I HATE wallpaper. I know, hate is a strong word but I mean it down to my toes.
This past summer I spent weeks attempting to strip wallpaper from the walls in the batchelor pad. The wallpaper was glued directly to the sheet rock. After so much time, effort and sore fingers I finally realized it just wasn't gonna come off. I had tried wallpaper remover, hot water, soapy water, one of those wallpaper perforation tools, and multiple combinations thereof. My final resolution for this problem was to apply skim coat (2 layers!) to the wall and completely cover up the obstinate wallpaper. It worked just fine.
Fast forward to the farmhouse. The same dated wallpaper is stuck directly to the sheet rock in the room that will be our home office. Being the clever sort that I am I knew the paper was not going to be easily removed so I didn't even try. While I was waiting to start on our floors, I spent my time removing all the loose bits and making repairs to the walls where necessary.
Rather than hand sand all the rough edges, and since I happen to have my electric sander out I decided to be incrediby effecient and (here's that clever part) I sanded the wallpaper and smoothed out the edges. It seemed like a bright idea. The idea was that the wallpaper would be smooth, the edges smoother and maybe, just maybe I might only need one layer of skim coat instead of two.
The bad news - it didn't work so well.
The good news - I finally found out how to remove this wallpaper.
I couldn't keep the plaster on the wall. It seems the sanding made the wallpaper porous enough that water - or ANYthing wet just makes the stuff all but fall off. Such a mess.
Now I have to redo this wall - it's completely ruined - and then I need to remove all the rest of the wallpaper in the room. A damp cloth on it seems to be sufficient to do the job.
Man I hate wallpaper!
oh. dear.
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