wall paper

Hi, had same problem when I moved into my home. A few questions are needed first- It is Heavy Vinyl paper- sometimes called sanitas... if not  does it seem like uncoated paper. Next, what type of walls are there.. Sheetrock, Plaster?   If you wet a small spot in the corner, does the water absorb  or just roll off.

Al Clark

Scranton, PA

Hey travera

This is Ingar from Atlanta, and it sounds like we have a job on your hands. There are a couple different avenues we can take.

If the wall paper is well attached and not peeling up or dog-eared, then what we could do is, first we need to mud the seams, let the mud dry, then sand it. Now we are going to get a good oil-based primer and put in on the entire wall. Once our primer has dried, then we will just put on your favorite color latex paint.

If the wall paper is in less than ideal condition, then we will just have to remove it. The Home Depot sells a wall paper scoring tool called the "paper tiger". Just score the wall thoroughly with paper tiger and then apply liquid wall paper remover. We have a couple different kinds. There is the M-1 wall paper remover which is very good and there is the DIF wall paper remover which comes in a gel and a liquid. For this project, I would probably use the DIF gel. After it has sat on the wall for 5 or 10 minutes use a putty knife and peel it off. Now just sand the wall smooth, wipe it clean with a damp rag, let dry, then prime and paint.

Swing by the store and let our professionals get this together for you and answer any other questions that you may have. We are so glad to have as a part of our community and welcome to the HD family.

Does the DIF remover smell. My husband is very sensitive to strong smelling products.

Before using any of the wall paper removal products, start by ripping off the first layer of paper. This should leave the glue layer on the wall. Next, use hot water. As hot as you can stand. You can add some white vinegar (some people use as much as a 50/50 mix). Roll this on the wall using your handy paint roller (never tried it, but it might be only the second reason to ever use one of those hideous yellow foam rollers :smileytongue: ). Wait about 10 minutes and go to town using a plastic scrapper. If this doesn't work, try 1 capful of unscented Downy fabric softener to a quart of water. Again, use the roller. Wait 10 minutes, etc.

Using a roller to apply your remover works better than spraying, whether it's water, fabric softener, DIF, Chomp, whatever.

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carolnieves wrote:

Does the DIF remover smell. My husband is very sensitive to strong smelling products.

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Welcome to our community carolnieves!

The blue DIF gel is an unscented enzyme based product and as such is odor free.

Some other products actually are scented.

I have an old home with lots of wallpaper, and have found that using an inexpensive steamer works very well to remove the paper.  It too is of course odor free.  If you have a lot of area to cover, this can be a good solution.

You can find a link to this Wagner Steamer here.

I hope this helps,

Newf

This is great information: I also just moved into a house with some uggggly wallpaper.  this may just get me motivated to get rid of it now!

 Is there a way to remove just the border while protecting the paint on the rest of the wall? Thanks for your help

Hello cheriheartsong, welcome to the Home Depot Community!

Neither the Dif blue gel nor a wallpaper steamer will remove the paint on your walls.  They both may appear to create streaks though as the drips flow down the wall.  These will go away when you wash the walls after you are done removing the wallpaper.

I hope this helps,

Newf

Thanks so much for your reply. I am a first time user of this forum, and had a hard time finding my post so I could get the answer. I will work on that lol. Thanks so much. I love Home Depot!