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24 January 2007
Removing old wallpaper starts off fun but descends into suckatude quickly. →[More:] Tearing off the big stuff is fun. Spraying and scraping is passable. Washing the residual glue off the wall sux. But we did find these messages from the past.
"We may, but we plan to paint."
posted by arse_hat 24 January
Good luck with that. Getting an old wall that has been papered, smooth enough to look good under paint is some kind of trick, usually. Sanding, spackle, sizing, sealing and painting is often 5x the work of re papering, and even if you don't count your labor as expense, some times, more costly in materials, not to mention aggravation, dust and cleanup.
The trick to taking the glue off is a product called Dif by Zinsser. Wallpaper stripper. Home Depot.
Not the spray on gel. The stuff you add to warm water. Mix a bucket of it, place some in a paint tray and start rolling it on the wall. A fat roller. Keep rolling, rolling rolling rolling rolling...watch it disappear like magic. If there still is some clumps of glue, scrape.
I assume you're using the paper tiger on that wallpaper¿ It puts a bunch of holes in the wallpaper so that water can get in there. By Zinsser also.
Once the wall dries properly, patch holes with plaster, sand and paint entire wall with a good primer.
Forgot to mention, get a stain killing primer. The writing on the wall may eventually bleed through your finished paint job. Is it marker or pencil¿
I recommend Zinsser Stain Kill Primer. Get the Latex version for pencil. If it looks like a sharpie, you may have to resort to an alkyde ]oil[ primer Zinsser. Low VOC ]volatile organic compound[, still will get you stoned from the fumes, wear a chemical mask if you have one And open all doors and windows for proper ventilation.
We may, but we plan to paint."
posted by arse_hat 24 January
Good luck with that. Getting an old wall that has been papered, smooth enough to look good under paint is some kind of trick, usually.
TEXTURED PAINT, BABY!
It's what I'm doing to the Mom's bathroom now that the wrold's ugliest wallpaper is gone. Just enough texture to make it apparent that it is purposeful, with a color-washed faux-finish simple yet, again, apparently meant to be a faux finish.
I've painted over several walls that had wallpaper on them. No real issues. As suggested, just use DIF on the stripped walls to get the last of the residue off.
We didn't use any kind of special primer other than what was allegedly matched to the paint.
Taking wallpaper off plaster is another matter.
Any ideas on taking down cheap textured ceiling crap other than a scraper?
The paper came off nicely. The glue was a bit of a pain but TSP and fabric softener worked well. After dinner I will start patching holes. It looks like a great surface for paint. I will sand and use a primer/sealer before painting. It's a plaster wall and whoever built the place did good work as the top coat is still hard and smooth as glass except for the places where nails and screws were put in to hang things (and someone in the past really liked to hang a lot of things).
plinth,
You don't mean popcorn ceiling I take, but textured plastering on the ceiling¿
If it's plaster, scraping first then coarse sand paper. When your arms get pooched, skim with drywall compound ]CGC premixed for instance[. Not easy, but if you rent a baker's scaffold, you'll be able to do it more comfortably. How's your plastering skilz¿ You'll still need to sand the CGC/drywall compound in any case.
And yeah, if you're putting up wallpaper and it's your place, first paint with semi-gloss paint — easier to strip afterwards. Otherwise you're in for some more plastering if the wallpaper is just glued on.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
