Why Remove Wallpaper?

 

If you have wallpaper that has been on your walls for 15 years or more, there is a good chance that you would like to remove it but you don't know how. Or maybe you are afraid of what you might find underneath. Or maybe you tried to get the wallpaper off but it just does not want to come off. 

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Wallpaper removal is hard, and without the right tools, the right experience, and the proper stripping chemicals or solutions, wallpaper just will not come off. Even with the right tools and solutions, it takes a proper technique and a lot of patience and elbow grease. 

 

The CB3 Painting Wallpaper Removal Difference

 

CB3 Painting's residential painters can help remove your old wallpaper and prepare your walls for new wallpaper or primer and paint. With experience removing wallpaper of all types and of all ages, tough wallpaper removal projects just do not deter us.

 

How Is Old Wallpaper Removed?

 

Old Wallpaper is adhered to the walls using a combination of glues and pastes. If the walls weren't primed and sized prior to the wallpaper being installed, no matter what technique is used, the walls will be badly damaged and need significant repairing after the wallpaper is removed.

 

The reason for this is that the glues and pastes that adhere the wallpaper to the wall actually end up seeping into drywall that isn't properly primed and sized. So when the wallpaper is removed, it removes with it a layer of drywall. There's no way around this. No method, no trick, no liquid solution will prevent the walls from being damaged. 

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No matter whether or not the walls were properly primed and sized prior to the old wallpaper being installed, the process for removing the wallpaper is the same. 

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Wallpaper Removal Starts with Protecting the Floors and Other Finished Surfaces 

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A necessary component of removing wallpaper is significant amounts of warm waters and wallpaper adhesive remover. Combined, these can damage hardwood floors, carpets, molding, etc.

 

Because of that, floors and other surfaces that may come in contact with the water and wallpaper adhesive remover should be covered with a thick-mil plastic that will stand up to moisture and being walked upon. On Top of the plastic, it is usually a good idea to then place paper or drop cloths. 

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Wet the Walls with Warm Water and Wallpaper Adhesive Remover

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Once the floors and other surfaces are protected with plastic, drop cloths, or paper where necessary, the next step is to apply warm water combined with wallpaper adhesive remover to the walls. This wallpaper adhesive remover solution can be applied to the walls with a cloth or a sponge, but our preference is a commercial garden pump sprayer. Something like this. 

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Once the walls are wet, the process is repeated in sections. And as each section is wetted, that section is then scraped with a very sharp wallpaper removing scraper. And this process of wetting and scraping is repeated over and over until the wallpaper is removed. 

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Wipe Down the Walls of Wallpaper Glue Residue

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Once all of the paper is removed, the next step in removing the wallpaper is to wipe the walls clean of any residual wallpaper glue. This may require wetting the walls again, or a wet cloth may be sufficient. But the glue must be removed. 

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Prime Any Wallpaper Glue that Will Not Come Off

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In some instances, wallpaper glue just won't come off. It's too old, it's too stubborn and hard, or it's not wallpaper glue--could be that some installer years ago used contact cement or super glue to ensure the wallpaper would stay in place. Don't laugh; it happens. 

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And when that happens, the glue just needs to be primed, either with an oil-based primer, a shellac-based primer, or with a Gardz product. Once the glue is primed, the primed area will likely need to be smoothed with spackle or joint compound and then sanded smooth and primer prior to painting. 

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Prime the Entire Wall if it was Not Previously Primed or Painted

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In the unfortunate scenario where the wallpaper is removed and it is discovered that the wall was never painted or primed before the wallpaper went up, a few things will be true: (1) the walls will be an absolute mess and (2) there is still a lot of work to be done before a coat of paint can be applied to those walls. 

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For starters, the drywall will have to be sealed to create a sound surface for any further repairs to be done prior to painting. The best product for this is Gardz--it seals  the drywall and creates a moisture-proof barrier for all further repair work to be built on top of. 

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Repair the Walls as Necessary

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Once the walls are covered in Gardz and the Gardz has dried, it is now time to make the necessary walls repairs with either joint compound or spackle. 

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If the damage is sporadic, a spot repair of the walls may be sufficient. More often than not though, if the prior wallpaper install wasn't professionally done, the walls are likely so badly damaged that only a full skim coat will repair the walls so that they are in an acceptably flat condition for finish primer and paint. 

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If a skim coat is necessary, the skim coat of spackle will have to be sanded smooth once it is fully dried. To contain the dust, we use sanders connected to HEPA-filtered vacuums during sanding. This vacuum technique prevents dust from migrating throughout your home and makes cleanup much easier. 

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Prime the Repairs and Paint the Walls

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After the spackle is sanded smooth, the walls should be primed, even if a self-priming paint will be used. This coat of primer will seal the spackle and present a smooth, non-porous surface for the finish coats, which in turn will be more uniform and durable. 

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Once the primer is dry, the walls are finally ready for paint. If you hire an experienced residential painter, a high quality residential grade interior paint should be use. Be wary of commercial grade contractor paints--they don't look as nice and they won't last as long. This is a good list of residential paints to consider using or asking your painter to use. 

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Size the Walls Properly for New Wallpaper

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If you love wallpaper, but just not the wallpaper that was just removed, new wallpaper can be installed over the walls that were just repaired. But instead of applying a finish coat of paint over the repaired and primed walls, another coat of Gardz should be used to size the walls in preparation for new wallpaper. This is a necessary step that will facilitate the installation of he wallpaper and prevent you from having to go through this nightmare process again in the future should you decide to remove this new wallpaper. 

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How to Select Wallpaper

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I have no advice on selecting wallpaper; they are as different and unique as the customers we work for. But they are personal. Trust yourself and pick something you like. If you're still not sure, a designer or consultant can be helpful in helping you select a wallpaper that suits your style, personality, and home. Most paint stores also have available for your perusal a wide selection of wallpapers of all different types, sizes, and styles. 

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How to Measure Walls for Wallpaper

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If you are installing wallpaper, whether for the first time, or on walls that have previously had wallpaper, ordering sufficient wallpaper to cover your entire project is crucial. See, wallpaper is made in lots, and each lots uses specific dyes. Once a lot is run through the machines and the run is completed, a new wallpaper is made with new dyes and so on. Eventually, if a wallpaper is popular, it will be run again, say six months later. But the dye used in this new wallpaper will be slightly different from the lot of wallpaper run six months earlier. So if you run out of wallpaper in the middle of wallpapering a bedroom, for example, you'll have to order more. And then the wallpapers may be from different dye lots. The patterns on the papers will be exact, but the colors will be just slightly off. Sometimes this is almost imperceptible, and other times it is very noticeable. And wallpaper is expensive, so you want it to be perfect. Here's how you get i perfect: 

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Wallpaper is made in a variety of different widths, generally 18" width rolls all the way to 36" width roll, like for grass cloth. Those rolls, called double rolls, are usually 27' long.  This 27' length is important because it dictates how may strips you will be able to get out of a roll. If your ceilings are 8' ceilings, you will be able to get 3 strips out of a double roll. But if your ceilings are 9' high, you will only get 2 strips out of a roll. The reason for this is that the top and bottom of each strip must be trimmed slightly to make up for the variations in the wall. So you don't actually get to use the full 27' of the double roll. If you're wondering, yes--there is a lot of waste when installing wallpaper. 

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So, knowing that the rolls are 27' long, measure the room you are installing the wallpaper in and determine how many strips it will take to cover all of the walls. When doing this, pretend that the doors and windows do not exist. This is also important because if you're thinking that the door won't be wallpapered so it doesn't count as part of the wall, this is a good way to run out of wallpaper. Ask me how I know and I will point you to a job long ago where the grass cloth on 3 walls didn't' match the grass cloth on the 4th wall. Whoops.....only happened once. 

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So don't make my mistake Here's how to measure: Take the number of strips needed for the entire room and divide by the number of strips you'll be able to get out of a roll based on your ceiling height. For example, if the ceiling height is 8', you can get 3 strips out of a double roll. So if you need 14 strips to cover all of your walls, you will need 5 double rolls of wallpaper (5 rolls x 3 strips = 15 strips, with one left over. I told you there was a lot of waste). If you have 9' ceilings, you will only be able to get 2 strips out of a double roll, the same number of strips you'll be able to get out of a double roll if your ceilings are 10', 11', 12', or 13' for that matter. It is my advice to ignore square foot calculations offered by wallpaper companies and other websites. They are a recipe for mismeasurement and running short on wallpaper. 

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If you do your wallpaper calculation this way, by strips and double rolls, you won't run out, you'll have enough wallpaper for you installer, and the job will go much more smoothly. 

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How to Hire a Wallpaper Remover or Wallpaper Installer

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If you would like to discuss a wallpaper removal or wallpaper installation project, you can schedule an estimate here, or send us an email here. 

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