Removing wallpaper paste

[Chester11]

Finally removed the old wallpaper in our dining room. It came down very easy, with little drywall damage. Now I'm trying to remove the old wallpaper adhesive to prep for paint.

I was planning to use dishsoap and a water from a spray bottle, with a plastic drywall scraper. And then a light sand.

- Anyone have a better process? (I was going to hold off from the commercial stuff, based on the Youtubes).
- Should I patch the damage areas first before removing the paste?

Thanks!

 

[demarpaint]

Try fabric softener with hot water in a pump sprayer. It works like a charm. Give it a little time to soak and soften the paste.

 

[Pablo]

Finally removed the old wallpaper in our dining room. It came down very easy, with little drywall damage. Now I'm trying to remove the old wallpaper adhesive to prep for paint.

I was planning to use dishsoap and a water from a spray bottle, with a plastic drywall scraper. And then a light sand.

- Anyone have a better process? (I was going to hold off from the commercial stuff, based on the Youtubes).
- Should I patch the damage areas first before removing the paste?

Thanks!

I don’t do that. Below my pay grade.

Wife uses a juice. Zinzer I think

Patch and primer after. That’s my duty

 

[Chester11]

I don’t do that. Below my pay grade.

Wife uses a juice. Zinzer I think

Patch and primer after. That’s my duty

I can't stand painting - I get it everywhere except the wall.

 

[Chester11]

Try fabric softener with hot water in a pump sprayer. It works like a charm. Give it a little time to soak and soften the paste.

That's one I hadn't seen...I'll pick some up and try it on a wall, at least it will smell nice.

 

[demarpaint]

That's one I hadn't seen...I'll pick some up and try it on a wall, at least it will smell nice.

It smells nice and works, it saves $$ over the store bought stuff too.

 

[Pablo]

I can't stand painting - I get it everywhere except the wall.

Me too, I only do primer. I am way to ADHD for painting!!

 

[Chester11]

It smells nice and works, it saves $$ over the store bought stuff too.

Wow, great tip. I started with one wall and it worked so well I finished most of the room. $6 bottle of Downy, $3 sprayer and a scraper I had laying around. (Pump sprayer would have worked better).

I still have to hit the area around the chair rail and crown molding, but it went a lot quicker than I expected. I wasn't looking forward to huffing Zinsser all afternoon, so thanks again.

Is there an ratio I should be using? I just dumped some in the bottle until it looked good enough.

Any tips for painting over oil based paint on the trim? I'm going to sand, prime and pray.

 

[Donald]

Wow, great tip. I started with one wall and it worked so well I finished most of the room. $6 bottle of Downy, $3 sprayer and a scraper I had laying around. (Pump sprayer would have worked better).

I still have to hit the area around the chair rail and crown molding, but it went a lot quicker than I expected. I wasn't looking forward to huffing Zinsser all afternoon, so thanks again.

Is there an ratio I should be using? I just dumped some in the bottle until it looked good enough.

Any tips for painting over oil based paint on the trim? I'm going to sand, prime and pray.

They sell a de-gloss product you can use on trim if the paint is too glossy and worried about next cost sticking. Some trim designs would be hard to sand. I would clean and de-gloss the trim and see how it looks.

 

[Chester11]

Me too, I only do primer. I am way to ADHD for painting!!

I'm just bad, and can't cut a line. I've tried free hand, different brushes, and tape.

I spent hours taping my son's room, and it came out horrible. He facetimed me the other day, and the crooked line was winking at me over his head. (It somehow looked worse over video than in person).

 

[Chester11]

They sell a de-gloss product you can use on trim if the paint is too glossy and worried about next cost sticking. Some trim designs would be hard to sand. I would clean and de-gloss the trim and see how it looks.

Thanks - I'll take a look. You are right about the detail, we have the same chair rail upstairs and I can't get paint to stick to it. (The folks we bought the house from left the old cans - only reason I know it is oil based.)

The paint guy was showing me a primer for covering oil based. It was $64 gallon, but even he said that was too expensive for primer.

 

[2005jettatdi]

I faced that ordeal decades ago. A solution of TSP in water took it right off.

 

[demarpaint]

Wow, great tip. I started with one wall and it worked so well I finished most of the room. $6 bottle of Downy, $3 sprayer and a scraper I had laying around. (Pump sprayer would have worked better).

I still have to hit the area around the chair rail and crown molding, but it went a lot quicker than I expected. I wasn't looking forward to huffing Zinsser all afternoon, so thanks again.

Is there an ratio I should be using? I just dumped some in the bottle until it looked good enough.

Any tips for painting over oil based paint on the trim? I'm going to sand, prime and pray.

You're welcome! I'm glad it worked out for you, I used it for decades and took thousands of rolls of wallcovering down doing so. I mixed the ratio by eye, and the type of paste. 10-20% fabric softener mixed with 80%-90% of hot water is a good starting point, never more than 30% fabric softener.

Painting over oil on trim. A light scuff sanding and dusting followed by either Bullseye 123, or Insl-X Aqualock [preferred] works great. Just be sure to get the Insl-X brand, Sherwin Williams has a product with the same name and that's not the primer you want. I avoid liquid de-glosser as most were toxic and never worked as well as a light scuff sanding and one of the primers I mentioned. Both those primers have a lot of tooth and once cured you have nothing to worry about even if you missed spots sanding.

If you have any other questions you can shoot me a PM if I don't catch it in the thread.

 

[JHZR2]

Our dining room had three or four layers of wallpaper over the plaster and paint. We used a steamer and got everything off.

 

[Chester11]

You're welcome! I'm glad it worked out for you, I used it for decades and took thousands of rolls of wallcovering down doing so. I mixed the ratio by eye, and the type of paste. 10-20% fabric softener mixed with 80%-90% of hot water is a good starting point, never more than 30% fabric softener.

Painting over oil on trim. A light scuff sanding and dusting followed by either Bullseye 123, or Insl-X Aqualock [preferred] works great. Just be sure to get the Insl-X brand, Sherwin Williams has a product with the same name and that's not the primer you want. I avoid liquid de-glosser as most were toxic and never worked as well as a light scuff sanding and one of the primers I mentioned. Both those primers have a lot of tooth and once cured you have nothing to worry about even if you missed spots sanding.

If you have any other questions you can shoot me a PM if I don't catch it in the thread.

Perfect - thanks again. Owe you one. (Pretty sure Insl-X is available at my local paint / hardware store). I was dreading this a bit - but now it looks manageable.