# World's worst wallpaper removal job, ever.



## ProWallGuy

I had the toughest removal job recently. Old flock, painted over, then mudded/textured over, then painted again. It needed to come down.


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## ProWallGuy

I took a utility knife, and dug a criss-cross pattern onto the wall. This took surprisingly little time to do.


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## ProWallGuy

Soaked the 5hit out of the walls. Seriously, probably dumped about 15 gallons on 700 sf of wall space. Then stuck a piece of plastic over it to marinate over lunch break.


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## ProWallGuy

Peeled the plastic back, and hit it with a 6" broad knife. Stuff almost feel off the walls. Don't hate the player, hate the game.


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## RH

Good job dude! Hope you charged a premium since a less brilliant painter would have taken 2 days to do that with a paper tiger :thumbup:


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## daArch

Tim,

did you even TRY sanding it. Was there a reason you HAD to score it?


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## ProWallGuy

daArch said:


> Tim,
> 
> did you even TRY sanding it. Was there a reason you HAD to score it?


The heavy texture wouldn't allow a tiger to even begin to go through it, and using a sander was an exercise in futility. The texture was about 1/8" thick, and I really didn't want to sand down through all that mud/paint to hit paper.
And yes, I tried 36 grit on an orbital. It made a hella dusty mess.


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## daArch

ProWallGuy said:


> The heavy texture wouldn't allow a tiger to even begin to go through it, and using a sander was an exercise in futility. The texture was about 1/8" thick, and I really didn't want to sand down through all that mud/paint to hit paper.
> And yes, I tried 36 grit on an orbital. It made a hella dusty mess.


what a bitch. Some days the wall eats you.


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## ProWallGuy

daArch said:


> what a bitch. Some days the wall eats you.


Not today. :no:
But I did earn my money on that job.


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## daArch

BTW, how many man hours ?


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## TJ Paint

Great thread man, thanks for sharing.

You kicked that walls azz man. :thumbsup:


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## ProWallGuy

daArch said:


> BTW, how many man hours ?


9 total.


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## Lambrecht

That's the difference between a pro and a hack. Great job. A hack would have taken 2 days and destroyed the wall.


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## daArch

ProWallGuy said:


> 9 total.


not bad at all for 700 sq ft. I would have guessed about 11 from entering to exiting


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## Wolfgang

I like the idea with the plastic.:notworthy: One of those things I doubt I would have thought of. (Who am I fooling? Wouldn't have thought about using plastic like that at all.:no

Hopefully, some others will see this and use it.


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## straight_lines

Last bad one I did was allowed to soak overnight, but still pulled the drywall paper with it. Hindsight I could have skimmed and painted over it. It had become one with the dwb.


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## daArch

Wolf & S.L.,

This has been discussed a few times (not blaming you for not remembering, who of us can remember all the tips we read here)

It is very useful when attempting to strip paper off a liner or off raw rock. But when stripping off liner or raw rock instead of spraying a stripping solution, roll on a paste with a very long "open time". The best for that is Roman 880 (Ultra
Premium Clear Strippable PRO-880). After a number of hours it has been shown to *loosen* the paste and make that top layer strippable with out over wetting what's under it - be it liner or the facing of the raw rock. 

It's not guaranteed to work every time because the hanger may have used some god awful paste or concoction that won't rewet. 

I like to mist the wall first, let it soak in, then roll a healthy amount of undiluted 880, cover with plastic. I'll test it in a few hours and if it looks like it needs it, remoe the plastic and apply another coat and recover. 

time consuming, yes. But the alternative of removing the liner or destroying the raw rock would consume more time in the long run.


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## Paint and Hammer

Nice documentation PWG....thanks.


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## straight_lines

Thanks Bill, I somehow have missed that tip and will have to find some for the next one. SW/Duron maybe? 

Edit yep. 

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/pro/products/ultra_premium_clear_strippable_adhesive_pro880/


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## TERRY365PAINTER

daArch so will any wallpaper paste work ? For that type of procedure . Raw rock etc


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## daArch

No, not any. 

And I am sure 880 is not the only. We like 880 because it has the longest open time. I would think clay would not work. PWG thinks that 234 has long open time, but I think it might have to many solids. 

I do know that some use cellulose mixed with 880. Giving lots of moisture and long open time.

Lots of theories, lots of conjecture.


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## TERRY365PAINTER

Just bought some 234 not roman brand 
But not clay based-either . Says long open time 
My save and simple is taking to long to get 
Here . Hope this works thanks


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## TERRY365PAINTER

Well I tried the 234 , wall paper paste . 
Scored with 40 grit sand paper on a festool . Rolled on the paste . Now this was wpaper on raw rock with a border . 
Covered with plastic . Waited 20 min then tried removing . I guess I came off better after leaving on for awhile . The border No way . Uses my Wagner steamer for that ! That was better . But still was slow . Sanding and priming next . Some still didn't come off little pieces here And there 
I guess cover stain quick float and knock down texture . What your thoughts on primer guards ? With paint or just straight guards . Cover stain has always been my go too. It still seem to take to long 7 hrs to remove less than 300 sq feet . I feel the finish wood of been better if I would have just prime the w/paper , and floated out the seems . A lot less skim floating anyway


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## Wolfgang

Wow. I got lucky on my wp removal job. Paper came off easy, too bad the drywall underneath was never finished properly. Had to do a heavy skim on both baths along with some retaping of joints. Kitchen walls were much better underneath the paper.

Never been a fan of skimming over wallcoverings even though the very few I've done have held up amazingly well. Just hope you bid it right.


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## TERRY365PAINTER

Wolfgang said:


> Wow. I got lucky on my wp removal job. Paper came off easy, too bad the drywall underneath was never finished properly. Had to do a heavy skim on both baths along with some retaping of joints. Kitchen walls were much better underneath the paper.
> 
> Never been a fan of skimming over wallcoverings even though the very few I've done have held up amazingly well. Just hope you bid it right.


Well with texture and skim float , the skim wasn't to bad missed a few spots I think total was around 16 hrs . I think 750 was to low but got a 5 star review from yelp . 
I think going with the paste you got to leave it on there longer than I did . Cuz the sections that I did came off better and didn't mess up the sheet rock . Also putting a knock down texture help too . 
Now I have a full gallon of safe and simple 
😃


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## TERRY365PAINTER

My thoughts if guards dried faster I would have went that route . Next time for sure 
Thanks paint talk


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## ProWallGuy

IMO Gardz dries faster than any other primer I've used, except for BIN.


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## TERRY365PAINTER

I just have to used it . I have a gallon of it . 
Has anybody used for patching prior to texture ? Not that I always prime before texture But . Big patches I do ceilings and walls . I basically just use a flat though .


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## mudbone

May these photos teach others a lesson who says its ok to mud and paint over the wallpaper.What a mess!Makes it worse on the next guy and is totally uncalled for.To make things worse it was probably done by a so called pro.The word professional is used loosely today.Anybody can paint regardless of the outcome.


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## goldenwest

thanks to everyone. I think I learned more about wallpaper removal here than I have in 30 years of work. I'm kicking myself now over some of those horrible jobs in my past!


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## spraytip

Thanks PWG for posting the info about the plastic.....I'd used the technique before, but this time I pole sanded the paper with 50grit...soaked it and then applied plastic.....UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!......thanks again for helping me remember just why I love this sight...Paint Talk ROCKS!


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## cdaniels

I will try the plastic Thanks brother


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## Roof Cleaning

Thank you for this thread.

We are just getting done with an exterior job and the owner hired us to paint the interior. 

The kitchen has a small amount of wallpaper over the cabinets. While they are wrapping up the exterior I came home to research painttalk and scored!

Looks like palmolive/water in a hand sprayer after some sanding is the way to go. Pull it off with a scraper than clean the glue and prime?

The paper looks like I could almost pull it off....but like it was mentioned earlier in the thread I want to be fast and efficient.


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## CJ-Newfield

ProWallGuy said:


> I had the toughest removal job recently. Old flock, painted over, then mudded/textured over, then painted again. It needed to come down.


God bless you on this one... I would have passed on a [email protected] like this.
Or, skimmed coated.

I just passed on two layers of painted over paper, on bare drywall. 

The HO was dead set on having the paper removed. I walked!


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