removing bathroom wallpaper

[ChadTower]

I need to redo my bathroom... this weekend, taking down the existing wallpaper, hitting the room with an antimicrobe mist since we get mold in there, and painting with a good bathroom paint.  The only thing I'm not sure on is removing this particular wallpaper.  It's a "waterproof" type almost like vinyl.  I assume the usual method of spraying with a solution to soak through to the glue won't work here.  Anyone have a better method aside from maybe steam?

[shardian]

You can get a wallpaper steamer. i picked up one at a rummage sale one time since it was only $1. I used that thing when I redid a bedroom in my house. There simply is no substitute for a good wallpaper steamer. It worked awesome.

As to paint, Semigloss is more than adequate in a bathroom.

[ChadTower]

Every web tutorial I'm reading says to use steam as a last resort if the paper is over drywall.  Does your house have drywall or plaster?

The one thing working in my favor here is that it's not all that much wallpaper.

[whammoed]

Have you tried just peeling it off as-is yet?  Sometimes you get lucky and it just comes off.
They make wallpaper scorers also...little doodads that poke holes all over the wallpaper to let the remover solution get to the glue.
I hate wallpaper.

[shardian]

Every web tutorial I'm reading says to use steam as a last resort if the paper is over drywall.  Does your house have drywall or plaster?

The one thing working in my favor here is that it's not all that much wallpaper.

Never in my life have I seen wallpaper applied directly to unfinished drywall. Peel up a section and see what is underneath. If there is paint, then steam won't hurt a thing.

[ChadTower]

Have you tried just peeling it off as-is yet?  Sometimes you get lucky and it just comes off.
They make wallpaper scorers also...little doodads that poke holes all over the wallpaper to let the remover solution get to the glue.
I hate wallpaper.

I haven't tried yet, so that is the hope, but I figure it won't be the case.  Nothing ever works out to the easiest case scenario.

This is a good article on it. 

shardian, you're probably right.  A lot of this stuff was done by the previous owner, though, and not always in the most thorough manner.  Nice guy, but some of his work is proving very difficult to work with now.  I don't want to say anything more about him since he has passed on.

[shardian]

At least you don't have painted over wallpaper. I had painted over cailing border. Man, that was TOUGH to remove.

Another doozy I had in my house was someone painted over a wall that had previously been wallpapered...the problem was the wall was still covered with glue residue and small bits of wallpaper.

I had to cover the whole wall in spackle and sand down. My poor quarter sheet sander bit the dust on that project.

[ChadTower]

Heh.  I would have busted out the belt sander before I tried that with a finish sander.  That must have taken a week.

[shardian]

Heh.  I would have busted out the belt sander before I tried that with a finish sander.  That must have taken a week.

Not that long. The little guy gave his life in a valiant fashion.
The people who "fixed up" my house at one point were real idiots. There are nail patches all over the place that weren't even sanded down before painting. It looks just awful. In the hallway upstairs (an area I haven't painted yet), there is not only painted over wallpaper border, but also countless painted over "flecks" of crap from what I can only guess is from texturing the ceiling.  Did I mention all of this is done with semi-gloss. Semi-gloss pretty much makes it impossible to sand down. You have to either dig it out, or smooth it over. I did have some luck downstairs using a chisel to get rid of some of the bad spots. That is why it takes so damn long to renovate rooms in my house - I spend countless hours fixing "fixes".

[Level42]

Is it true that in the US not many bathrooms are tiled ?
Overhere, almost all of them are...

[ChadTower]

Is it true that in the US not many bathrooms are tiled ?
Overhere, almost all of them are...

Most of my bathroom is tiled... the floor, the whole walls in the shower, and the walls up to about 4' high elsewhere.  Above that is either cabinets or wallpaper.  Lots of bathrooms here are only tiled to a certain height outside of the shower or are totally untiled outside of the shower.

[whammoed]

Is it true that in the US not many bathrooms are tiled ?
Overhere, almost all of them are...

Many are tiled, some are linoluem, some are laminate, etc.  I've even seen some with carpet! Gasp!

(speaking only of the floor here)

[shardian]

Tiling is very expensive, plastic shower surround and a gallon of semi-gloss is not. That pretty much sums up the bathroom choice in the U.S.

I tiled my bathroom floor, and all walls approx. 4' up. I spent about $1000 on tile and supplies for a 5'x10' bathroom. The single white wall tiles weren't too bad, but the 4" decorative tiles were $5 each!

A plastic shower surround and a gallon of paint would have set me back about $120.

[whammoed]

Is it true that in the US not many bathrooms are tiled ?
Overhere, almost all of them are...

Many are tiled, some are linoluem, some are laminate, etc.  I've even seen some with carpet! Gasp!

(speaking only of the floor here ^^^)

As far as walls go, I would say most home bathrooms I've seen are not tiled.

[Level42]

That's what I noticed when we were over last time. I also remember my uncle and aunt had one of those baths that also have a backwall etc. integrated. You don't see those here.

Indeed, my house would have also been tiled until a certain height normally. Above that it would be "spray" stuff, don't know the word, sort of chalk like stuff, speckle like. I payed a bit extra to get tiles up to the ceiling. It's not expensive tiles though, pretty simple. When you build 100 houses at one time, the tiles get pretty cheap

[ChadTower]

I did a little pulling on the paper tonight... it is coming right off dry pretty nicely.  There is still a good amount of glue under it to deal with but I read you can get that off with a vinegar solution.  So this may not actually be too bad.

[lanman31337]

I'm the king of removing wallpaper.  If it's vinyl wallpaper, it should rip off real easy.  If it's paper wallpaper, they make this tool that has teeth in it that scores the paper.  Either use a vinegar/water solution, or get this stuff from ziffer that removes the glue.

[Samstag]

I'm in the process of refinishing a bathroom right now.

We peeled the paper off and it was no problem.  It came off fairly easily.  Unfortunately we apparently have some kind of "waterproof" drywall and it was compromised by the removal so it started picking up moisture and softening at the surface.  Someone recommended I prime with "Bin" primer.  Its expensive and STINKY but it really did the trick.  If you use it get the exhaust fan going and take frequent breaks.

And don't forget to buy some ammonia because you'll need it for cleanup.  I was told to use disposable brushes and I definitely agree with that.  Anything you can throw away is less time in cleanup.  Although after painting in a small room with the primer, the ammonia smelled like sweet roses to me.

[ChadTower]

Never in my life have I seen wallpaper applied directly to unfinished drywall. Peel up a section and see what is underneath. If there is paint, then steam won't hurt a thing.

It's blue underneath.  Clearly some kind of paint.  Hard to tell the finish with all the glue still on it.  Won't need steam, though, unless the glue won't come off with vinegar or fabric softener.

[shmokes]

  I don't want to say anything more about him since he has passed on.

Heh . . . it's hard to tell whether this is respect or fear.   

[ChadTower]

Heh . . . it's hard to tell whether this is respect or fear.   

I don't like to speak ill of the dead.  Once they're gone, they're gone.  That's something my grandparents taught me.  Besides he seemed like a nice enough guy in the couple of times I met him.

Ironically, the blue that is under the glue, is almost the same color my wife chose me to paint it.

[ChadTower]

That wasn't so bad... 90 minutes to get the paper down, another couple hours to scrape off the glue.  It wasn't much paper, though.  I definitely see why they put up paper.  I'm going to have to do some filling before I paint.  It will look like ass if I don't.

[lanman31337]

Joint compound works fantastic.  I had three different types of walls in the bathroom, put some of that over it, and then hit it up with a paintbrush to give it some swirls and texture.

[leapinlew]

I've taken down so much wallpaper I think I'm an expert... I've found a few ways to do this. Use the easiest method and work your way to the more difficult method:

Easiest
Pull up corners of wallpaper and if the wall was prepped properly, it just needs a good cleaning.

Moderate
Pull up corners of wallpaper which will peel off leaving the backing stuck to the wall. Use DIF concentrate wallpaper remover and warm water. Apply generously with a large nap paint roller - assuming you have a large section to do. If you only have a small section such as a border, use some sort of mister. Every few minutes see if it will scrape off with a large scraper (12" or bigger). it should lift off easily in large sheets without much scraping required. The key here is to allow the DIF to do it's work.

Difficult
If the corners of the wallpaper will not lift, try scoring it with a wallpaper scorer. It creates small perforations in the wallpaper to allow the DIF to soak through. This method could take many many passes with the solution. One room took over an hour and 6 passes with the solution to cleanly lift from the walls.

Most Difficult
Sometimes the wallpaper just will not lift without ripping the drywall. This can be because of some sort of super glue, or because it was applied directly to drywall before(I have seen it Sharidan). In these cases I've resorted to 3 different options. I've re-drywalled over the existing drywall (you can purchase 1/4" thick drywall), skim coated over the drywall with dryall mud, and I've  had to gut all the drywall and put in new drywall.

Pick your poison. One of those methods will surely work for you. I highly recommend the DIF solution. You can use your own acidic solution, but I've found the DIF works the best. I apply it like I'm painting to make sure the walls get a good wet coat.

Either way - once the wallpaper is down - you need to prep the walls. Spend some time getting them smooth and getting all the glue and solution off the walls.

[ChadTower]

I ended up using 25% vinegar in water with a spray bottle on the glue... paper pulled up in large pieces if I was very careful and did it slowly.  The glue took much longer than the paper to get up.

Of course, now my wife has decided the medicine cabinet has to go, yet doesn't seem motivated enough to help me find a suitable replacement.     Partially recessed, needs to have a light and outlet, opening is roughly 26"w x 23"h.    Hopefully I can learn how to wire in a GFCI outlet properly as this was supposed to be a cheap project.