Removing Old Wallpaper

You haven't heard from me for a week because we have been busy every day stripping 55 year old wallpaper from our kitchen walls.  There were two layers of wallpaper to remove, the original from 1955 (when house was built) and the paper that I put up about 20 years ago (blush).  The original wallpaper was the old fashioned paper kind and had been placed right over the plaster without any barrier.

Original Wallpaper On Plaster

 First we gathered our tools:  a Tiger wallpaper scorer, various scrapers, Dif enzyme remover, garden sprayer, and sponges.

Basic Tools

The Dif was mixed in the sprayer with HOT water.  We scored the top layer of vinyl wallpaper with the Tiger tool, then sprayed on the Dif solution.  Oh, previous to this we had taped up plastic to protect our wood cabinets.  We waited, we sprayed again, repeat.  Finally we were able to scrap off the vinyl paper and it went fairly easily.

Then we went after the old paper.  Followed the same procedure an waited for the paper to soften, but only small pieces came off.  So, we scored it again, sprayed again and we began to have success.  To say this was a laborious task would be an understatement.  We literally worked inch by inch, respraying as needed.  It took us three days to get down to a bare wall.  After removing the wallpaper we used the sponges soaked with hot, soapy water to wash off any residual paste.

Bare Plaster

 After the wallpaper was removed we primed with a stain covering, latex primer, then we painted with a latex, semi-gloss paint.  A high-gloss, latex trim paint in a slightly lighter color was painted on the trim.

It took us a week of full time work to get this done, but I am thrilled with the results.  Just having clean, uncluttered, painted walls has given the kitchen a more up to-date-feeling.  Compared to hiring a painting company to do the work the money we saved was considerable.

Finished Wall

God bless,
Pam