remove wallpaper from unprimed drywall

[andromeda71]

Hi,
A couple of years ago we moved into a 1917 "camp style" bungalow that had been neglected for many years. It also had been victim to several individuals who did not know the first thing about safe and effective home improvement. After tackling many needed structural improvements, it is now time for us to begin beautifying. We have a bedroom with hideous wallpaper on it. The problem is that they applied the wallpaper to drywall without any priming beforehand. I have attempted to carefully pull the wallpaper off (it is peeling in some places) but I keep taking some of the drywall's paper backing with it. Does anyone have any solutions on how to remove the wallpaper without damaging the walls? If I have no other choice but to take the paper off any marr the dryall surface, how can I repair it? This bedroom will be our masterbedroom so I would really like to try and make the walls look beautiful. I am planning on painting them. Thanks.

[HayZee518]

This is a toughie. Not knowing what the adhesive used was - could be regular paste or worse a letex adhesive that isn't water soluble would present a problem. I would think that if you have visible seams in the wallpaper, skim coat joint compound and feather well away from the joints and sand so it looks as smooth as you can get it - then prime and finish coat.

[armataz]

I'm sorry I'm going to ask a possibly stupid question(please dont take offence), have you tried applying wall paper stripper?? it desolves the adheasive backing from most wall paper. just spray the seams and let it soak in. then gently lift the edges and re-apply its slow work, but it should work especialy if you allread are experiencing pealing.
now to the second part of your question if you wind up marring the walls, dont pannic this is pretty easy to fix, 1st make sure all your sheat rock tape seams are still good, then paint a the walls with plaster bonder, and spread a thin coat of plaster with a skip trawl for texture. it will hide the blemishes and after primer and paint, you'll never know they were there.TAZ

nuthing like being woken up at 12:AM to unstop some one elses toilet.

[hammer n nail]

I have just finished stripping some wall paper with a solution of water and vinegar 1/2 and 1/2 mixture. It worked great, but with the unprimed drywall it may not work. Maybe try a small spot first, good luck.

[LazyPup]

Check your local paint and wallpaper store. They have a couple inexpansive hand tools that really simplify wallpaper removal. I appologize for not having the name of the tools but I left mine in the gang box at work and for the life of me i cant remember the name. I will attempt to describe the tools and I am certain that your store will know exactly what i am talking about. ( I know for certain that both Lowes and Home Depot carry them.)

The first tool is palm sized and has a set of three rotating star wheels on the underside. You simply press it against the wall and run it around in a scrubbing motion. As it rolls along the wall the star wheels lightly punch holes in the paper to allow a stripping agent to get under the paper.

As far as repairing the minor imperfections in the sheetrock as noted in the post. I find that lightweight spackling works very well, and can usually be sanded and painted within an hour after application.

The second tool is a hand scraper with a replacable low angle blade that works excellant for removing wallpaper.

Also, Some years ago in a ladies hints column in the newspaper I learned that a solution of ordinary liquid laundry softener works excellant for stripping wallpaper. You first score the paper with the rotating cutter, then sponge it with the laundry softener (Downy works great), allow it a few minutes to soften the wallpaper paste and scrape it with the low angle blade.

[leone184]

I think the tool you are talking about is a Paper tiger, made by the Zinsser company. It works well, especially with vinal paper, but it might leave small track marks in the wall. It makes small cuts in the paper for the remover to penetrate. They also make a scraper with the same round red handle, but it has a straight blade about 5" wide. The real problem will be if anything will make the paper release from the wallboard without considerable damage. I have a feeling any remover left on the wall long egnough to loosen the glue, will also soften the wallboard. It might be a better idea to leave it there. Consider painting over it with a good 100% acrylic primer. If you want to hang new wallpaper over it, there is a primer for that also, (also 100% acrylic, and made by Zinsser) just be sure any loose paper is removed first.

leone184