few minutes, and try to pull up the wallpaper. I went with a putty knife starting at the edge.

[obscureepiphany]

The easiest way we've found to remove wallpaper is to score it (with something called "Paper Tiger", I think) and then spray it down with HOT vinegar-water (something like 2/3 water, 1/3 vinegar). Let it soak for a few minutes, and it peels right off. The hotter the vinegar-water is, the better; I heated it on the stove until it was steaming, then put it in a spray bottle. This worked better than the fabric softener for us, and left the walls clean. When we used the fabric softener we had to wash down the walls to remove the fabric softener before we could paint- big hassle.

[beanma]

haven't tried the fabric softener or the hot water and vinegar. I do have a paper tiger somewhere. What I'm worried about, though, is the wallpaper coming off and bringing the paper covering of the drywall with it. It did that in the bathroom and it was not hard to get the wallpaper off – peeled right off – but it just kinda screwed up the drywall in the process. I went with a "textured" look in the bathroom and it's fine with me, but might not be fine with the next owners. I'd like to do right by the kitchen if I can.

Thanks for the tips. Maybe I need to soak it more...

[bigteamug]

Sadly, my understanding is that if they didn't paint/prime before the wallpaper went on over the drywall, there is no way to remove it cleanly. Since most of the wet methods involve stuff that will also end up soaking the drywall paper, I dunno. Have you tried calling a paint or wallpaper store for advice? They might have some good advice in a hard situation.

[beanma]

that's what i was afraid of...

[bigteamug]

Do check in with a paint/wallpaper store, though - this happens so much, maybe they know of a fix?

[Farmer'sWife]

Originally Posted by bigteamug

Sadly, my understanding is that if they didn't paint/prime before the wallpaper went on over the drywall, there is no way to remove it cleanly. Since most of the wet methods involve stuff that will also end up soaking the drywall paper, I dunno. Have you tried calling a paint or wallpaper store for advice? They might have some good advice in a hard situation.

I ended up taking it off the best I could and then skim-coating the whole wall with sheetrock mud to smooth it out again. Not fun...wallpaper is evil!