[Motowner]

Hi All,

OK, so I have done all kinds of renovation work in houses over the year with family and friends and I think I should admit to being a bit of a "perfectionist". I've helped install heated wood floors, kitchen counters from scratch, entire kitchens from the studs out and more. Still, I had NEVER removed wallpaper until I just did in my recently-purchased home. It is a 1960 Michigan brick ranch that hasn't been redecorated since maybe the Reagan Administration.

Now I know why people say they hate wallpaper...

The wallpaper was very thick with a raised, wheat-like pattern on it that was made of some rubberized stuff. I used a wallpaper scoring tool and then steamed the wallpaper off the walls. It was not difficult. It was just boring and time-consuming. I have had to remove an entire coat of flaking paint on an improperly prepped, coved ceilinged, plaster dining room with Dumond Smart Strip, and I'd almost rather do that than ever have to remove wallpaper again...


Anyway, with patience and a good steamer, the paper came off easily:

Once the paper was down, I used Piranha Wallpaper and Paste Remover to get rid of the glue residue and little flecks of backing paper left on the walls. I sponged the Glue Remover solution onto the walls in small areas and then used a green scrubby to loosen the gunk off. Once this was done and the walls didn't feel slimy anymore, I rinsed with clear hot water. This is where I have a concern.

On some of the walls, although I have done this procedure twice, I still see a pattern when looking at the right angle. It generally looks like this:

I can safely say that all these walls are completely smooth to the touch. In some areas, the wall does feel very slightly slick/sticky to the touch, and that is what worries me. Does that slickness and the pattern I'm seeing on the walls mean that I am not getting enough glue off the walls?

I just purchased Sherwin Williams Oil Based Multi Purpose Primer to prime these walls with. I am wondering if I need to clean them again with the Piranha Stripper to be sure or if I can get by with just cleaning the walls with TSP before patching and sanding all nail holes, cracks, etc. as I have always done on such re-painting jobs. I will be painting with SW Duration paint and will be applying 2 coats, of course. So, these walls will get:

1 coat Multi Purpose Oil-Based Primer
2 coats Duration Latex Paint

I just don't want to regret not getting every tiny bit of glue off these walls and screwing up my paint job. Any and all thoughts and opinions are appreciated!

Thanks!!!

 

[ltd]

with out seeing walls up close and personal i would say your ready to go .but just for the fun of it do it again to be sure :huh:.once paste is gone any ghost images will be covered up with the oil base primer stipple.on those walls i would use a purdy white dove 3/8 nap cover. it sound like you really have a good handle on what your doing and your using top products:yes: p/s if your cleaning with tsp or for that matter any cleaner make sure you rinse wit clean water ,not rinsing will leave residue leading to posable adhesion problems

 

[chrisn]

1 coat Multi Purpose Oil-Based Primer
2 coats Duration Latex Paint

I just don't want to regret not getting every tiny bit of glue off these walls and screwing up my paint job. Any and all thoughts and opinions are appreciated!

You're most likely good to go. If you are really concerned, put a coat of Gardz on first, then you will have NO problems.:no:

 

[jsheridan]

Over the years I've had a number of removal jobs where it seemed like you just couldn't get any more glue off, the last being in the last few months. I've never had any callbacks or seen any failures. I think it has to do with the sizing that was used prior to the paper hang. I agree with ltd on your handle on procedure. The one thing I always do also is give the walls a good sanding with 80 weight paper prior to prime. Sanding will scuff that sheen, smooth the walls for spackling, and it always seems to find bits of paper/glue missed in the wash/rinse. I always prime with oil, zinsser cover stain. I'm anxious to try Chrisn's suggestion of Gardz to get away from the oil personally, but in this case I wouldn't. Plaster can have a tendency to develop a yellowish/brownish discoloration/stain. Not sure if Gardz would handle that if it exists. And, I always take my primer out two to three inches on to the ceiling because when you're removing the glue, the rag can deposit glue residue on the ceiling when you're up close. Just a precaution. Good Luck.

 

[chrisn]

Paste, paste,and or adhesive, adhesive:yes:

NO GLUE!:no: :whistling2::laughing:

 

[jsheridan]

:notworthy:I stand corrected, thanks.

 

[Brushjockey]

JS- not sure what you mean by the plaster staining- There is no exposed plaster ,and even if there was- and I work on plaster all the time - I still don't know what you mean. I would use Gardz in a heartbeat on that.
I have gone both ways- oil long before Gardz was a glimmer in a chemists mind. Gardz will do this job, and you'll be ready to paint in less than an hour.
I agree with a pole sanding after cleaning.

 

[Motowner]

Ha! I called it glue as well. My father would be irritated about that. He did more than his share of wallpapering in his day, and he took more than a bit of it down as well! He'll get a kick out of this story when I share it today at Easter Dinner.

I am leaning toward the suggestion of the 80 grit sanding step. I have never done this and I really like that idea. I got lucky when I was 18 and, after high school, I worked for my school district every summer during college in the maintenance department as a roofer. Every day that it rained for three summers, I was loaned out to a painting or carpentry crew. I have always been very thankful for these experiences, as I learned so many tasks and so many pro "tricks" in those 3 summers! I also got hired by a private home builder in Ann Arbor, Michigan while away at school, and I learned a ton in those days from a third generation builder. As I said, I have been very fortunate. My wife has told me on many occasions that I should go into business for myself, actually.

The downside of all that experience is, of course, that I have painted in so many homes of friends and family since those years because people tend to call on me when they are in a jam. This time, finally, the work is for myself and my wife and I am very excited. Thus, my nervousness over paste residue. I'd rather not blow it when I am using paint that runs almost $50.00/gallon. Well, we got it at 40% off, but still...

Thanks for all the comments, and I welcome any others! Taking an Easter break form the work and will get back at it tomorrow. On to the dreaded repair of "corner cracks" in walls. Where's that drywall mesh I thought I still had?...

 

[jsheridan]

Thanks for all the comments, and I welcome any others! Taking an Easter break form the work and will get back at it tomorrow. On to the dreaded repair of "corner cracks" in walls. Where's that drywall mesh I thought I still had?...

UH-OH! Guess he didn't learn as much as he thinks he did. We'll be at it tomorrow.:laughing:

Brush, after re-reading the post I think "plaster" was used in a comparison example, maybe a mis-read on my part.
As to plaster, have you never seen the yellowish, goldish, sometimes brownish haze that sometimes develops on plaster?

 

[Brushjockey]

That haze is usually some wheat paste leftover from the old dayz. Paints sucked pre WWII so may plaster walls were originally papered, and wheat paste was the thing.
Some times ( read often) that was papered over with newer stuff.

Bare clean plaster sometimes gets a little brownish patina, sometimes it was varnished. But I have not seen actual clean plaster cause a bleeding problem. It's always something else.
Effervescence- that's another story.

 

[Motowner]

UH-OH! Guess he didn't learn as much as he thinks he did. We'll be at it tomorrow.:laughing:

I kind of mis-spoke. I mean those cracks that rise on a diagonal from the corners of windows. If you have a better method than scraping out the cracks and then using lightweight compound and tape or mesh, then I am all ears!

Thanks again to all for the help! Can't wait to get back at it tomorrow.

 

[jsheridan]

Okay Mo, I thought you were going to repair inside corners with mesh tape:no:, paper tape:yes:.
Are your walls plaster?

 

[Motowner]

No, my walls are not plaster. The plaster work I spoke of was done at my kid brother's house. He got a house on a steal because some very trashy people had abused it for 10-20 years. The house had never been re-painted and the old paint (there were only 2 coats on a 1961 house) simply seperated from the plaster. We could literally walk across the kitchen/dining room with a scraper on the ceiling - literally - and the paint would come down like snow as we went. What a mess...

 

[chrisn]

No, my walls are not plaster. The plaster work I spoke of was done at my kid brother's house. He got a house on a steal because some very trashy people had abused it for 10-20 years. The house had never been re-painted and the old paint (there were only 2 coats on a 1961 house) simply seperated from the plaster. We could literally walk across the kitchen/dining room with a scraper on the ceiling - literally - and the paint would come down like snow as we went. What a mess...

No primer

 

[chrisn]

JS- not sure what you mean by the plaster staining- There is no exposed plaster ,and even if there was- and I work on plaster all the time - I still don't know what you mean. I would use Gardz in a heartbeat on that.
I have gone both ways- oil long before Gardz was a glimmer in a chemists mind. Gardz will do this job, and you'll be ready to paint in less than an hour.
I agree with a pole sanding after cleaning.

Yes:thumbsup:

 

[chrisn]

That haze is usually some wheat paste leftover from the old dayz. Paints sucked pre WWII so may plaster walls were originally papered, and wheat paste was the thing.
Some times ( read often) that was papered over with newer stuff.

Bare clean plaster sometimes gets a little brownish patina, sometimes it was varnished. But I have not seen actual clean plaster cause a bleeding problem. It's always something else.
Effervescence- that's another story.

Yes:thumbsup: