UKC

any way of knowing in advance whether wallpaper removal will require re-plastering? any special tips for removal with minimal damage to wall behind much appreciated! currently horrible textured style wallpaper circa 1970's. Planning on painting on the wall behind, have got one of those steam thingies from the in-laws which i hope will remove it nice and easy leaving a perfect ready to paint wall behind... fingers crossed anyway!

In reply to d508934:

Horrible textured wallpaper was often used to cover up really manky plastering. In our house, almost every wall was covered in the stuff, and all sorts of nasties appeared once we stripped it. I don't think it's possible to tell in advance what it's going to be like, except to think that the older the house is, the more likely it is that the underlying plaster will be anything between being a bit scruffy to virtually falling off.

I've never used a steam thingy for stripping wallpaper, but I have heard bad things if the plaster is in poor condition - the steam can strip the plaster as well as the paper, which isn't what you want! It might be worth doing a sample using old-fashioned soapy water and a scraper to find out what the wall is like underneath the paper before unleashing the steam.

In reply to d508934:
One option if you want to paint the walls but they're in a state is to hang plain lining paper. If done well you can't see the joins unless you're looking for them.

Neil

In reply to d508934:

If you use a wallpaper steamer,
be careful, the heat can crack the plaster if you let it get to hot for to long

(a plaster was pleased with my mistake a few years ago)

In reply to d508934:

youtube.com/watch?v=5YrCZfq1Zq8&

In reply to d508934:

score the paper diagonally like many X's
use a steamer. Wait n see!!!

In reply to d508934:

I would try to remove the top layer of the paper without steam first. Sometimes the textured bit comes off and just leaves the papery bit behind which is easier to steam off. Just try pulling at it and see what happens. If it doesn't, then score and steam.

In reply to tony:

+1. I stripped two of our rooms that had horrible manky textured wallpaper on them and the plaster behind was not what you would expect these days. I just applied lining paper and painted that. It takes a bit of practice, but it cheap and effective.

In reply to d508934:

A scraper like this: http://www.screwfix.com/p/harris-jumbo-super-stripper-6/79050 will likely be much better than a palette-knife kind of a thing.

Good luck.

In reply to deepsoup:


Yup, sharp edges like that make life a lot easier. I couldn't believe the difference when I finally learned about such things.

In reply to d508934:

I stripped our whole house last year of what looked like 1980s wallpaper of various types. You'll find that some wallpapers come off easier than others. I did do some with a steamer but actually found it was more trouble than it is worth and will damage old plaster. In the end after experimenting with various techniques my preferred method was to first score the wallpaper using a Stanley wallpaper scorer (google it), soak with warm water and washing up liquid (leave to soak for a little while) and then strip with a stripping knife. I actually found this method much easier than using the steamer, less messy and less likely to damage the plaster.

In reply to rossh:

thanks all for the tips. have ordered one of the scorer things, plus a long handle scraper. will try + soaking before i get the steamer out. lets see how i get on...

oh and love the royle family link, not seen that in years!!

In reply to marsbar:


+1
PS be careful how you score as that can damage the plaster...

In reply to d508934:

Whether steam or soapy water, a good scraper will help but whatever you choose get a tripple headed Zinnser Paper Tiger. Quite possibly the best tenner I have ever spent!
Used properly it will put lots of tiny holes into the paper for your steam/water to get into and loosen the old paste, WITHOUT damaging the old plaster underneath as scoring with a knife can so easily do. I well remember the pre-Tiger knife-job-related bill from a plasterer

In reply to obi-wan nick b:

True. I have been very lucky, the painted woodchip has been a pain to remove but the walls are ok underneath. Possibly because the walls were painted before some idiot decided they would look better with peach woodchip. Wtf?! I had assumed that no one puts woodchip up unless the walls are dire, but apparently not. The white woodchip on the ceiling mostly fell down by itself. I shall also be repainting the sunshine yellow doorframes and skirting boards. I can only assume it was the 80s.