Wallpaper Removal Service Raleigh
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Wallpaper Removal Complete Drywall Repair Service In Raleigh
Wallpaper Removal Service Raleigh
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Call Jim 919-542-5336 for fast, friendly, professional wallpaper removal service in Raleigh, North Carolina / NC and all surrounding areas.
Step 1: Prepare the Room: Place drop cloths at the base of the walls to be stripped. Remove all switch plates and outlet covers from the walls. Cut the power to the room.
Step 2: Score Wallpaper: Use a wallpaper scorer to create small holes in the paper, which allows the solution to penetrate through to the adhesive base.
Step 3: Mix Solution: While there are a number of commercially prepared solutions available, little works better than hot water and fabric softener. Combine the water and fabric softener in a large spray bottle at a concentration of one to one. Tip: Mix the solution in small batches to keep the water as hot as possible.
Step 4: Soak Walls: Use a spray bottle to saturate a section of the wallpaper. Spray only as much of the wall as you can comfortably strip in a 15-minute period. Allow the solution to soak the paper for a few minutes before beginning.
Step 5: Strip Wallpaper: Grab pieces of wallpaper at a bottom corner and carefully pull upward. Use a wide putty knife to facilitate the removal of the paper. Repeat the above steps until all the wallpaper is removed.
Step 6: Clean Walls: In a bucket mix a tablespoon of dish detergent with very hot water. Use a sponge to wipe down the walls, scrubbing carefully to remove all traces of wallpaper adhesive. Finally, rinse down the walls with clean water and towel dry.
After what’s felt like an eternity pretending not to see it, you’ve reached the point where you can no longer ignore that ugly wallpaper the previous owners put up. Yes, indeed, this wall covering must come down. Now.
The problem: How do you remove the wallpaper without damaging the wall — or yourself? There are several options, including steaming or spraying with chemicals, but you'll have to decide which one will work best for you and your wallpaper.
"People usually have no clue on how to strip wallpaper," says Gerald Bishop, owner of Wallcoverings and the Fresno Wallpaper Design Warehouse in Fresno, Calif. "It's not that difficult. But it takes a lot of patience, and there's an art to stripping wallpaper."
Which method you use to take down the wallpaper will often depend on the product. Some wallpapers can be stripped dry, while others will need a removal solution. And then, any damage to the wall will depend on how the wallpaper was installed.
"Every job is different," Gerald says. "It all stems from what the contractor did before." For example, if the wall wasn't sealed with a primer before the wallpaper was put up, removing the wallpaper can cause some damage to the wall's texture or the drywall.
Using a steamer to remove wallpaper isn't as popular as it once was. "We used to use them 25 years ago, and they were (heated with) propane," says Larry Meacham of Larry's Painting and Decorating in Fresno.
These days, steamers are electric, he says. "They may work for some people, but I don't use them."
Gerald doesn't use steamers either. "It works, but you end up scalding your hands. It also takes twice as long to strip the wallpaper."
Instead, Larry and Gerald like to use a concentrated remover solution that is mixed with water. The solution dissolves the adhesive wallpaper backing, making it easy to take off. Before starting, gather the right tools and do some basic preparations. Tools you'll need include: one or two 3-to-6-inch broad knives, a ladder, a scoring tool and a garden sprayer, such as a 2-gallon plastic pump.
You'll need a plastic sheet or a drop cloth to cover the carpet or floor. Take down outlet covers, then mix the solution and hot water together. Larry and Gerald like to use DIF by Zinsser, which is available at home-improvement stores.
Next, test a small area of the wall, about a 3' x 3' section, by lifting an edge of the wallpaper. "You have to determine what the grain is," Gerald says. "It can be stripped left to right, up and down, or more."
If the wallpaper doesn't come off easily, spray the remover-solution mixture on the area and let it soak into the wallpaper. You may need to apply it several times.
Stripping off the old wall covering is usually wiser than leaving it on. New coverings adhere better to stripped-down surfaces. Depending on the wall covering and the kind of wall it's on, there are several ways to approach the job.
But you can successfully paper over old wall coverings, although it's not always a good idea, because the moisture in adhesives can cause both the old and new coverings to peel away from the wall. Also, if previous strips of wall covering have been lapped at the seams, these lap marks will show through the new covering. If you still want to paper over old coverings, as necessary, sand the seams smooth, tear away any loose strips, and re-paste loose edges around butt seams or defects before applying the new covering. If you're papering over foil or vinyl wall coverings, go over the shiny areas lightly with coarse sandpaper and then vacuum or wipe the sanding dust off the wall.
Though most strippable wall coverings are characterized by smooth, plasticlike textures (including vinyl, fabric-backed vinyl, or fabric-backed paper), the only way to find out if a covering is really strippable is to try peeling it off the wall. Here's how:
Step 1: Pry the paper up in an inconspicuous corner at the top of a wall with the tip of a utility knife.
Step 2: Grasp the tip of the corner and, keeping it as close to the wall as possible, try to pull it down the surface of the wall. Pulling it toward you and away from the wall increases the likelihood of tearing it. If a covering is strippable, it should peel away from the wall when you apply steady, moderate pressure. If not, you're probably dealing with a nonstrippable paper that you will have to soak, steam, or dry-strip off the wall. Do not soak or use steam-stripping methods on drywall, though. The moisture can soften the wall's kraft-paper surface and its gypsum core. Instead, use a dry-strip method.
Slitting and Soaking: With this technique, you make horizontal slits in the surface of the old wall covering with a utility knife, a razor blade, or a special tool called a paper stripper, available at wall covering stores. The slits, made eight or ten inches apart, allow warm, soapy water or a liquid paper remover to get behind the paper and soften the adhesive so you can pull or scrape the paper off plaster walls. You can apply either solution with a sponge or a spray bottle. Caution: If you spray on a liquid paper remover, use a painters' mask to keep from inhaling chemical vapors.
Step 1: Apply the water or the paper remover and let it soak in for a few minutes.
Step 2: Do the same thing on the next strip, then go back to the first and wet it again top to bottom.
Step 3: Use a 3 1/2-inch-wide wall scraper with a flexible blade to begin stripping. Slide the blade under the top edge of one of the horizontal slits and, holding it at about a 30-degree angle, push up on the wet paper. A scraper-width section should rip along the sides of the blade and wrinkle up above it as you push.
Step 4: Continue pushing as long as the paper comes off. If the strip of scraped paper breaks, resoak that area and start scraping at another slit. If, after repeated soaking and scraping attempts, the adhesive is clearly not yielding, you'll have to use another method.
On walls made of drywall, use a paper stripper to make the horizontal slits as before, but don't wet the paper. Just slowly scrape or peel it away from the wall.
Steaming: Many tool rental and wallpaper outlets rent electrical steamers to do-it-yourselfers. These appliances typically consist of an electrically heated water tank connected by a long hose to a steamer plate with a perforated face. Here's how they're used:
Step 1: Once the water is hot, hold the plate against the wall until you see the wall covering darken with moisture around the edges of the plate. Start on a single strip and work from the top down.
Step 2: After about half of the strip has been steamed, lift a top corner with a fingernail or a utility knife and attempt to peel the paper downward. If that doesn't work, resort to a wall scraper. You may have to steam the same areas two or three times to loosen older adhesive behind the paper.
New wallcovering can transform a room, going from boring to beautiful. But before you can determine the best approach to removing wallpaper, you need to know the type of wallcovering and the type of wall surface that's under the wallpaper.
Knowing what you're up against: In most cases, walls are either drywall (gypsum sandwiched between layers of paper) or plaster smoothed over lath (either strips of wood or metal mesh). You can usually tell what you have by the feel (plaster is harder, colder, and smoother than drywall) or by tapping on it (drywall sounds hollow, and plaster doesn't). When in doubt, remove an outlet cover to see the exposed edges.
Drywall is more vulnerable to water damage; you must avoid overwetting it. And use care when you're scraping because drywall gouges more easily than plaster.
What about the wallpaper? Be optimistic — assume that the paper is dry-strippable. Lift a corner of the paper from the wall with a putty knife. Grasp the paper with both hands and slowly attempt to peel it back at a very low angle. If it all peels off, you're home free.
If the wallpaper doesn't peel off, or if only the decorative surface layer peels off, you must saturate the wallpaper or the remaining backing with water and wallpaper remover solvent and then scrape it off.
Some papers, such as foils or those coated with a vinyl or acrylic finish, are not porous. If you're removing such wallpapers, you must scratch, perforate, or roughen the entire surface to permit the solution to penetrate below the nonporous surface to the adhesive. You can test for porosity by spraying a small area with hot water and wallpaper remover. If the paper is porous, you should see the paper absorb the water immediately. After the paper is wetted, you can scrape it off.
Now that you know what you're dealing with, you can choose an appropriate removal technique for the entire surface. Depending on your situation, choose one of three wallpaper-removal approaches: dry-stripping, wallpaper remover, or steam.
Choosing a removal technique The technique you use for removing the old wallpaper depends on what kind of paper you're taking down and what kind of surface is underneath (see the previous section, "Knowing what you're up against"). The following sections outline the steps involved in the different approaches. (For a video explanation of wallpaper removal, check out How to Remove Old Wallpaper.) Dry-stripping: If a wallpaper is dry-strippable, you just need to loosen each strip at the corners with a putty knife and slowly peel it back at a 10- to 15-degree angle.
Don't pull the wallpaper straight out or you may damage the underlying surface, especially if it's drywall.
After you remove all the paper, follow the adhesive removal procedures the next section describes. If only the top, decorative layer peels off, leaving a paper backing behind, it's a peelable paper. Dry-strip the entire top layer and then follow the steps in the next section to take off the backing and adhesive.
If you plan to repaper and the old backing is secure and in good condition, you may be able to hang the new wallcovering right on top of it. Discuss this option with your wallpaper dealer.
Soaking and scraping it off: To remove nonstrippable paper or any paper backing that remains after dry-stripping a peelable paper's decorative layer, turn first to warm water and wallpaper removal solvent. Soak the surface with a wallpaper remover solution. Although a spray bottle works, the most effective way to get the solution on the wall and not all over the floor is to use a paint roller. Then scrape the sodden paper off with a wide taping knife or a wallpaper scraper.
Don't wet a larger area than you can scrape off within about 15 minutes. You shouldn't let water soak into drywall for longer than that, or it may cause unnecessary damage. Usually, you can wet about a 3-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling section at a time.
Scrape off the wet wallpaper and let it fall to the floor. The canvas drop cloth or towels that you put down absorbs most of the dripping solution and keeps your shoe soles a little cleaner.
If the wallpaper is nonporous, you must roughen or perforate the surface so that the remover solution can penetrate and dissolve the adhesive. To roughen the surface, use coarse sandpaper on either a pad sander or a hand-sanding block. You can also use a neat gizmo called a Paper Tiger or another perforating tool devised for use on wallpaper applied over drywall. Rounded edges on these tools help ensure that you don't cause damage that may require subsequent repair. Don't use the scraper after the wallpaper is wet, though; you may damage the drywall. (Check out How to Take Off Wallpaper from Drywall by Soaking and Scraping for the details.)
If you're successful in using the soak-and-scrape approach, you can finish up the job. If not, it's time to pull out the big gun: a wallpaper steamer.
Giving it a steam bath: You're talking major work if you must remove more than one layer of wall-paper or remove wallpaper that has been painted over. And if the wallpaper was not applied to a properly sealed surface, removing it without damaging the wall can be next to impossible. For these tough jobs, you may have to rent a wallpaper steamer (about $15 for a half-day) or buy a do-it-yourself model (about $50). A wallpaper steamer is a hotplate attached to a hose extending from a hot water reservoir that heats the water and directs steam to the hotplate.
Although you can use a steamer and wallpaper scraper with relative confidence on plaster walls, use caution on drywall, which is much more vulnerable to water damage and is more easily gouged.
Fill the steamer with water and let it heat up, and keep a baking pan handy to put the hotplate in when you're not using it. Starting at the top of the wall, hold the hotplate against the wall in one area until the wallpaper softens. Move the hotplate to an adjacent area as you scrape the softened wallpaper with a wallpaper razor scraper and let it fall onto the plastic as described in the preceding section. When you're through scraping one area, the steamer usually has softened the next area, depending on the porosity of the paper. (The process is explained in How to Take Off Wallpaper from Drywall with a Wallpaper Steamer.)
Both steam and the water that condenses from it can drip off the hotplate and burn you. To prevent hot water from dripping down your arm, stand on a stepstool when you're working above chest height. Wear rubber gloves and a long-sleeved shirt, too.
When considering a painting or wallpapering project, most of us focus on colors, patterns and finishing the walls. But most experts will tell you that actually painting or papering is only half the job in getting professional results.
In fact, some say that for every hour you spend painting or wallpapering, you probably need to spend about 3 hours preparing your walls and woodwork. That's what we'll look at in this section on preparing walls and in the next section on preparing wood trim.
First, you should be aware of some potential risks in older homes. If there's any chance the paints you're dealing with were made before the 1978 banning of lead-based paints, treat them as if they contain lead and/or have them tested.
There are extreme health hazards associated with lead-based wall paints, especially sanding them. For more information, see Lead-Based Paints in the Healthy Homes project.
Removing Old Wallpaper: Ideally, any wallcovering you have to remove will come off as easily as most newer vinyl wallpapers which usually peel off with a minimum of effort.
To remove wallpaper, just loosen up a corner and start pulling, possibly using a 4" or 6" putty knife to help pry it off the wall.
With peelable papers, a top layer peels off, leaving a thin backing glued to the wall which requires a little more effort to remove. However, most of the older wallpapers require a lot more effort.
Sanding Wallpaper: One of the best ways to loosen up old wallpaper glue is to first moisten the paper with a wetting agent.
But many wallpapers are coated with a thin layer of vinyl to make them waterproof, so they're impervious to wetting agents.
If that's the kind of paper you're removing, you should first sand off as much of the vinyl coating as you can -- removing as much of the gloss as possible and exposing the paper below.
Perforating The Surface: You can also use a tool known as a paper tiger, which basically has a pair of wheels with tiny, sharp teeth that perforate the paper and allow the wetting agent to penetrate into the glue layer(s).
Just roll it across the wallpaper, covering the whole surface with perforations.
You can also substitute a utility knife to score the paper. Cut in a series of shallow, criss-crossing lines to let the moisture penetrate.
NOTE: The key word is shallow. If you cut too deep, you may damage the wallboard or plaster below.
Moistening Old Wallpaper: As a wetting agent, you can use water, a mixture of water and vinegar or wallpaper removers which are usually mixed with water. And you can apply it with a sponge, a paint roller, a mister or a sprayer.
Whatever you use, give the wetting agent time to loosen up the glues and apply more if it dries out before it's done the job.
Scraping Wallpaper: Once the glue loosens up, start prying up the old paper with a wide-bladed tool. If you're lucky, the paper will now come off cleanly.
But more often than not, it will come off in stages with some parts of the paper almost falling off the wall and other parts still sticking fast.
So remove the loose paper, moisten the remaining paper again and scrape that off as it loosens. Don't be surprised if it takes several tries or you discover several layers of wallpaper.
Step 2: Score Wallpaper: Use a wallpaper scorer to create small holes in the paper, which allows the solution to penetrate through to the adhesive base.
Step 3: Mix Solution: While there are a number of commercially prepared solutions available, little works better than hot water and fabric softener. Combine the water and fabric softener in a large spray bottle at a concentration of one to one. Tip: Mix the solution in small batches to keep the water as hot as possible.
Step 4: Soak Walls: Use a spray bottle to saturate a section of the wallpaper. Spray only as much of the wall as you can comfortably strip in a 15-minute period. Allow the solution to soak the paper for a few minutes before beginning.
Step 5: Strip Wallpaper: Grab pieces of wallpaper at a bottom corner and carefully pull upward. Use a wide putty knife to facilitate the removal of the paper. Repeat the above steps until all the wallpaper is removed.
Step 6: Clean Walls: In a bucket mix a tablespoon of dish detergent with very hot water. Use a sponge to wipe down the walls, scrubbing carefully to remove all traces of wallpaper adhesive. Finally, rinse down the walls with clean water and towel dry.
After what’s felt like an eternity pretending not to see it, you’ve reached the point where you can no longer ignore that ugly wallpaper the previous owners put up. Yes, indeed, this wall covering must come down. Now.
The problem: How do you remove the wallpaper without damaging the wall — or yourself? There are several options, including steaming or spraying with chemicals, but you'll have to decide which one will work best for you and your wallpaper.
"People usually have no clue on how to strip wallpaper," says Gerald Bishop, owner of Wallcoverings and the Fresno Wallpaper Design Warehouse in Fresno, Calif. "It's not that difficult. But it takes a lot of patience, and there's an art to stripping wallpaper."
Which method you use to take down the wallpaper will often depend on the product. Some wallpapers can be stripped dry, while others will need a removal solution. And then, any damage to the wall will depend on how the wallpaper was installed.
"Every job is different," Gerald says. "It all stems from what the contractor did before." For example, if the wall wasn't sealed with a primer before the wallpaper was put up, removing the wallpaper can cause some damage to the wall's texture or the drywall.
Using a steamer to remove wallpaper isn't as popular as it once was. "We used to use them 25 years ago, and they were (heated with) propane," says Larry Meacham of Larry's Painting and Decorating in Fresno.
These days, steamers are electric, he says. "They may work for some people, but I don't use them."
Gerald doesn't use steamers either. "It works, but you end up scalding your hands. It also takes twice as long to strip the wallpaper."
Instead, Larry and Gerald like to use a concentrated remover solution that is mixed with water. The solution dissolves the adhesive wallpaper backing, making it easy to take off. Before starting, gather the right tools and do some basic preparations. Tools you'll need include: one or two 3-to-6-inch broad knives, a ladder, a scoring tool and a garden sprayer, such as a 2-gallon plastic pump.
You'll need a plastic sheet or a drop cloth to cover the carpet or floor. Take down outlet covers, then mix the solution and hot water together. Larry and Gerald like to use DIF by Zinsser, which is available at home-improvement stores.
Next, test a small area of the wall, about a 3' x 3' section, by lifting an edge of the wallpaper. "You have to determine what the grain is," Gerald says. "It can be stripped left to right, up and down, or more."
If the wallpaper doesn't come off easily, spray the remover-solution mixture on the area and let it soak into the wallpaper. You may need to apply it several times.
Stripping off the old wall covering is usually wiser than leaving it on. New coverings adhere better to stripped-down surfaces. Depending on the wall covering and the kind of wall it's on, there are several ways to approach the job.
But you can successfully paper over old wall coverings, although it's not always a good idea, because the moisture in adhesives can cause both the old and new coverings to peel away from the wall. Also, if previous strips of wall covering have been lapped at the seams, these lap marks will show through the new covering. If you still want to paper over old coverings, as necessary, sand the seams smooth, tear away any loose strips, and re-paste loose edges around butt seams or defects before applying the new covering. If you're papering over foil or vinyl wall coverings, go over the shiny areas lightly with coarse sandpaper and then vacuum or wipe the sanding dust off the wall.
Though most strippable wall coverings are characterized by smooth, plasticlike textures (including vinyl, fabric-backed vinyl, or fabric-backed paper), the only way to find out if a covering is really strippable is to try peeling it off the wall. Here's how:
Step 1: Pry the paper up in an inconspicuous corner at the top of a wall with the tip of a utility knife.
Step 2: Grasp the tip of the corner and, keeping it as close to the wall as possible, try to pull it down the surface of the wall. Pulling it toward you and away from the wall increases the likelihood of tearing it. If a covering is strippable, it should peel away from the wall when you apply steady, moderate pressure. If not, you're probably dealing with a nonstrippable paper that you will have to soak, steam, or dry-strip off the wall. Do not soak or use steam-stripping methods on drywall, though. The moisture can soften the wall's kraft-paper surface and its gypsum core. Instead, use a dry-strip method.
Slitting and Soaking: With this technique, you make horizontal slits in the surface of the old wall covering with a utility knife, a razor blade, or a special tool called a paper stripper, available at wall covering stores. The slits, made eight or ten inches apart, allow warm, soapy water or a liquid paper remover to get behind the paper and soften the adhesive so you can pull or scrape the paper off plaster walls. You can apply either solution with a sponge or a spray bottle. Caution: If you spray on a liquid paper remover, use a painters' mask to keep from inhaling chemical vapors.
Step 1: Apply the water or the paper remover and let it soak in for a few minutes.
Step 2: Do the same thing on the next strip, then go back to the first and wet it again top to bottom.
Step 3: Use a 3 1/2-inch-wide wall scraper with a flexible blade to begin stripping. Slide the blade under the top edge of one of the horizontal slits and, holding it at about a 30-degree angle, push up on the wet paper. A scraper-width section should rip along the sides of the blade and wrinkle up above it as you push.
Step 4: Continue pushing as long as the paper comes off. If the strip of scraped paper breaks, resoak that area and start scraping at another slit. If, after repeated soaking and scraping attempts, the adhesive is clearly not yielding, you'll have to use another method.
On walls made of drywall, use a paper stripper to make the horizontal slits as before, but don't wet the paper. Just slowly scrape or peel it away from the wall.
Steaming: Many tool rental and wallpaper outlets rent electrical steamers to do-it-yourselfers. These appliances typically consist of an electrically heated water tank connected by a long hose to a steamer plate with a perforated face. Here's how they're used:
Step 1: Once the water is hot, hold the plate against the wall until you see the wall covering darken with moisture around the edges of the plate. Start on a single strip and work from the top down.
Step 2: After about half of the strip has been steamed, lift a top corner with a fingernail or a utility knife and attempt to peel the paper downward. If that doesn't work, resort to a wall scraper. You may have to steam the same areas two or three times to loosen older adhesive behind the paper.
New wallcovering can transform a room, going from boring to beautiful. But before you can determine the best approach to removing wallpaper, you need to know the type of wallcovering and the type of wall surface that's under the wallpaper.
Knowing what you're up against: In most cases, walls are either drywall (gypsum sandwiched between layers of paper) or plaster smoothed over lath (either strips of wood or metal mesh). You can usually tell what you have by the feel (plaster is harder, colder, and smoother than drywall) or by tapping on it (drywall sounds hollow, and plaster doesn't). When in doubt, remove an outlet cover to see the exposed edges.
Drywall is more vulnerable to water damage; you must avoid overwetting it. And use care when you're scraping because drywall gouges more easily than plaster.
What about the wallpaper? Be optimistic — assume that the paper is dry-strippable. Lift a corner of the paper from the wall with a putty knife. Grasp the paper with both hands and slowly attempt to peel it back at a very low angle. If it all peels off, you're home free.
If the wallpaper doesn't peel off, or if only the decorative surface layer peels off, you must saturate the wallpaper or the remaining backing with water and wallpaper remover solvent and then scrape it off.
Some papers, such as foils or those coated with a vinyl or acrylic finish, are not porous. If you're removing such wallpapers, you must scratch, perforate, or roughen the entire surface to permit the solution to penetrate below the nonporous surface to the adhesive. You can test for porosity by spraying a small area with hot water and wallpaper remover. If the paper is porous, you should see the paper absorb the water immediately. After the paper is wetted, you can scrape it off.
Now that you know what you're dealing with, you can choose an appropriate removal technique for the entire surface. Depending on your situation, choose one of three wallpaper-removal approaches: dry-stripping, wallpaper remover, or steam.
Choosing a removal technique The technique you use for removing the old wallpaper depends on what kind of paper you're taking down and what kind of surface is underneath (see the previous section, "Knowing what you're up against"). The following sections outline the steps involved in the different approaches. (For a video explanation of wallpaper removal, check out How to Remove Old Wallpaper.) Dry-stripping: If a wallpaper is dry-strippable, you just need to loosen each strip at the corners with a putty knife and slowly peel it back at a 10- to 15-degree angle.
Don't pull the wallpaper straight out or you may damage the underlying surface, especially if it's drywall.
After you remove all the paper, follow the adhesive removal procedures the next section describes. If only the top, decorative layer peels off, leaving a paper backing behind, it's a peelable paper. Dry-strip the entire top layer and then follow the steps in the next section to take off the backing and adhesive.
If you plan to repaper and the old backing is secure and in good condition, you may be able to hang the new wallcovering right on top of it. Discuss this option with your wallpaper dealer.
Soaking and scraping it off: To remove nonstrippable paper or any paper backing that remains after dry-stripping a peelable paper's decorative layer, turn first to warm water and wallpaper removal solvent. Soak the surface with a wallpaper remover solution. Although a spray bottle works, the most effective way to get the solution on the wall and not all over the floor is to use a paint roller. Then scrape the sodden paper off with a wide taping knife or a wallpaper scraper.
Don't wet a larger area than you can scrape off within about 15 minutes. You shouldn't let water soak into drywall for longer than that, or it may cause unnecessary damage. Usually, you can wet about a 3-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling section at a time.
Scrape off the wet wallpaper and let it fall to the floor. The canvas drop cloth or towels that you put down absorbs most of the dripping solution and keeps your shoe soles a little cleaner.
If the wallpaper is nonporous, you must roughen or perforate the surface so that the remover solution can penetrate and dissolve the adhesive. To roughen the surface, use coarse sandpaper on either a pad sander or a hand-sanding block. You can also use a neat gizmo called a Paper Tiger or another perforating tool devised for use on wallpaper applied over drywall. Rounded edges on these tools help ensure that you don't cause damage that may require subsequent repair. Don't use the scraper after the wallpaper is wet, though; you may damage the drywall. (Check out How to Take Off Wallpaper from Drywall by Soaking and Scraping for the details.)
If you're successful in using the soak-and-scrape approach, you can finish up the job. If not, it's time to pull out the big gun: a wallpaper steamer.
Giving it a steam bath: You're talking major work if you must remove more than one layer of wall-paper or remove wallpaper that has been painted over. And if the wallpaper was not applied to a properly sealed surface, removing it without damaging the wall can be next to impossible. For these tough jobs, you may have to rent a wallpaper steamer (about $15 for a half-day) or buy a do-it-yourself model (about $50). A wallpaper steamer is a hotplate attached to a hose extending from a hot water reservoir that heats the water and directs steam to the hotplate.
Although you can use a steamer and wallpaper scraper with relative confidence on plaster walls, use caution on drywall, which is much more vulnerable to water damage and is more easily gouged.
Fill the steamer with water and let it heat up, and keep a baking pan handy to put the hotplate in when you're not using it. Starting at the top of the wall, hold the hotplate against the wall in one area until the wallpaper softens. Move the hotplate to an adjacent area as you scrape the softened wallpaper with a wallpaper razor scraper and let it fall onto the plastic as described in the preceding section. When you're through scraping one area, the steamer usually has softened the next area, depending on the porosity of the paper. (The process is explained in How to Take Off Wallpaper from Drywall with a Wallpaper Steamer.)
Both steam and the water that condenses from it can drip off the hotplate and burn you. To prevent hot water from dripping down your arm, stand on a stepstool when you're working above chest height. Wear rubber gloves and a long-sleeved shirt, too.
When considering a painting or wallpapering project, most of us focus on colors, patterns and finishing the walls. But most experts will tell you that actually painting or papering is only half the job in getting professional results.
In fact, some say that for every hour you spend painting or wallpapering, you probably need to spend about 3 hours preparing your walls and woodwork. That's what we'll look at in this section on preparing walls and in the next section on preparing wood trim.
First, you should be aware of some potential risks in older homes. If there's any chance the paints you're dealing with were made before the 1978 banning of lead-based paints, treat them as if they contain lead and/or have them tested.
There are extreme health hazards associated with lead-based wall paints, especially sanding them. For more information, see Lead-Based Paints in the Healthy Homes project.
Removing Old Wallpaper: Ideally, any wallcovering you have to remove will come off as easily as most newer vinyl wallpapers which usually peel off with a minimum of effort.
To remove wallpaper, just loosen up a corner and start pulling, possibly using a 4" or 6" putty knife to help pry it off the wall.
With peelable papers, a top layer peels off, leaving a thin backing glued to the wall which requires a little more effort to remove. However, most of the older wallpapers require a lot more effort.
Sanding Wallpaper: One of the best ways to loosen up old wallpaper glue is to first moisten the paper with a wetting agent.
But many wallpapers are coated with a thin layer of vinyl to make them waterproof, so they're impervious to wetting agents.
If that's the kind of paper you're removing, you should first sand off as much of the vinyl coating as you can -- removing as much of the gloss as possible and exposing the paper below.
Perforating The Surface: You can also use a tool known as a paper tiger, which basically has a pair of wheels with tiny, sharp teeth that perforate the paper and allow the wetting agent to penetrate into the glue layer(s).
Just roll it across the wallpaper, covering the whole surface with perforations.
You can also substitute a utility knife to score the paper. Cut in a series of shallow, criss-crossing lines to let the moisture penetrate.
NOTE: The key word is shallow. If you cut too deep, you may damage the wallboard or plaster below.
Moistening Old Wallpaper: As a wetting agent, you can use water, a mixture of water and vinegar or wallpaper removers which are usually mixed with water. And you can apply it with a sponge, a paint roller, a mister or a sprayer.
Whatever you use, give the wetting agent time to loosen up the glues and apply more if it dries out before it's done the job.
Scraping Wallpaper: Once the glue loosens up, start prying up the old paper with a wide-bladed tool. If you're lucky, the paper will now come off cleanly.
But more often than not, it will come off in stages with some parts of the paper almost falling off the wall and other parts still sticking fast.
So remove the loose paper, moisten the remaining paper again and scrape that off as it loosens. Don't be surprised if it takes several tries or you discover several layers of wallpaper.
Once your wallpaper has been removed I can repair any damaged areas that was caused by the removal process. Your walls will look like new and be ready to reapply new wallpaper or paint, the choice is yours.
Call Jim 919-542-5336 for wallpaper removal service in Durham and surrounding neighborhoods. Fast, friendly, professional contractors, excellent local references, Estimates are always free and NO JOB IS TO SMALL.
Wallpaper Removal Service Raleigh
https://plus.google.com/authorship#107450786396727255252/posts By Jimmy Holmes Call Jim 919-542-5336 for a free estimate on wallpaper removal service in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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