Difficulty removing peelable wallpaper


  #1  
Old 09-22-05, 11:24 AM
doozie
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Difficulty removing peelable wallpaper

I am trying to remove what is labeled as peelable wallpaper from my daughter's room. I understand this means the top (vinyl) layer should peel off, then I'll have to remove the backing. But the vinyl is peeling off in teeny tiny little pieces, not in sheets or even bigger pieces. The room is fairly big, and this will take forever. I have gotten various opinions regarding using dif, hot water, hot water plus fabric softener, etc. Is there any trick to removing this particular type of wallpaper? Paper tiger or not? As I said, I don't even mind having to go around the room twice if it worked, but top layer will take me weeks at this rate.

I did remove wallpaper from son's room with paper tiger plus dif, with few problems and much success, but it's failing me now.
 
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Old 09-22-05, 09:29 PM
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Try to wet the vinyl surface layer, which will (sometimes!) make it more supple, and keep it from tearing into little pieces so easy. Also, paper and vinyl has a 'grain' to it. Try pulling at it from different directions, left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom left corner up to right top corner, etc. You might find a better angle will yield more. If you use a paper tiger, use a light hand so as not to tear up the drywall.
 
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Old 09-23-05, 11:42 AM
doozie
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Thanks, Prowallguy - that sounds like good advice. A couple more questions - am I on the right track, at least, in trying to remove the vinyl first, then the backing? assuming I get the vinyl off, should I then use a method such as scoring plus dif to get the backing off, or is there something else I should do?
Thanks.
 
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Old 09-23-05, 01:36 PM
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there's no way to get the vinyl AND the backing off at the same time - get the vinyl off first, then the backing. you won't need to score the backing. the purpose of scoring the vinyl front is to allow the moisture to get BEHIND the vinyl to the backing. so with the vinyl front gone, no need to score the backing left on the wall.

good luck - i feel your pain! been there, done that.
 
 

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