Taking down wallpaper ... Not fun, but knee surgery is worse

Wallpaper. I've heard horror stories. So, while we waited for closing day to arrive, I trawled the Internet for advice on taking down wallpaper and asked people about their own experiences. Everyone had different advice (much like the Internet), and no one had a good experience, where it just peels off. No wallpaper unicorns, folks.

So, I basically had a 3-prong game plan (more on that shortly) by the time we came to the walk through. While scoping out the master, I noticed a bit of toothpaste green popping through the green-flecked beige wallpaper in the shower area. Hopeful, I slipped my nail under the tear and gave a tentative tug. A good inch of wallpaper came right off, not even leaving the adhesive behind.

Cue maniacal laughter - cut short by Mike's "You can't do that!"

Right. The house wasn't ours yet, so this was mild destruction of property. But the wallpaper deserved it, officer.

Anyway, I was hopeful. Maybe we did have unicorn wallpaper with magical peeling properties. But it was highly likely that this was just a spot that hadn't been glued as well as the rest. Or maybe it was a cold spot or something. I crossed my fingers for a unicorn.

Credit Zazzle

In case you do not have a unicorn on your walls, there are some methods you can use to take down wallpaper. There is no magic bullet. It all depends on what wallpaper was used, if it was prepped properly, and how long it's been on the wall. So, you really don't know what's going to work until you try. Internet, you were not comforting there.

1. Steamer. Basically, you steam the walls to get the paper all good and soggy and then peel it off. Sometimes you still need to scrape with a putty knife, or you can damage the wall if you over soak.

2. Spray the wall with a mixture of hot water and vinegar or hot water and fabric softener. This method may involve getting a wallpaper scorer or peeling off the first layer, because most wallpapers now are water resistant, and the whole issue is neutralizing the adhesive underneath. But scoring can damage your drywall or plaster, so I was hoping not to go this route.

3. Use a DIF spray or gel. Again, you need to score or remove the first layer.

We didn't have a steamer, so I was hoping to try the vinegar and water mixture and that the first layer, if it not all of the paper, would come off. I bought a putty knife to help get stuff up.

On move in day, while answering nature's call in the main floor half bath, I noticed a corner of the wallpaper bubbling up. So, naturally, I pulled it up. It came right off! Holy cow!

But not so fast. The striped panel peeled off because it was paper on paper. Further pulling revealed that it was leaving the adhesive layer completely behind. Womp womp. But now we have a new ritual of taking a tug each time we use the half bath. The adhesive layer is in such great shape I'm tempted to just prime and paint over it, but I'm not sure how well that'll work out. Maybe I'll try a small section and evaluate.

Anyway, the goal was to tackle the master bath first before we fully move into the house. That ... was less victorious. The border in the bathroom pulled right off and left the adhesive layer behind. The shower room on the other hand was a mix of beautiful clean peels down to the wallboard and stubborn shreds and strips that required the Piranha spray I got for Christmas from my mother-in-law (thanks!). To control the drips, I would spray and then spread the gel around with a sponge.

This method seemed to be working. Once the paper was soaked, I'd scrape it up with the putty knife. But timing was tricky - it would dry so fast that you couldn't really spray large areas and hope to get to it all. I also brought up the top layer of the wallboard in some spots. I figure we'll smooth caulk over those nicks and sand it down before priming and painting.

We pulled and scraped in between paint runs in the laundry room. The worst part was actually the border in the tub area. It was not coming off well, even with the gel. Then the other night as I was working on the trim in the laundry room, Mike asks me if I can come upstairs and help him with something.

"Notice anything different?" he said with a big grin.

It took me a moment ... but the border was all down. Apparently I'd married a wallpaper master. Or, as Mike put it, I wasn't using the gel thick enough.

So, we're officially done with de-wallpapering the master bath. Still have the two more bathrooms to tackle, but that's down the road.

Master bath plan:
1. Rip up the carpet
2. Lay down tile floors (Mike's trying to talk me into radiant heat)
3. Paint walls
4. Caulk shower area
5. Paint cabinets
6. Frame in mirror
7. Swap out hardware

Also, while we had friends over, our builder buddy realized that the wall between the tub and the bedroom wasn't original. As in, at one point in time, the bathroom was open to the bedroom. We're glad someone closed it off. Not our cup of tea.