How do I fix this?

[asprentz]

I hope someone can help me out. I've taken off the layers of wallpaper with dif, but the first layer which was put right on bare drywall is tearing up the drywall now. Can I sand this? Please tell me how to fix this. I want to paint.



Next problem is this. This electrical outlet sticks out from the wall. There is brick behind it and the outlet won't fit. I need this outlet. What can I do to it?




Next... this outlet was covered over with wall paper. It is halfway up the wall. If I decide I don't need or want it, how should I take care of this?



I do apologize for my ignorance, but I've never done anything like this before, and I have no idea how to do these things.
Thank you very much.
Anne

[asprentz]

I went back and looked at another post where I asked for help with these walls, and LazyPup said to skim the walls with spackling. Is there too much damage to the drywall for this, cause it looks like the whole wall would have to be skimmed with spackling. Do I sand it before and after spackling?
For the other walls, I think I'm just going to paint over the wallpaper. It's just too thin and on too good for me to bother with trying to scrape it off and leaving damaged drywall.

[LazyPup]

In my experience painting over old wallpaper is an iffy undertaking. Sometimes when there is only one layer of wallpaper and it is firmly stuck on as you describe you may have good success, but the risk is that the paint may loosen the wallpaper and cause it to pucker in places.

Given that removing the wallpaper has proven to be nearly impossible, I would consider attempting to paint over it with a good primer such as Kilz or Zinseer first and see how that goes. In all probability if no problems show up in the primer step you should be okay.

[asprentz]

Why, oh, why do I always have to learn things the hard way? When we first moved into this house, I tried taking the wallpaper down. I succeded in getting 2 layers off, with DIF, but my sister advised me it would be best to either re-drywall, or wallpaper over it. Well, I chose to wallpaper over it. Now, a year later, I'm taking down the wallpaper I put up and wanting to paint. So, I'm on the main wall which is a pain the the butt. I am using DIF ( I had leftover from before) and applying it as per the directions. You can see what a mess it made of wall. It tore it up. I went to the hardware store and was just chatting with one of the girls who works there and she suggested watering down joint compound and using a roller to make the wall textured, to hide the bazillion gashes in the wall. So, I'm doing this...layer by layer, the gashes are being covered up. I move over to the next wall, which I haven't touched yet. LazyPup suggested using Downy..so I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a try. OMG, WHY oh WHY didn't I use this to begin with? I put some Downy in a spray bottle mixed with water, and sprayed it all over the wall. Not expecting anything, I take my putty knife and begin scraping and LOW and BEHOLD the wallpaper is just falling off!!!! No damage at all to my wall!! Why couldn't I have done this in the first place? Now I have one wall textured in joint compound with wallpaper underneath, and the other wall, nice and smooth and the way it should be.

Downy ROCKS!!!!

[Drywall DIY Guy]

This does look like a bit too much to skim coat. You would have to apply a lot of compound and do a lot of sanding, possible resulting in a bumpy wavy surface (and a lot of dust). I had such a wall once when I removed paper - I replaced the drywall. You can replace the drywall yourself and hire someone to tape or give the taping a shot yourself. Try my site at http://drywallinfo.com. For the outlet sticking out can you simply place an additional sheet of drywall? Otherwise, you could fasten a square wood piece with a hole for the outlet to make up for the gap. For the unwanted outlet, you can place a plate over the top made for this purpose whereever outlets are sold.

Drywall Taping & Finishing For Beginners

http://drywallinfo.com

[asprentz]

DrywallGuy,

I have put 2 1 gallon buckets of watered down joint compound on this wall, and have sanded so much I can barely move my arm. The result is: it looks like crap. Maybe I'm not cut out for this kind of stuff. I'd much rather put in a new toilet or sink than do this.

I went to the hardware store yesterday intending to buy 3/8 inch drywall to put over the existing drywall, but as my luck would have it, the drywall sheets will not fit in my van. To add insult to this, there was a couple who I was casually chatting with that bought drywall, and coincidentally, they left the store the same time I did. They had a nice big truck. I was behind them all the way home and they turned 2 streets before my street. Hmmm...talk about rubbing it in..lol..oh well. Because I am taking on this project totally on my own, I feel so overwhelmed. I don't know anyone with a truck, nor do I have the money to pay someone to do this for me. So...I'm stuck. I guess my next option is to see if one of the hardware stores deliver.

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[mrcaptainbob]

Too bad about those neighbors. If only....But Home Depot rents trucks by the hour and are pretty cheap. I think like maybe 17 bucks is all. I had a wall/wallpaper issue like you do. The wall was badly scarred from removing it all. But I block sanded all the nibs and nubs off first, then used the same plaster as what's used for joints. Troweled it on and let dry then lightly block sanded and watched for the low spots and penciled them as I went. Filled in those again, and re-block sanded. This wall was about 12 foot long. Wasn't really too bad as the joint plaster sands really easy. I hope you didn't use spackle or such, as it alwasy seems to be harder than regular drywall.

[HayZee518]

Back to that outlet in your photo - If there's only one device in it which it looks like, try replacing the box with a shallower one. The one thats in there is a 2X4 wallcase. Try a shallower one. You can get replacement boxes as shallow as 1 1/4 inch but only if you have one wire into the box.