The wallpaper in our dining room is baby-food yellow and velvet. I used to sit at the dining room table and just stare at it, trying to imagine the person who chose, bought and hung it on the wall. But I finally got a free weekend and it was time for it to go. Unfortunately, the person who put it up had bad taste as well as limited knowledge and they put it right on the drywall.
The Trouble
Before you hang ugly wallpaper on drywall, you’re supposed to prime the wall first. That layer of paint creates a buffer between the wallpaper’s adhesive and the paper drywall. If you don’t do that, the wallpaper adhesive melds onto the drywall paper. If you go to remove wallpaper and it takes the top layer of drywall with it your wallpaper was probably installed by the same guy. Stop tearing you’re just going to do more damage to the wall.
The best way to get wallpaper off of drywall is to melt it off with chemicals. Head to your local hardware store (or online equivalent) and pick up a wallpaper scorer, plastic sheeting, wallpaper adhesive remover, wallpaper scraper, paint tray and a paint roller.
A wallpaper scorer is a hand-held plastic device with spiky wheels on the bottom. Hold it in your hand and roll it over the surface of the wallpaper. Run it down or across the paper in parallel rows. Don’t press too hard. The goal is just to penetrate the tacky velvet or waterproof top layer of the wallpaper to let the solvent easily access the wallpaper adhesive.
Lay the plastic sheeting underneath the wall and tape it to the base board. It will catch any falling wallpaper and wallpaper remover that drips off the walls and save you a lot of cleanup.
Prepare the wallpaper remover according to the package’s instructions. You may have to mix it with hot water or you may just have to stir it well. Now pour a sizable puddle of the remover into your paint tray. Roll the paint roller into the remover and then onto the wallpaper. Move from one side of the wall to the other and coat it pretty generously.
Read the remover’s label to determine how long you have to wait for the remover to work. It’s usually around an hour. Watch TV, read a chapter or surf the web but don’t wander off. Check on the wallpaper periodically. Add another roll of remover to any areas that look like they’re drying out.
Scraping
Hold the wallpaper scraper at a shallow angle to the wall and push forward gently to remove the wallpaper. You don’t really need to scrape. The wallpaper should just sort of fall off. If you hit any stubborn areas, leave them be for now.
Moisten a rag with the wallpaper remover. Wipe any of the remaining loose goop from the wall. Now re-apply the wallpaper remover to the stubborn spots and repeat the process.
Once all of the wallpaper is gone, wipe the walls down with a rag dampened (not soaking) with water.
