Easily Remove Wallpaper

STRIPPING OFF THAT OLD WALLPAPER Or (Why did I ever put that up?) Most homes built in the 80's and 90's have wallpaper in them somewhere. I know because I installed a lot of it in Northwest Arkansas during those years. But, like the hairdos of the 60's, we are ready to put that behind us. So, how do you remove this, this, this wall art thingy?
To start with be assured that what went up can come down. Some of it is just a bit more difficult. Do yourself a favor and go to Lowe's or Home Depot and buy a wallpaper steamer. About $50.00 to $75.00. This is secret sauce, the Genie in the Bottle, the magic wand. With this tool most wallpaper will submit and turn loose the death grip it has on the walls.
The reason most wallpaper will not strip easily is that nobody wanted to use a primer on the sheet rock before hanging the wallpaper. And some even thought that if they used a wall size that would do the trick. Well guess what, it did the trick alright. Wall size just made it stick even more. So, get you a steamer and a scraper ( 6" is a good size and metal not plastic.) Sometimes when you steam it will peel off of the wall. Sometimes the front will peel off and then you can soak down the backing with a pump up sprayer and pull or scrape the backing off. Take you time and try not to gouge the wall too much. Each time you gouge you have to fix it. More work. Use a wallpaper stripper solution in the sprayer. NOT VINEGAR, NOT SOAP! You can buy wallpaper stripper in a concentrate. Use it. It was created for just such an occasion. Sometimes though rarely wallpaper just will not strip off. In such an instance you will be better served by skimming over the top of the wallpaper particularly at the seams to make it smooth. This is because if you just paint over the wallpaper you will see the seams they will just be a different color.  After you have stripped the wallpaper or skimmed over it you will need to texture the walls. This will produce a look that we all desire on our walls. All walls are textured. Just look is some houses and you will see. I will address the process of textures in my Popcorn ceiling scraping article. Please read that for further information about how to texture. Once this is done a good coat of primer and 2 coats of paint and your are done. It is hard work. But the result is a room or home that is up to date with the finish on the walls. Some wallpaper is coming back in style but it is expensive and the more expensive the paper the more expensive the installation. The sad truth is that as a wallpaper installer there is no way I am going to install $100.00 a single roll wallpaper for $20.00 bucks. I do not think that wallpaper will ever come back into style or be as popular as it was. I know, bell bottom pants are back and those colors of the 60's are in. But wallpaper has received the death stroke in my humble opinion. And painted walls are much easier to change than wallpaper. There are some borders with themes on them for kids rooms and that has a following. No one carry's wallpaper in stock much. That's a clue. Well on with the subject at hand. Make this a family project and get as much help as you can. Most rooms can be stripped, textured, primed and painted in 3 to 4 days by the DIY's. Professionals are much faster. So you might consider how much is your time worth. Try not to stress out but just work at a steady pace. No paper tigers!! It is a tool that is on the market that claims to assist in stripping wallpaper. All it does is damage your walls. Save you money. Use the steps and tools I have mentioned and you will get the result you want. Happy Painting to all Ken