NBR: Removing wallpaper border

SpeedGlenn

Any tips on how to do this?  I think, but I'm not sure that the previous owners put a border on top of an existing border in the guest bath.  I was thinking of trying to get a start on the border so that when we get back from vacation I can get a start on painting the bathroom.

I have a feeling this is going to get ugly.  And while I love my husband very much, I can't take the web of obscenities that he weaves over our house every time he embarks on a home improvement project.  Which is why I need to do this without his help!

MrsHughesNC

In the past, I've just peeled it off (careful to not take a layer of drywall with it). Then I'd use a sponge to wet the paper & glue that is left, and gently scrape it away with a putty knife. Not sure if this is the "right" way, but it was successful!

MrsMcJamie

It's totally a crapshoot, I have come to think. Lots of people recommended vinegar when we were doing our bathroom, but we tried EVERYTHING and the jackass previous owners didn't apply the wallpaper correctly so it was just a major pain. The process as I recall (I've tried to block it out..) involved saturating the wallpaper and then pulling off what I could, and going back over it w/ a wall paper scraper (like a putty knife but easier to hold and probably easier not to scrape off the drywall?)

Good luck! You are the most motivated pregnant woman I've ever seen. 

SpeedGlenn

MrsMcJamie:

Good luck! You are the most motivated pregnant woman I've ever seen. 

Necessity is the mother of motivation for this pregnant woman.  Moving into a new house was probably not the smartest idea.   I'm trying to get all the BIG projects done while Ben is in summer school because I know that once he's done I'm going to be getting pretty grumpy and I just won't have the time.

Plus, I really, really, really don't want Bif doing it.  I seriously can't deal with the swearing.  He's like Lenny in Of Mice and Men.  He has zero finesse and will just force everything when he can't get it to work, then breaks it, swears, costs twice as much to fix it...You see the problem... And OMG don't get me started on the painting!!!  I let him paint the trim in the closet and not 5 minutes later he comes out completely naked because he somehow managed to get paint on his shorts, shirt and his UNDERWEAR?!?!  I don't even know how that happened... It would be less messy and less stressful to let Ben paint.

cate1119

Ok - for some reason wallpaper border is the worst!  Seriously - I had some god awful border in my townhouse and I thought - how hard can it be - it's just a border...4 hours later and a slew of profanity and it was done. 

Anways...try scoring it with a putty knife and then wet it so the moisture can get through...and then let scraping begin!  GL!

cate1119

Oh and definitely be careful not to get the drywall - there were a few places I did and DH got a little annoyed with me...probably b/c he had to fix it

raceyrae

SpeedGlenn:

I have a feeling this is going to get ugly.  And while I love my husband very much, I can't take the web of obscenities that he weaves over our house every time he embarks on a home improvement project.  Which is why I need to do this without his help!

This is my husband also.  I dread asking him to drill anything into the wall and need to just take the time to figure out how to use the drill so I don't need to ask his help.  I now take on all the household projects (painting, etc.) except for drilling because I can't stand the drama that comes with having my husband tackle it

moobug

We took wallpaper off our entire downstairs. It was an awful job, but the wallpaper was even worse! After some trial and error we added some fabric softener to the water we were using to wet the paper.We used a large sponge to apply the water solution after lightly scoring the paper. It worked well for most of the walls.

We think that it depends on how the paper was initially put on, since we had a much worse time in some rooms then others.

Hope that helps and good luck!

tracelini

We bought an old farm house that the previous owners loved wallpaper in (and I mean, had an obsession...every room...yuck!) we used a spray bottle and mixed part fabric softener and part water...spray that on and let it sit for a minute or so and then gently peel or scrape away the paper...it worked for us and we had some crapy wallpaper to deal with. GL!!

SweetHappiness

I just stripped a border off of one of the bedrooms in our house and I used the scorer that comes with a wallpaper removal kit and scored the border then sprayed a mix of 1/2 Downy and 1/2 water and then peeled it off.  It kind of came off in two layers but I only needed to score it the one time.  I also used a decal scraper to pull the glue (2nd layer) away from the wall.  It did not damage the wall at all.  It was painted under the border and we didn't even have to repaint or touch up.  Good luck!!

AliciaBride02

My husband used the garden sprayer to remove the border & the popcorn ceiling in our bathrooms after we moved in. The garden sprayer I'm referring to is the one we normally use to spray the outside for bugs. It holds about a gallon of water, you pump the top to pressurize it and the nozzle has a splash guard on the end. so you can spray the border and miss the ceiling if you needed to. It made getting the border wet easy and much quicker than a sponge plus with an even spray you have less water running down the walls.

jenwill

I just did our master bath (which was a lot of wallpaper-blah!) and I've done borders before too. I would score it with the scorer tool you can buy at Home Depot/Lowes (rolls over the wallpaper). Then use a big sponge to wet the paper. Then scrape off with a putty knife. Just make sure to scrub the glue off the wall once you get the paper off. Then lightly sand (to any remnants off) before you paint. GL!! Wallpaper is such a pain in the ass!!