I have removed the vinyl layer of the wall paper which apparently has been on for 20 years but the paper part and glue is only coming off in tiny pieces. I have tried vinegar in hot water and bought a wall paper remover product from Canadian Tire but can not get the paper and glue off. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Enza from Toronto Canada
We are removing wallpaper right now that we first put on twenty years ago. We use hot water and sponges. If the paper has a solid vinyl face then it needs to be stripped off first. Very simple to get this face off, each panel usually comes off in one piece. The stuff we are doing now is just a paper but must have some coating cause water wont penetrate it. Its coming off in little hunks and is very time consuming. just keep the water hot and the paper backing should peel off with a metal scraper. some people say to use vinegar or fabric softener with the water, I don't use anything but maybe if I did it would be easier. (05/21/2006)
By Fordluv
On an HGTV show, they used a bleach water solution to remove wall paper glue. I hope this works. Good luck! (05/21/2006)
By Teresa
Greetings:
Recently, I removed the wallpaper boarder in my living room and kitchen. I found the trick to doing this rather easily was to wash over the paper first with hot water. Do this on several swipes. Take edge of paper and slowly pull it off. Wipe over remaining paper/glue with hot water again and gently scrape off with a small metal spatula blade. (The kind you use for spackling walls). It worked for me.
Good luck and God bless.
Mary McLuckie (05/21/2006)
By Mary M.
I used a mix of liquid fabric softener & water, half/half Score paper and spray mix.
Let soak for several minutes. Pull paper off, spray again
if all did not come off. Easy & cheap. Just wash walls to get softener off. Thanks Donna (05/21/2006)
By Donna
I found using a scoring tool from a home improvement store worked best. First I scored the wallpaper and then sprayed it with warm water. After the paper soaked for a few minutes it scraped off easily. The scoring tool allowed the water to penetrate the paper. I found the tool in the wallpaper section of the store. Good luck. (05/21/2006)
By CHRISTINA
I once saw on Trading Spaces they used a mixture of hot water and Dawn dish soap. It cane off very easily for them. (05/23/2006)
By Jill
I have also used a liquid fabric softener and water blend to remove some very stubborn wallpaper in my bathroom that the previous owners had applied directly to unpainted drywall. It worked great, and smelled pretty good too! Fill about 1/3 of a standard spray bottle with cheap liquid fabric softener and then fill up with water.
By Mary
THANK YOU ALL for your great advise. I will try the fabric softener and water and then if that doesn't work we'll move to the Dawn and water and if that doesn't work WE'LL PANEL THE WALLS as I would have tried every possible suggestion.
Your responses are greatly appreciated.
TAKE CARE ALL (05/24/2006)
By Enza
I tried the water and fabric softener (but I used fabric conditioner) and it seemed to work pretty well. It was better than scrubbing it off with hot water! I recommend you try it, if you are having trouble removing the glue. (05/29/2006)
By kate
I have tried hot water and vinegar, water & fabric softener, and hot water and Dawn dish washing liquid. The hot water and vinegar solution was best for the wallpaper removal. The hot water and Dawn was best to remove the glue. I prefer sponging on the solution waiting 5 minutes and then sponging on more hot water solution and waiting 10 minutes before starting removal. I found the process to be hard work and nothing came off easy. Be sure to see how smooth the wall is after paper and glue are removed. Then either spackle small imperfections or use joint compound for larger imperfections and then lightly sand. I prefer to prime the area in case of any residual glue. The best primer I have used is Kilz Interior "Oderless" Oil Based primer. Yes, oil based is more work but it covers any small amounts of adhesive and prevents latex paint runs. (02/08/2007)
By sigma6
Yes, a fifty fifty percent solution of Snuggle softener with warm water in a sprayer dissolved the glue nicely.
This was the tip from an older painter working at Lowes. I was a skeptic. It worked! (10/12/2007)
By Rich M.
I am going through some major wall paper problems myself. The wallpaper that had been put on our walls has got to be at least 25+ years old. We used scouring tools, we used warm water and a sponge with a scraper, we used wall paper remover (some blue solution in a spray bottle),etc. and our walls are so trashed because we can NOT get all of the glue off. It is starting to take the paint off and work its way to the drywall. we have so much patching that I don't even know if it is worth trying to fix. we really should just rip the wall out and start over with a fresh new wall. If you have any ideas as to what to do for STUBBORN WALLPAPER GLUE it would be very helpful. I am at the end of my rope and it is so frustrating and sad to see what has been done! (01/26/2008)
By Carmen Ryan
I had a heck of a time removing 20+ year wallpaper from a room (although the first room I did was very easy to remove). I used a warm-air humidifier (the ones that steams water to humidify a room), turned it on high, and let it sit in the room with the door closed for 2 hours. All the wallpaper peeled off in large and long strips. I then used soap/water solution to get the rest of the glue off. (02/24/2008)
By dean
I tried both vinegar and Dawn. Dawn worked so much better. Dawn actually worked very well. (03/29/2008)
By Roger
I just did my bedroom that had 30-40 year old wallpaper on it and all I used was STEAM. Worked great and was done in 1/2 an hour. I highly recommend this. I used the STEAM BULLET. (05/06/2008)
By Bobbi
Steam! (05/06/2008)
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