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Removing wallpaper from old plasterboard help

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  • 09-09-2008 9:32am
    #1
    PalerPaul
    Registered Users Posts: 47 ✭


    Hi,

    We’re in the process of removing old wallpaper from the walls in our bedroom. The apartment is about 25 years old and the wallpaper is original (wood chip I think). We’re hoping to get it off and paint the walls white after. We know we’ll need some prep work to sort out any holes etc. On the weekend, we managed to pull off all the top layer with the paint without using any moisture. However, the centre of the boards where there wasn’t any sealant I think, the back of the paper remained stuck to the plasterboard directly. It’s fairly thin but when we apply any kind of moisture, it takes the top layer of paper from the plasterboard too. We tried using wall paper remover and left it for 30 minutes. We’ve also just tried spraying a small section, and leaving it for a few seconds but both seem to take it off too. The wallpaper comes off really easily with both but in places it’s taking the plasterboard. I’ve uploaded some pictures of this as it’s hard to describe wallpaper and plasterboard.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulf2008/2839857835/ - This is the paper left behind after taking the top wallpaper off.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulf2008/2839834943/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulf2008/2840656144/ - Both of these are showing what’s left after removing this paper. They’re showing about 1 foot of wall.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulf2008/2840681840/ - This is showing about 6 foot of wall.

    There’s about 6 of these sections and I’ve only tried the one above. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to get this off better? I’m going to try a steamer on the weekend but can’t imagine that would make a difference. I’m waiting for the bits we’ve done to dry out and try to sand them down to see if it all smoothes out. Does anyone have any ideas as any help really appreciated!!

    Paul


Comments

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    #2
    wideband
    Registered Users Posts: 315 ✭✭wideband


    Your experience is similar to mine actually. Few years ago I removed the wall paper from my whole house. Where we had plaster board backing it was a total pain.

    In summary, we applied a small amount of water with a spong and left for about 5mins to soak in and the used a steamer with a decent scraper. This still took some of the paper from the plasterboard. However, we ended up skimming the whole rooms as we felt the paint finish would not be satisfactory, but this is down to personal choice I guess. The only other option for us would have been the re-wall paper, but we are happy with the final choice of skimming tba. Cost us about €250 per room including materials.

    hope this helps.


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