Stripping vinyl wallpaper - in praise of Citri Strip and time

[newbury]

I've got a lot of vinyl wallpaper/shelf paper border to strip. The thick stuff with strong adhesive. I tried scraping it off. I tried using a heat gun and scraping it off. VERY slow progress.

If you've ever had to take off shelf paper you'd know my problem. Often you end up pulling the top layer of drywall off requiring lots of skim coating or tearing the drywall out and replacing it. I have done two rooms at another house where the prior owner did all the walls in shelf paper and I ended up replacing a LOT of drywall. I tried detergent and other solutions to soften the glue but I always ended up ripping off drywall paper.

I bought some Citri strip and soaked it for a couple of hours. Slightly better but still slow, plus I'm working on a ladder with arms extended. I used the heat gun to remove the top vinyl layer and soaked the remaining paper with Citristrip and left it over night. Then used the heat gun and scraper. It's now coming off slowly, like pushing the scraper thru thick semihardened glue. BUT NO TEARING OF THE DRYWALL!!

I think I've got the process down now. Heat with gun, strip top vinyl layer, soak paper for at LEAST 8 hours, scrape using heat gun.

I hate vinyl wallpaper and shelf paper.

 

[ray66v]

Not entirely sure what they may have used for adhesive. Anyone who would use shelf paper on walls, is capable of anything.

I have taken down a lot of wallpaper professionally, much of it for people who found it impossible to remove.

Glad you found something that works. You may be more concerned about not damaging the walls, than you are about getting the job done. So, you would rather avoid the wall repairs at all cost. Which is understandable for most people. A little damage, or wall repair, is inevitable, most of the time. And, since those repairs are no big deal for me, I would rather get it done quickly.

After removing what vinyl will pull off on it's own, I use a paper tiger scoring tool on the rest, Zinsser Single Head PaperTiger Scoring Tool-2966 at The Home Depot, (available everywhere), Then, I spray it all down with Dif, DIF Fast-Acting Liquid Ready-to-Use Wallpaper Stripper - 1 gal. at Menards, (available everywhere), in a pump sprayer, with very hot water. I then go at the remaining vinyl with my wallpaper steamer. (You can rent a steamer, at most rental stores).

The paper backing should soften from the hot water and the Dif, and come off fairly easily. But, you can use the steamer on it if necessary.

To remove the excess glue that's left after the paper is down, the best thing I have found is, hot water until it's soft, followed by very careful use of a scraper. Most people go wrong here. If you can't do it without tearing into the paper, STOP!! Zinsser, (the company that makes the paper tiger), also makes a scraper that is mostly fool proof for this job: Zinsser 2986 PaperScraper Wallpaper Remover and Wall Scraper Tool - Amazon.com, (also available everywhere).

If you have any torn drywall paper, I suggest you take a roller and apply a good coat heavy of this product in those areas, after everything dries, and you have removed any loose drywall paper: Roman Rx-35 PRO-999 1-gal. Drywall Repair and Sealer Primer-209907 at The Home Depot, (Sherwin Williams also sells it). You can also use oil based Kilz primer, if you don't mind the smell. The water based kilz does not work.

Once the R35 dries, you can mud over any torn paper areas, without having issues with the mud causing more of the paper to bubble up on you.

 

[Oaktree]

Just went thru that myself. 7 layers of wallpaper with a couple layers of paint thrown in. Drywall had not been primed first. I used a mix of warm water & vinegar in a spray bottle, a scoring tool and a lot of elbow grease. Didn't gouge the wall too badly...skim-coated it anyway since we were going to paint the walls. Kind of wanted to paper the room again, but then we priced wallpaper...Yikes!! :fiery:

I didn't have any problems with water-based Kilz as primer in this or any of the other rooms I've gone thru this routine with.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
I have taken down a lot of wallpaper professionally, much of it for people who found it impossible to remove.

Glad you found something that works. You may be more concerned about not damaging the walls, than you are about getting the job done. So, you would rather avoid the wall repairs at all cost. Which is understandable for most people. A little damage, or wall repair, is inevitable, most of the time. And, since those repairs are no big deal for me, I would rather get it done quickly. <snip>

I'm very concerned about getting the job DONE but time is not of the essence.
Speed is of little concern. I'm retired and the walls are in my own houses (I've still a kitchen to redo in Virginia that was "shelf papered"). So I don't mind spreading the stripper on and letting it work slowly while I go do something else, then come back and scrape the next day. If I was doing it as a job time would be money.

Thanks for the hints on repair.

 

[ray66v]

I didn't have any problems with water-based Kilz as primer in this or any of the other rooms I've gone thru this routine with.

I will clarify, that depending on conditions, you can get away with a water based product. Other times, it won't work. If it's not a sure thing, as far as I am concerned it doesn't work. And, I don't use it.

They manufacture, and sell products like R35, mostly for professional use. We understand the need, from experience.

 

[bucktaker]

we have found fabric softner (downey) and water in a spray works well for removing wall paper

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

"AWESOME" from dollar store. Spray on wait five minutes, scrap off with wooden paint stirring stick. Works very well for me

 

[MNBobcat]

I'm going to make your day! We bought a huge house that was all wallpaper everywhere. We stripped wallpaper for two months. We tried everything... scoring with a paper tiger, all different kinds of wall paper removing chemicals...anything and everything. Nothing worked. It was miserable. Then I came across a post on the Internet that recommended a product called "safe and simple". I just checked and it looks like the web site url is safeandsimple.com. Miserable looking web site, for sure.

Anyway, we bought a gallon of this stuff. Its a concentrate that you mix with water. We sprayed it on the walls with a deck sprayer. For the non-vinyl stuff it would allow the wallpaper to come off in full sheets. For the vinyl, you had to score it with the paper tiger so that it could penetrate but this stuff would get behind the wallpaper and cause it to bubble and we were able to get the vinyl off in nearly full sheets whereas using any other kind of product it came off in little tiny pieces. None of the walls were sized before the wallpaper had been applied.

If you've ever taken any advice from someone on the internet, this is one time I'd recommend taking it to heart and giving this stuff a try. I don't know why it worked so much better than everything else but I was so thankful it did. Good luck!

 

[mfreund]

We rented a steamer and then purchased our own. IMHO the only way to go. It is not fast but even the glue comes off. We would then rinse the wall with water and paint.