OT: I hate wallpaper

[Sam Shank]

I'm an occasional replier and long time lurker.

In removing wall paper from a downstairs 1/2 bath from my house which was a model home built in 1985, a complete mess occured.

The fools who built the place never primed the walls, never mind sizing them. They put the paint right onto the drywall, and the paper right onto the paint.

The paper was more like polypropylene than paper. I used a steamer on parts, and the 'paper' melted and smelled like, well, burning plastic.

The 'paper' pulled off paint, paint & paper wallboard facing in no discernable pattern. Random spots of paint, raw wallboard, and wallboard with the facing removed.

If you've ever removed wall paper you're probably laughing to yourself right now.

I'm going to dry dino's d-mix. I get the feeling that this room will be shrinking in size by about 1/4 inch on each wall.

Wish me luck, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

On a bright note, all the white tile just outside the bathroom will be ripped up and replaced with 4" maple, and then run into the kitchen. (Never put white tile in a kitchen.) It will be stitched into the family room where I have had the maple in for 3 years, and I'll have one contiguous maple surface.

[Jamie Buxton]

If the surface is really chowdered up, you might find that covering it with 1/4" sheetrock is the quickest repair.

[Barry O'Mahony]

A half-bath is a small room. Have you just considered sledge-hammering the exisint drywall and starting fresh?

I have white tile as a kitchen backsplash. ;)

[Sam Shank]

I thought of ripping it all out, but that seems excessive. I hadn't thought of 1/4" drywall, but I don't want to deal with the door jamb and adding 1/4".

How much of a pain would that be? All the rest of the floor molding will be new anyway.

[Travis Porter]

Been there, done that, got a t-shirt and NEVER want to do it again.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

We corrected my uncles by adding the 1/4 inch drywall. Adding to the door jambs was a major pain! :) Other than that it worked great.

The other option is to strip the walls to the studs, I haven't decided which is easier.. .both suck.

[Joe Pelonio]

When we bought this house it had that '80s wood strips glued onto the walls of the downstairs bathroom. You think wallpaper's hard to remove?
I was going to retexture but not only did it pull off chunks of wallboard, but the wood shredded and left pieces of itself on the wall. I ended up
(after a lot of scraping) doing the 1/4" drywall thing. First, it costs a LOT
more than 1/2" or 5/8, and is hard to find. Easier to put up though. You just have to remove the moldings, door trim, baseboards and re-cut some of them to fit.

[Ernie Nyvall]

Sam, you don't have to mess with the door jam if you add 1/4" sheetrock. Make a mark on the wall tracing the outside of the trim of the door. Take the trim off and bring the sheetrock a little less than 1/4" past the mark. Cut a 1/4" X 1/4" rabbit on the inside back edge of the trim and fit it over the sheetrock. It looks good if your trim is thick enough to take the 1/4" rabbit. If not you can make it out of 3/4" stock. If you have a router and tablesaw, you can make some pretty nice trim. Either way I think is better than trying to add to the jam unless your jam is painted... then it's about the same I guess.

Ernie

[Sam Shank]

Good idea with the rabbet in the trim. My wife is calling the shots on this one, and she has decided to 'texture' the wall with plaster.

I now have 5 gallons of mud, and we'll throw it up and see how it goes. Check back in a month or 2 and I'll try to post B4 and after pics.

Thanks and ONON!

Sam

[Jim Becker]

I think our MBath has the same problem...no prime/paint behind the paper...based on what I saw when one of the kids knocked the TP holder off the wall recently. That's not going to be pretty someday...

[Ernie Nyvall]

...based on what I saw when one of the kids knocked the TP holder off the wall recently.

:D :D :D I couldn't help it Jim. That just brought a big chuckle on.:D :D :D

Ernie

[Vaughn McMillan]

:D :D :D I couldn't help it Jim. That just brought a big chuckle on.:D :D :D

Ernie
Same here...welcome to fatherhood. :p

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

I couldn't help it Jim. That just brought a big chuckle on.

Same here...welcome to fatherhood.

Yea...stuff happens. It could be worse, I suppose...at least I know how to fix things and have TOOLS. Hmm...wow...I actually get to use them, too!! :)

[Jim Dunn]

Hey Sam, who in their right mind DON'T hate wallpaper??????

Jim Becker, I agree with Ernie and Vaughn, but, just fix it and get your tools all tuned up for those teenage years:)

[Vaughn McMillan]

Yea...stuff happens. It could be worse, I suppose...at least I know how to fix things and have TOOLS. Hmm...wow...I actually get to use them, too!! :)
Actually, the part that caught my attention (and caused a grin) was how you casually tossed out the "one of the kids" statement...like you'd been saying it for years. It must feel great. ;)

- Vaughn