Thursday, July 17, 2008

Wallpaper Glue is our Friend

Tonight we are back again at our home after visiting our new house and working like crazy to remove wallpaper glue from the family room. Fortunately, the paper peeled off without any problem. Unfortunately, all the glue stuck to the walls and not the paper. There must be a millimeter of glue on the walls! We're using wallpaper remover to soak the glue, then using scrapers and sponges to take it off. It is a long, slow process!

Tom

4 comments:

  1. I just removed some wallpaper from my basement, and they also used about 1,450 pounds of glue to affix it to the walls... I am a sworn convert to Zinsser 'Diff' wallpaper stripper... super-powered enzyme action that I suspect would remove shingles from a roof without any of my own intervention.
    Hope you're enjoying it all!
    Mungo

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  2. Ugh, stripping wallpaper, not a fun chore. I did three rooms for my parents when they redid their home this winter. I found the most effective way to remove it was to use a paper tiger (a tool that pokes thousands of little holes in the paper), spray it down with water, and then it pretty much just scrapes right up easily. The only exception to this was one wall where whoever had papered it had put the paper straight onto the drywall without priming the wall first. We ended up having to use drywall compound to patch up the wall there 'cause there was no way to get the glue off. Anyway, good luck with the project! It'll be really satisfying once it's all done.

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  3. Good luck Tom, all of us who have bought older houses have been through your exact situation. The true question is: How many rooms will you get through, before you guys say "ENOUGH!" and just start painting over the strips of glue?

    Trust me, you'll be tempted!

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  4. Mungo-

    Our new best friend, besides the glue is diff. Yesterday night we started only with a spray bottle, but tonight we went out and bought a roller and a whole gallon of DIFF. It is fairly fantastic stuff. This wallpaper removal is a ton of work.

    Seabrooke- Well, your problem wallpaper sounds like what we are dealing with. The paper peeled right off, but the glue stayed behind. Half of the walls were unprimed, and with the Zinnser DIF product, the glue comes off, fortunately. Thanks for the encouragement.

    Thing- Ahh, yeah, I'm thinking that you're right. We might call in a professional if we reach that point!

    Tom

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