Wallpaper Removal Choices in Kitchen

5003 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by chrisn, Dec 2, 2011

LeviDIY

Discussion Starter · May 2, 2009 (Edited)

Good afternoon... I'm about to start a light (heh... heh...

) kitchen remodel, and in thinking about the walls, I'm having an issue. I am almost finished a bathroom remodel in the same condo, and had to remove wallpaper in there, which is the same wallpaper still existing in the kitchen.

It was a horrible, horrible process to remove that stuff from the bathroom, and spent many hours sanding down the glue, only to find I was taking off the out layers of the drywall paper... after doing some research, I'm self-diagnosing the problem to be that the original builder put the glue right on the fresh drywall, with no primer... causing the two to bond.

The bathroom was a smaller surface area, and I've moved on from my initial

. As I begin to ponder the kitchen... a larger surface area covered with wallpaper... I'm left with several options.. and I'm wondering what ya'll would think is the best one:

A) Quite yer whining, Levi, and get in there and just do it (remove paper like bathroom), just be sure to use a really good primer/sealer when done before painting. My thoughts on this: time consuming, and I hate removing wallpaper.

B) Easy as pie: prime OVER existing wallpaper and paint.... (one issue here: in various fits of rage after thinking how on earth anyone could put up such ugly paper, I've ripped various non-uniform pieces off the wall at times, just leaving the glue/drywall bond stuff out in the open.. guess I could just rip the entire paper surface off - fairly easy actually - and prime that?)

C) Rip it to the studs and truley make it your own, Levi! While this is probably the way to get it down perfect how I want it, let's list off the cons: time consuming, I'm not the "best" at mudding, and I generally would prefer not to.

Thoughts? Experiences with A or B (or C)? Any discussion/feedback for me? :drink:

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wombosi

· #2 · May 3, 2009

hey there bucky,
i'm not s ure how you previously removed the paper, but if you were "sanding" it, you were going about it entirely wrong.

here's what to do:

get the "paper tiger," and gently roll over the wallpaper to scuff it up.
get stuff called "dif," and mix it up with water. get one of those garden sprayer things and go nuts on the walls, just totally saturate the hell out of them. it starts drying out, saturate again.

then you get a wallpaper razor and gently start to peel it up. if it's still real sticky, go back to the wetting process.

once most of the paper is removed, use a green scrubby pad kind of thing, along with the dif solution again, and try to get the glue off.

getting wallpaper off drywall is a huge pain, but perhaps you haven't tried the above method yet?

if the wallpaper is extremely tight and you can't see any seams or anything, you COULD prime over it, with a good oil primer, like "cover stain" or something.
in my opinion, this is no small sin for anyone to commit, but if the alternative is to gut all the walls, it'd be a close call as to which is worse.

as another alternative:
get 3/8 or even 1/4" drywall and go right over everything that's there.

good luck dude.

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chrisn

· #3 · May 3, 2009

get the "paper tiger," and gently roll over the wallpaper to scuff it up.

The key word here is GENTLY:whistling2:

LeviDIY

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 3, 2009

Thanks guys - I had used the paper tiger in the bathroom, just seemed like it took forever with that and the scrapping knife, and STILL had to heavily scrub and sand the walls to prepare for prime/paint. Guess I was hoping to not have to do that in the kitchen... putting drywall OVER the existing wall sounds good... fresh start... but the maddening wallpaper removal is replaced by maddening mudding/taping (which I am no pro at)....

I think I may bite the bullet and just scrape scrape scrape... perhaps making it into a game involving a beer every panel I remove as a reward... could make for some interesting results!

wombosi

· #5 · May 3, 2009

taping and muddy is really pretty easy when you have a good technique down.

also, depending on size of the bathroom, and how the electrical, plumbing and insulation is (or isn't), i would strongly consider gutting it, properly insulating and wiring and plumbing as needed. then just hang 1/2" rock, tape and mud 3 coats, and bing. bit of a can of worms, but worth going the distance...

final option: install wainscotting half way up the wall, and put in a NEW, really cool wallpaper above that. you'd make it into a very sweet little bathroom for sure.

LeviDIY

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 3, 2009

Schmolze... its like you KNOW what I'm doing... actually in the removal of the wallpaper there, I discovered the fireboard was molding through and generally decrepid, so I gutted to the studs in there about half the room replacing with proper CBU and moisture board.... I"m in the priming/paininting/tiling stage of the reno (hence my current frustration with my taping/mudding job... having to go back a bit and redo it)... (in my mind, ALMOST done

... the fiance's responsibility involves the "finishing touches"). I like your idea about wainscotting.. I may just look into that for the master bath remodel (which is AFTER the kitchen remodel on the check list.... oy.........

Matthewt1970

· #7 · May 3, 2009

Here is where the Zinsser 123 Primer will be your friend. Being one of the best latex primers on the market just makes it that much better, but it leaves a bit of a sheen (shine) so your imperfections will stand out and you can touch them up before your finish paint goes on.

LeviDIY

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 10, 2009

My decision

Thought you'd all want an update... bathroom took longer to finish, so now just really getting into the kitchen...

Went with Option C... decided to upgrade electrical in there and add under cabinet lighting

thumbup

, etc... best to open the walls and go!

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housepaintingny

· #9 · Aug 12, 2009 (Edited by Moderator)

In the bathroom you will have to skim coat the walls with compound as needed and fill any nicks, holes, spots of missing drywall paper and prime with an oil primer, never prime bare drywall with a waterbourne primer after you've removed the wallpaper, because any glue or residue left on the wall from the wallpaper will mix with the water in the waterbourne primer and down the road your paint will start to peel on the walls. In the kitchen pull off any loose paper first, use the tiger lightly, spray on your wall paper remover chemical liberally, wait a few minutes and scrape the paper off, repeat the process as needed, or you can just use a steamer, this is more effective and quicker.
http://www.kelloggspainting.com

housepaintingny

· #10 · Aug 12, 2009

Never use waterbourne primer on drywall after you've removed the wallpaper. If water and other chemicals remove and soften wallpaper glue, then what do you think will happen when using a primer with water in it to any remaining glue or glue residue on the wall? It will cause your new paint job to adventually peel down the road. There's a wallpaper remover called safe and simple, that's what we use along with a steamer, It works well, its green, and its all natural.

diy'er on LI

· #11 · Aug 14, 2009

good! you chose C...

I had a similar experience years ago (in a fairly large eat in kitchen with adjoining laundry room

), and if I could redo it, I would have gone C all the way... reasons why?

1) paper tiger... as another poster said, you must go gently... yeah, after a few days, you get impatient and nicks and dings increase in frequency. end result, I had to do a ton of spackling anyway! Might as well have mudded the walls...

2) the wall paper definitely was stuck on for good. Had to remove the upper vinyl layer, then return with more remover to get at the paper backing. Lots of scraping...

3) as mentioned earlier, have to use potent primer after wetting the walls down like that. Man that stuff stank... bleh.

Hope your walls are looking all shiny and new

jaysmith

· #12 · Dec 1, 2011

Using a wall paper in kitchen is not worth it. I think it can bereplaced using the tiles. The vitrified tiles are available in variety of designs and colors. The can be easily placed over the cemented wall and are easy to maintain.
________________________________________________
For more info. visit: Renovation company in Connecticut | Connecticut renovation company

chrisn

· #13 · Dec 1, 2011

jaysmith said:
Using a wall paper in kitchen is not worth it. I think it can bereplaced using the tiles. The vitrified tiles are available in variety of designs and colors. The can be easily placed over the cemented wall and are easy to maintain.
________________________________________________
For more info. visit: Renovation company in Connecticut | Connecticut renovation company

4 months old, probably done by now:laughing:

jschaben

· #14 · Dec 2, 2011

chrisn said:
4 months old, probably done by now:laughing:

Hmmm, my calander says 28 monthes:huh:

chrisn

· #15 · Dec 2, 2011

See? That college education paid off:smartass:

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