What dissolves dried woodworking glue?

[Matthew Springer]

Mildly OT but still somewhat relevant. What on earth disolves yellow woodworking glue? Specifically off of drywall. I'll be re-painting anyway, so it don't have to be pretty, just has to come off.

The geniuses who owned my house before me decided to use it to put up some wallpaper. Yes, you read that right.

-Matthew

[Michael Ballent]

Hopefully they did not use waterproof/resistant glue ;) maybe you could steam if off? heat plus water plus a large putty knife should scrape it off... That is only thing that I can think of. ... or replace the dry wall :D

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I would think the main problem is going to be getting a level surface after you are done. Any glue that holds better than the wood(NORMALLY) it is adhering, is going to pull off some of the drywall I would think.

[Andrew Ault]

Is the glue applied evenly or in streaks? Can you get most of the paper off leaving streaks of glue?

I'm wondering if a belt sander with a sanding frame might be useful.

Another alternative may be to apply 1/4" drywall over the walls and start fresh.

I'd try stream, but I think disolving old yellow glue will be difficult.

[Keith Burns]

Someone makes a glue remover for wood glue. Just can't remember where I got it. Probably Woodcraft. It works well on wood. How it works on sheetrock who knows. Good Luck.

[Don Baer]

I'd be tempted to try belt sanding it to try to take it close to the drywall without taking it down all the way. The I'd fill the voids in the surface with joint compound.

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[Matthew Springer]

I hadn't thought of a belt sander. Smooth isn't the goal as this is Califonina, so there's appears to be some sort of statutory bias against smooth drywall finishes. Bad drywall work seems to be some sort of requirement to meet local code.

The glue is in streaks which are periodic, so it catches you eye. It's proud of the majority of the drywall texture, so it'll telegraph through most of the paint. It just need to get enough of it off so it doesn't catchyour eye near the top of the ceiling.

The other good news is it's only in the top 8".

12" crown moudling is going to look real funny in a 12 x13 room, but oh well.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Well, in another thread about removing glue Alan Turner suggested this:


My method, probably not for all, is to tap the fully dried and cured glue sharply with a steel hammer. The glue generally falls right off.

As satisfying as it may be, this probably wouldn't be practical for drywall. ;)

I think the belt sander/drywall mud combo might be the most straightforward way to get it off your walls.

- Vaughn

[Matthew Springer]

And yes, I just found out woodcraft has De-Glue Goo.

The internet to the rescue!

[Andrew Ault]

The glue is in streaks which are periodic, so it catches you eye. It's proud of the majority of the drywall texture, so it'll telegraph through most of the paint. It just need to get enough of it off so it doesn't catchyour eye near the top of the ceiling.

I think a belt sander followed with joint compound and touching up with a can of spray texture will do the job. I was imagining an entire wall covered with the stuff. That must've been one handsome wallpapering job!

[Dave Mapes]

To give it the best look I would just smooth it out with joint compound, then retexture, seal it and paint. It will be hard to completely remove the dried glue so the joint compound would smooth out the edges and the sealant would prepare both the compound and glue for painting.

[Ed Blough]

My wife says nothing will take dried glue off, if you use my t-shirts as an example. I have t-shirts that get into the glue from time to time and then jump back into the dirty clothes just to get me in trouble. ;)
Even soaking them in water doesn't seem to help.
I would sand the spot down and cover it lightly with tape compound.