How to deal with old wallpaper

last year

last modified: last year

We are in escrow to purchase a home that was built in 87. It is a very large home and it has wallpaper in the majority of rooms. almost all appears be in good condition but most of it is ugly. The only room that i actually like had a wondow leak and now there is a water ring in the wallpaper. Is my only option to remove it all? if its in good condition can i wallpaper over it or would that be a disaster. I plan on adding board and batten to a lot of the rooms. can I just board and batten over it? What are my options here?

edit to add: I think im incorrect in my terminology. board and batten is not what in looking for. Im talking about the floor to ceiling wainscoting. classic or picture frame type wainscosting

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Comments (13)

jck910
last year
Find a good wall paper hanger and have them evaluate it. I had a home where there was paper over paper - it's a PIA to remove multiple layers. Is board and batten appropriate for the home's style? That is a "trend" that is out
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
last year
last modified: last year
When you want board and batten walls, you are really only applying battens to the face of the drywall, so all the wallpaper has to come off.

Likely the paste will have to be washed off using TSP, the walls maybe lightly sanded & primed before battens are applied, caulked and then painted over.

If the walls were properly prepared taking the wallpaper off might be fairly easy though time consuming. You can always hire a professional to do it.

If you try to wallpaper over the old wallpaper the moisture from the paste may lift the old paper and then it will ruin the new paper also. It has to be removed.
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cat_ky
last year
I would remove it all, room by room. Hopefully, the room has been painted at one time, or at least primed. The wallpaper will all come off without a lot of problems, just a bit of time, if it has. Please do not walllpaper over the top. You wont be happy with it and future owners will hate you. I had wallpaper in almost all the rooms in this house, (built in 1966), and I removed all traces of it, cleaned the walls, and gave them a good coat of guardz primer and painted all of them. It removed very easily here, just takes a bit of time, when you have many rooms with it. Do one room at a time.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
One room at atime and show exactly what you are planning for the walls .
arcy_gw
last year
'87 paper will come off fairly easy as wall paper can go. It's hours of work and sore arms but applying paper on top is only making a larger problem later. Be ready to spend more time scraping gobs of glue off than it takes to remove the paper!!!
Lyn Nielson
last year
have you tried removing any of it, in a small area just to see what you are working with?
tracefloyd
last year
They are still in Escrow and they want picture frame wainscotting.

Start in the room with water damage...sometimes it comes of easily depending on the type. They've had removeable paper for a while.

If real glued on paper, buy a scorer and wet with water and let it sit and soak in real good but keep it wet and not dry out. Liquid fabric softner is said to help. Use a wide putty knife gently. May need repeat several times.
arcy_gw
last year
What year was the house built? I found one wall in my home not finished before they put the paper up. THAT was not fun and DH had to skim coat the entire wall when I was done. I found a silicone bread dough scraper worked fabulously to scape the glue off the wall. There are many products out there to wet the paper with after scoring. Keep a spray bottle of water near by.
HU-23972413
last year
"We are in escrow to purchase a home that was built in 87. "
PRO
HALLETT & Co.
last year
Ahh the eighties. I’ve had a house from that era where the paper was attached directly to the drywall with no priming so it essentially mated with the paper face of the drywall. It was not coming off so it got oil primed and skim coated. I bought another building (8000 sq ft office complex) where miles of hallway were wallpapered beige (it was weird- no color or texture- why not just paint) You could pull from the bottom and it came off whole. So fun! Wainscot doesn’t work in 90% of the houses where it’s used so plan carefully.
arcy_gw
last year
last modified: last year
Which is proly where I got " '87 paper will come off fairly easy as wall paper can go " hahahahahah In fact the paper could have been later but it wasn't in favor in the 90s....
Maureen
last year
last modified: last year
Our home had wallpaper in key areas and had to go (living room, two hallways and master). All but one came off easily, but the last was brutal. If it had been the first room, I would have been pretty discouraged, but would have never painted over. Just adding one problem on top of another.

I’d suggest picking one or two rooms with paper you can’t live with, and/or are the most used rooms. Take your time and as you progress, you can always hire someone to help with the harder ones.
apple_pie_order
last year
last modified: last year
Start with the smallest room or the room with the damaged paper. You'll find out pretty quickly if it is easy to remove like most paper or requires a pro. Pros have chemicals, equipment and experience that make really difficult jobs possible. Mylar and vinyl-coated "paper" installed with non-water-soluble glue is a particularly difficult removal job best suited to a pro.