Someone asked me if I would remove the wallpaper and paint for a fee. I have no idea the best way to remove it. It's a condo. Is steam the best way? How hard, how long, give the job to someone else? How much? She said it's only one room. It's a woman I've done work for painting, plumbing, electrical, power washing. She's selling her house and downsizing.
Best way to remove wallpaper.
- Thread starter JLawrence08648
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Oh boy, here we go. I just did a couple rooms and have removed wallpaper in the past. Before you agree to doing the work, plan on it taking much longer than you estimate.
I have found Piranha spray works very well when sprayed on and rubbed in with a sponge. Start peeling it off and keep the freshly exposed area wet with the sponge. Use a sharp metal or plastic scraper to scrape the remaining moist paper and glue from the wall. Don't use razor blades and anything of similar sharpness, because you'll just gouge the wallboard and have a lot of work to do fixing it.
After a couple hours you'll get a system figured out that works for you and you'll realize how long it's going to take to have a clean wall that's prepped for painting.
Good luck
I have found Piranha spray works very well when sprayed on and rubbed in with a sponge. Start peeling it off and keep the freshly exposed area wet with the sponge. Use a sharp metal or plastic scraper to scrape the remaining moist paper and glue from the wall. Don't use razor blades and anything of similar sharpness, because you'll just gouge the wallboard and have a lot of work to do fixing it.
After a couple hours you'll get a system figured out that works for you and you'll realize how long it's going to take to have a clean wall that's prepped for painting.
Good luck
Removing wallpaper is a very tedious chore and can be very difficult or easy depending on what type of wallpaper and the quality of the wallpaper. When I helped remove my grandparents paisley/velour wallpaper from the 60's (yea I know) the only way to get it off was a steamer, which was slow. This was in the late 90's so I'm sure that removal methods have improved, but I will never volunteer to do something like that again. I would take your estimated time and double it.
Did two walls years ago using Piranha wall paper removal kit. It wasn't actually too bad. Just make sure you punch enough holes in the paper for the adhesive remover to get under.
I probably did 2 walls in the master bedroom in 3-4 hours if I remember right. Either that or I let the stuff sit overnight. I do remember it scrapes off like butter.
I probably did 2 walls in the master bedroom in 3-4 hours if I remember right. Either that or I let the stuff sit overnight. I do remember it scrapes off like butter.
Some newer wall-papers are said to be "dry strip-able" but we've never found one.
Steam works well on most wall-paper but takes time. We wore out our first wall-paper steamer in the first house we used it.
A foil type of paper is tricky and takes far longer.
Steam works well on most wall-paper but takes time. We wore out our first wall-paper steamer in the first house we used it.
A foil type of paper is tricky and takes far longer.
Stripping wall-paper is an effort intensive but low skill job. That job would be perfect for many customers. Otherwise you're going to have to have to estimate really high and maybe still not get it right. An hourly rate for removal of the wall-paper might be the fairest for everyone.
Rent a steamer from Home Depot or Lowes. Will never use anything BUT again. Unless you can hand peel it off.
I'm not sure why you would rent one when you could just buy one for $50.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Wagner-715-Wallpaper-Steamer-0282036/301891395
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Zinsser-32-oz-Ultra-Power-Wallpaper-Stripper-338696/305503098
But there are many ways to remove wallpaper besides the steamer, the spray can also work along with just hot water. Time wise it depends on the wallpaper and how many layers of wallpaper is on the walls, sometimes there are 3-4 layers and that will take longer. At one point I think I figured out that it took me about 2 hours per wall in an average bedroom so about 8 hours or more per room. Probably a little bit more because there's clean up afterwards and sometimes you need to go back and clean up little bits that you missed.
Yes, or purchase one. My bad -- did not realize they were that cheap now. Last time I had to remove multiple layers of wall paper was in 2008.
I found it faster in a small bathroom, to remove all the sheetrock with wallpaper on it. Never will use wall paper again.
Fire
I wont say it's the "Best Way" but when I was re-modeling the bathroom I chose to replace the drywall rather than removing the wallpaper. The house was 50 years old and for piece of mind I wanted to see behind the walls. Glad I did because the studs and drywall had mold on them. Plus I learned how to install drywall . Win...Win
I hate taping and muding... but I hate stripping wallpaper even more.
You might want to try a wallpaper perforating tool to help get the steam/stripper penetrate behind the paper.
https://www.amazon.com/Zinsser-2976-PaperTiger-Scoring-Wallpaper/dp/B0002YWWJG
You might want to try a wallpaper perforating tool to help get the steam/stripper penetrate behind the paper.
https://www.amazon.com/Zinsser-2976-PaperTiger-Scoring-Wallpaper/dp/B0002YWWJG
These do help, but don't get too aggressive or you'll have dimples in your wall and will have to learn to skim-coat. It's like pulling the thread on a sweater.
Should I be using the Zinsser or Piranha spray with the steamer? Possibly using the wallpaper piercer tool with the steamer together might work best? Or all three, spray, piercer, steamer?
You definitely need the piercer tool to use with the steamer or the sprayer. You just need to do one or the other, doing all three will be overkill. As I mentioned earlier, even the piercer tool with a sprayer bottle of hot water will work but not as well. Basically steam with one hand, scrape with the other.
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