CanDoGal

The title of this post will probably attract spam comments that would make Hugh Hefner blush, but I can’t help myself. I did do some stripping.

Wallpaper. I’m talking wallpaper. While helplessly and impatiently waiting to coordinate the plumber’s rotten schedule with mine, I decided that twiddling my thumbs wasn’t a good use of time.

On one of our many recent snow days, I attacked those pink birds like I had a score to settle. Pink birds floating through the pink clouds. Some kind of bubble-gum nightmare, me thinks.

As per usual, I’ve never torn down wall-paper before, so I consulted the all-knowing google. It led me to:

THIS VIDEO

Man I love it when info is spoon-fed to me.

Firstly, I got the wallplates off. Someone actually took the time to wrap them in this wallpaper. And, wow, they even matched the pattern for perfect seamlessness.

Oh, and the heating grills.

Then I twirled around like a paper ripping lunatic. Since the “paper” was more vinyl than paper, the top layer came off in big, happy sheets.

Holey! Where’d THAT come from?

This came down in a jiffy, maybe an hour.

Too bad the backing didn’t come off with it. This called for some garden sprayer spraying. But first I spread out the tarp to catch the water that might otherwise damage the floor.

And tape off the outlets so water doesn’t drip in. All part of my “avoiding death” plan.

The back and forth spraying action makes me I feel like I’m spraying for bugs. Kind of fun, actually. After a minute of waiting, the paper should be well saturated.

Then comes the eyeballs-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head tedious labor.

Scrape.

Scrape some more. It worked with just water. No chemical aids necessary in this case.

I try to ignore the ironic fact that the lavender paint and spackled patches underneath look a lot like the wallpaper I just pulled off.

Better put on some music. This is gonna take a while. At least it’s working.

Six hours, 3 garbage bags, and one cramped claw-hand later, I’ve got this.

Glad that’s done, even though the room looks like it came down with chicken pox. Now what color paint says “exercise”?

Here’s all the stuff I got to do the project, in case you want to do it, too. Did I end up needing it all? Nope. But I was boy scout-level prepared.

1. Garden Sprayer — well worth it. Made the soaking of the paper go much faster.

2. PaperTiger Scoring Tool — I really wanted to avoid using this. One of our bathrooms has wall pocks all over it, and it’s obvious someone was once over-zealous with one of these. In the end, I didn’t need it and it went back. Of course, it depends on how stubborn your wallpaper is.

3. Plastic Drop Cloths, 9′ x 12′ — good for catching water and chemical drippings.

4. Protective Goggles — Why did I think I needed these? Really unnecessary for this project, but I kept them for the tile chipping.

5. Rubber Gloves — Essential. I don’t know about you, but the sensation of being sticky makes me want to dip myself in acetone. And this soaked-up wallpaper goo could catch flies.

6. Blue Tape — Needed to tape off the outlets, so water doesn’t seep in there.

7. Particle Mask — Talk about overkill in this case. Since I only used water to soak the paper, these were extraneous, but if you use the chemical stuff, these may help save some brain cells.

8. Wall Metal Scraper — I used what appears to be a 6″ taping knife. It worked wonders, and I’m glad I got the metal one, and not the plastic one, because I can tell the plastic one wouldn’t have been up for the job.

9. Dif Wallpaper Stripper Gel — The hardware store guy recommended this one, and I would have used it if I had to, but luckily, the wallpaper came off with just water and I took it back.

The whole undertaking cost me about 50 bucks and about 9 hours spread over two days. And since it’s the only wallpapered room in the house, I can bid this project adieu.

Tags: how-to, remove wallpaper