How To Remove Really Old Wallpaper

Part I – The Removal

This weblog is about removing old wallpaper from a 125 year former business firm. The main hallway, stairway & landing, were covered with that former wallpaper. It was a difficult decision for the homeowners to decide whether to remove the wallpaper from the erstwhile plastered walls, or simply put in new drywall and merely pigment the firm . They really wanted to maintain the integrity of this old home, but were told past many that removing the wallpaper was non a good idea, and an impossible task. No-ane they contacted wanted to make whatever attempt to take on this project….and then they found us and we were upward to the challenge! Ecopainting has a lot of feel in wallpaper removal in Toronto , GTA as well.
Information technology seems foreign to us that and then many people, contractors included, are merely not interested in wallpaper removal. Conspicuously, that is not the case with united states of america….nosotros love it!

So we are in, permit'southward get started!

The height layer, for the most part, came off rather well. As the wallpaper was very old, it had become quite hard and brittle. We had fun, seeing who could pull the biggest piece, at the same time being careful not to pull the plaster with it. Once the peak layer was off, we were left with the fine white newspaper bankroll. We rolled on our special removal solution, permit it sit for ten minutes and removed information technology with ease. Some areas caught the states by surprise, as there were overlapping layers of plaster, pigment and fifty-fifty older wallpaper . Removing this new layer of thin wallpaper proved impossible, it did not desire to budge. Nosotros decided to prime number the otherwise audio surfaces with oil primer and see what happens.

Very old wallpaper getting removed

Some of the remaining wallpaper stayed intact and some started separating from the wall. Nosotros cut out all the loose pieces of wallpaper and any loose plaster and primed again. The wallpaper removal part of the task was a qualified success, what were all these people afraid of?
At present let's get on with preparing and restoring the walls for a few coats of paint.

One-time Wallpaper Removal – Part 2 the Wall Repairs

So the wallpaper is off and the walls looked like a huge mess! There was then much damage, it was difficult to encounter fifty-fifty one square human foot of polish surface! We were almost convinced that it was the wallpaper that was holding the house together. The first thing the painters needed to practise was seal all the walls with a very adept primer. There are usually two choices for this type of surface. Zinsser Gardz is an acrylic clear primer that works well to isolate the walls from the new paint. The other solution was the tried and true oil primer. Nosotros don't usually choose the oil primer considering of information technology's college VOC and strong odour. In this instance we decided to use the oil primer because it works very well in such wallpaper removal situations in the by.

We primed the surfaces carefully, making sure to not push button very difficult. We didn't want to create any more harm (and piece of work) to the delicate substrate. We also avoided leaving too much roller texture and orange skin and requite ourselves a practiced offset for later.

Before even starting this wallpaper removal projection, the homeowners asked us clearly if we were up for this type of a challenge. Were nosotros prepared for all possibilities of repair nether the wallpaper ? Existence honest with the customer, nosotros said that despite our experience there are always surprises with every type of paper stripping. We reassured them that nosotros were upwardly to the challenge and nosotros tin take the chore.

We reinforced the soft areas of the one-time plaster by drilling in screws, until each area felt and became solid. After the substrate felt solid we could go on with the patching and skimming phase.
Now we had some patching to exercise! Nosotros used quick dry patching compound to accelerate the drying time between patching. Quick dry compounds do help with drying fourth dimension between patching merely it's always a good idea to expect overnight before painting. At that place were many peaks and lumps and bumps on these old walls, clearly showing the graphic symbol of the house. We did non endeavour to right these natural flaws, it wouldn't be consequent with any other areas in the house. We stock-still the cracks, patched the holes, sanded and primed once more. After priming things were looking polish. We applied some other thin coat of Drydex compound to most areas and now things were looking fifty-fifty better.

Painter is Painting walls after wallpaper stripping

So we were all done patching and 1 of the guys turns to the other painters and says: "take you e'er been inside a patch? Exercise you realize that y'all are literally continuing within a patch!" That sounded odd, the kind of affair only painters think and say, simply it sort of made sense!

The dust masks are back on….it was time for terminal sanding! Sanding was much easier this time, we were removing small putty pocketknife ridges and lines. At make clean up, nosotros dusted off the walls, and nosotros applied the concluding coat of low odor oil primer to seal the skimmed walls. It was fourth dimension to paint…finally!
We applied 2 coats of Benjamin Moore's matte from their Drove line (now called Royal Select).

Update: This blog was written in 2009 right after the project. There is a new product we would use if we ever encountered similar problems. The product is called FibaFuse and it's a wall reinforcement fabric made of fiberglass. Information technology comes as wide equally 36 inches and can cover large repairs. After applying chemical compound with a paint roller you can apply the fabric on it in big pieces. It would be perfect for old homes with many hairline cracks and it is mould resistant.
If your old wallpaper scares you lot but yous want it off your walls, don't hesitate to telephone call Ecopainting at (416) 733-7767. We are experts in removing whatsoever kind of wallpaper – no kidding!