demolition days- stripping wallpaper

There are a few ways to remove wallpaper- but in our house there were really only three options we were considering:

1. renting a steamer
2. applying a chemical wallpaper remover
3. spraying a homemade water/vinegar mixture

Notice hiring a painter is not on the list..
I'm not sure how we came to the decision that the water/vinegar mixture would be best for us- it's very possible that it was as simple as cost and availability. And even though it did work out in the end, I'm not going to tell you I didn't want to throw in the towel more than once. Wallpaper removal is time consuming, overall irritating and for someone who isn't the least bit patient, it's absolutely frustrating.

Let me first give you a little information about the way Ben and I work. While we haven't yet done a project of this magnitude together, we have done plenty of painting in the past (I made Ben repaint our apartment more times than I can remember), so we are very familiar with each others techniques.

Leah's Technique
I'm a trained painter (ie watercolors/acrylics), but that doesn't mean my patience in the studio is easily translated when working on a room. I also happen to be very rash and abrasive. I've been known to run around- and into walls because I'm a fast mover and prefer to do a million things at once instead of nothing at all. But all of those qualities are horrible companions to my wanting everything to be perfect! No, I'm not a perfectionist- I'm all about living and I'm ok if things get dirty or are moved out of place, but I must say, if our walls are not smooth it will bug me forever!!!
And it is exactly for that reason that I took the wallpaper removal VERY seriously- going over areas more than once, while mumbling that we should have hired someone instead.

Ben's Technique
Ben's a do-er when it comes to anything exterior, building, demolishing, but he just can't stand the "finishing" technique. Let me clarify- he's sloppy. And I've said it to him before (in fact we have the paint marks on our ceiling to prove it), he just doesn't have the patience to finish a space. Maybe I'm demanding, maybe I ask too much, but the truth of the matter is we should both stick to what we're good at- and he's good at many other things.
I tried desperately to teach Ben the "proper" stripping and pulling technique- hoping to not break the wallpaper panel on the way down, but he preferred the shredding and knifing technique, taking chunks of wall out in the process. And I'm not sure it wasn't on purpose because every time a chunk of wall hit the floor he'd say something like "oh I'll patch that, not a big deal", or "the sander will take care of that in a minute"- should I mention he gets pleasure out of both patching and sanding? Or is that a given?

So with that all said, there were three rooms that we had to strip the wallpaper in and I started out with the wrong one...

The Living Room
Originally (or I should say when we first saw the house), the Living Room had this fun wallpaper on the walls. I actually really liked it, and could see myself using something similar in another room- at another time. But as you can see, the panels were already coming off in full pieces..
So I easily removed the top layer- knowing that there was another layer underneath. I figured I could use the scoring and stripping method on the second layer and while I knew it would be time intensive I still didn't think it would be too hard.
But when I got to the first layer off, I discovered that underneath it was not just a second layer. In some cases the second layer came off with the first, revealing a third layer, in other cases the second and third layer came off, revealing a fourth layer.. we've counted seven layers!!!
But I continued to try to remove it- even when I discovered the previous owners had actually patched and repaired the walls over old layers of wallpaper!

After about 30 minutes of struggling.. I gave up. Having only gotten a small area clean I told Ben it just wasn't going to happen- and even if it was something I could have completed, the walls would have been in horrible shape- pieces of plaster were falling out from all directions.
Fight #1: I remember Ben accusing me of being lazy for giving up and saying it wasn't possible to do the whole room (he doesn't remember it this way). We finally got a second and a third opinion and everyone agreed with me- we have to install new sheetrock, there's just no avoiding it.

So while I was tackling that frustrating space, Ben was working on other areas of the house. After our little "argument" I made my way to the office, where the wallpaper came off the way I thought it should..

The Office
Ben was prepared and gave me all of the important tools I needed to remove wallpaper- a spray bottle, paper tiger and scraper. Now you may ask, what is a paper tiger?
This is a paper tiger:
It's a tool that can be used to score holes in the wallpaper you want to remove. Once the holes are punctured, it allows for the liquid (water/vinegar or chemical stripper) to soak into the back of the paper and loosen the adhesive. This tool is especially helpful today because many of the wallpapers out there are vinyl- great for the "active" home, easy to wipe down and can withstand almost anything!

Now the thing about the paper tiger is, I didn't use it. I felt like it was an extra step I just didn't want to take- I decided when I first tried it that it just wasn't that efficient (most people would argue that). Also the top layer of the office wallpaper came off really easily- leaving the lining and the adhesive fully exposed.
The picture below shows the wallpaper on the left and the adhesive layer on the right (the walls are actually green when all of the paper is stripped)..
All in all it took me an afternoon and the next morning to strip the walls in this room by myself. I'll admit that by the end of the first day the vinegar stench was getting to me. I was definitely not happy to be there (believe it or not I was wishing to be back in the city), and I was absolutely dreading waking up the next morning to finish. But I sucked it up and got it done- and the truth is, even without the perfect paint job, the room still looks a thousand times better..

The Bedroom
After the office experience I was able to convince Ben to make the bedroom a team effort. This is where I truly got to experience his wallpaper stripping technique.
We discovered after beginning to strip the paper from the top that there appeared to be another layer underneath, but don't worry the second layer didn't continue down the walls- it was only up by the crown molding. After taking a few strips down we figured out that the original wallpaper was plastered over and the newer wallpaper was installed over the plaster. Just perfect!
You can see a hint of the original layer in the top right of the photo above (I blew it up below)
Before we begin the painting process we'll have to patch all along the crown moldings to try to even out the wall surface and cover up the hint of leftover wallpaper.
Notice all of the "shreds" piled on the floor?
That was all Ben's contribution!

The Bathroom
I should also add that the bathroom was not left out on purpose. If you haven't noticed from past posts, it was not forgotten when the previous owner decided to decorate..
Lovely, isn't it?
I did start stripping it, but it didn't come off easily. I was preparing myself for a struggle when Ben mentioned we'd have to replace the walls anyway with durock behind the tile surrounding the bath tub (yet to be installed) and moisture resistant sheetrock to replace all the other walls. A tough job, yes, but Ben said it's necessary in order to prevent mold growth. I must say that was a relief.. so I considered it done and called it a day.

Side Note
Just in case you're wondering- even with the windows wide open, the rooms still reeked of vinegar. Ben wiped the walls clean with water (an absolute necessity to remove the excess vinegar and adhesive). Once we're ready to paint we'll patch and sand the walls and then wipe them down again with a soap and water mixture- also recommended by all of the professionals!