Wallpaper craziness

[ides]

Another question. Looks like I'm going to have to have someone come in and skim coat the walls. Sigh. The top of the wall was skim coated with texture, the bottom under the wall paper, not. So, do I still need to get every bit of paper off before I do the skim coat? I'm think yes but wanted to ask before I invested several more hours. And, should I have the whole wall skim coated or just the bottom? I wouldn't want them to look different.

[HouseofWool]

I got all of the paper off but stopped stressing about getting all of the glue off

[HouseofWool]

And yes, do the whole wall or the textures won't match.

[diggitydot]

Yes, get all the paper off, even if you'll hire someone to skim coat the walls. Adhesion is only as good as your base layer. If your base layer is paper with a water based adhesive, getting it wet with anything will cause it to loosen. Adding weight (joint compound or plaster) can cause it to pull away from the wall.

Little scraps and pieces aren't a big deal, but larger swaths will be problematic.

[ides]

Thanks!

[ides]

One of the walls is different from the others. The wallpaper is hard to get off and it seems like it goes up under the top skim coat. The others seem clear of paper above the old chair rail. Weirdness.

[Sheherezade]

We had that with one room. Seems like they skimmed over half stripped wallpaper? I sympathize but jeesh. I swear by Downey fabric softener and hot water 1:3 in a spray bottle. Spray it on heavy and leave it for 10 minutes or so then scrape with a 4 inch taping knife. At least in plaster walks, that beat any compound/ tool/ steamer we used. Messy, slippery, effective.

[diggitydot]

We had that with one room. Seems like they skimmed over half stripped wallpaper? I sympathize but jeesh. I swear by Downey fabric softener and hot water 1:3 in a spray bottle. Spray it on heavy and leave it for 10 minutes or so then scrape with a 4 inch taping knife. At least in plaster walks, that beat any compound/ tool/ steamer we used. Messy, slippery, effective.

This works well, too. The fabric softener contains surfactants that keep the wall wet longer, which helps soften the glue/sizing. You just have to make sure to score the wallpaper well if it is vinyl or vinyl-coated.

[ides]

Some of the wallpaper is painted over with bright pink and in some spots just won't come off. I can see the drywall beneath is soaked but it won't budge. Not sure what to do in that case.

[HouseofWool]

I tried fabric softener but the smell made me ill.

[Sheherezade]

It is intense "freshness". Lol

[diggitydot]

Some of the wallpaper is painted over with bright pink and in some spots just won't come off. I can see the drywall beneath is soaked but it won't budge. Not sure what to do in that case.

If that paint is an oil, the mixture isn't getting to the paste.

[Sheherezade]

There is a point where you just rip out the damn drywall and replace it. But then, DH and I are crazy.

[ides]

Yeah, I don't want to rip out the drywall. It's come off on the other walls. I was marring the wall scraping the hell out of it getting pretty much no where so I stopped. I'm going to finish the rest of the walls and maybe by then I'll give it another go.

Here is a pic. Totally made me feel like a failure.

[diggitydot]

Take a paint chip and bend it. If it cracks and breaks easily, it's an oil coating. If it bends without breaking or bends a LOT, it's a latex.