Wallpaper Border that doesn't want to come off

mbkruckow1968

13 years ago

Help! My kitchen wallpaper border won't come off! I have tried wall paper remover from Lowes, vinegar, Oxyclean...anyone out there have some advice for me!! My arms are about to fall off and my hands are worn out!

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Comments (8)

gastroc
13 years ago
I feel your pain as I am in the process of wallpaper removal myself. We even have wallpaper on the ceiling. THE CEILING! lol...

What seems to work best for us is to use a spray bottle (or old windex bottle), fill with very warm/hot water, and about a tablespoon or so of dish detergent or fabric softener(they are interchangable), spray the walls generously and allow to soak in for a minute or two. Then use a metal spatula to scrape, scrape, scrape.

I hope this helps!
denali2007
13 years ago
I had three rooms of wallpaper boarder and it seemed it was up there for life. The best thing I found was something called WallWik or simple strip. They look like pieces of felt. First you score the paper be careful. Soak the strips in a bucket of remover or you can use their solution. Put them over the scored boarder and spray with some solution or even just hot water. The secret is to keep the surface wet. I let it sit about 30 min keeping it wet.Take down the wallwik and it should be ready to come off.

Here is a link that might be useful: wallwik
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Mix vinegar into water at a ratio of 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water. I am in the process of removing the backing now from our 20 year old wallpaper. First time I have ever done it. The wallpaper came off easily with this solution, in some spots the backing came with it, in other areas it didn't. I am using a plastic spatula to gently scrape the backing paper off the drywall. We were told by a lady at Lowes who had hung wallpaper as a job for years that you can put new border over old (and I am assuming just over the paper backing if you get one that is thick and textured that it won't show through. We will be trying that in our breakfast area where we just had border. Again the paper came off easily but the backing won't budge. My new border is wider and thicker so we think we will be okay. Hope yours turns out okay.
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I have to agree with the fabric softener. I have taken a lot of wallpaper down over the years. Finally used a steamer for my son's room several years ago and it also worked like a charm. About a month ago I took a border down in the laundry room with just hot water and fabric softener in a spray bottle (after I used a paper tiger to score the border). Worked like a charm. The glue came off as I was scraping the paper off. Very easy (and the laundry room smelled nice too)! Good luck
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We had a stubborn border or two at our last house, thanks to the POs. Here's what we did. Score the border with the paper tiger. Fill a bucket with hot water, and add some vinegar and some fabric softener (be generous with both). Get a scrubby scotch-brite pad. Dip the pad into the bucket and start massaging the border with the scrubby side of the scotch brite. Get it good and wet. Keep going over a small area (we did a foot or two at a time) for several minutes. Keep dipping the pad into the water -- you need to get it really really wet. Eventually, the border will start to dissolve and come off on the scotch brite. When that happens, try the scraper. If it doesn't come off, resume the scrubbing. Eventually we were able to get the top layer of the border off leaving just some sticky glue/residue and some of the "back paper". Then the glue came off with more scrubbing and some scraping. It sounds tedious, but once we got the hang of it, it actually went pretty fast. The key was to get the border so wet that it was basically falling apart before trying to scrape -- let the water do the work for you. Good luck!
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You are probably done with the wall paper removal at this point. However, I thought I would respond anyway. I have stripped a lot of wall paper in my day, and found a simple solution -- use a bucket of warm water and vinegar. Nothing else. Don't waste your money on other stuff or products. About 1 a small bottle of vinegar to a full bucket (or 2 to 2 1/2 cups). Scroll the wallpaper to allow for tiny "holes" using a srolling tool from a home improvement or wall paper store. Then, with a thick sponge, wet the wall paper (in sections) until it is soaked. Wait about 5-10 minutes per section and use a scraper to get the wall paper off the walls. Be sure to put plastic down on the area you are working as you will get glue and bits of paper everywhere. Remember to change your water when it starts to gum up. After the entire room is done (usually the next day), take another bucket of fresh water and vinegar as described above and wash all the walls. Let dry and you are ready for paint. Usually this solution doesn't take the drywall off, but sometimes, that does happen. Just spackle and sand those areas before painting. Here is a link that might be useful: Hafer Construction, Inc.
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Nancy Adamopoulos
13 years ago
Have you tried one of the wallpaper scoring tools? This allows the stripper to soak in. If that fails you can try steaming it (after scoring).

http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/how-to-remove-wallpaper/index.html

http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/steaming-wallpaper/index.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Scoring tool
bestyears
13 years ago
Another thing you can do is spray the area with very, very hot water and whatever remover you are using, and then cove it in saran wrap for 15-20 minutes.
daisymc
13 years ago
I just experienced the same thing in my mothers house. We are getting it ready to sell and the wall paper had to go. I tried everthing from scoring, a water and fabric softner mix in a spray bottle, comercial removers, and finaly resorted to renting a wallpaper steamer. It came off great with the steamer. Rental was $45 for 4 hours. I was working on a time crunch, so that was my most time saving method.
Good Luck
daisy
mbkruckow1968
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for all the great advice. I think at this point the steamer might be the option of choice as I am tired of scraping, scraping, scraping. I will never put wallpaper or border up again. This is the last room in the house with it!! Thanks again.
Jody
13 years ago
Use a STEAMER ... it is the BEST for taking off wallpaper and borders. It is well worth the $50 and you can usually get them at Lowe's or Home Depot.
donnagwd
13 years ago
Of course, you could always give up on getting the border down and install crown molding to cover it!

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Wallpaper Border that doesn't want to come off

Comments (8)

gastroc

denali2007

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Wallpaper Border that doesn't want to come off

Comments (8)

gastroc

denali2007

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mbkruckow1968Original Author

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mbkruckow1968
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