Not my favorite project either! My entire house is (was) wallpapered. I kept a tea kettle going on the stove the entire time and use "409" - along with Kevlar gloves to mask the "409" damage and keep from burning my hands from the boiling water. It sounds quirky, but I tell you, it was so much easier with the boiling water. I didn't even feel the heat from the water at all with the kevlar gloves. The one thing I'll change when I do the rest of the house (only did kitchen and family room then), is to use vinegar or fabric softener. I don't think the softener would have worked for me before though. It was SOOOOOOOO DIFFICULT getting the kitchen paper off. Someone told me it was because the drywall wasn't prepped or primed before it was papered. Wish me luck - I have 2 bedrooms and a very open living/dining room left!! If I wait long enough though, the bedroom paper might fall off on it's own. It's peeling pretty badly already.

Hi Lido! Yes - I remember your encouragement very well and it was much appreciated! I do recall the 'one month' part and I kept thinking....'why is this taking me so darn long!!!!' Perhaps I can return the favor to you and offer some advice as well. I do have more pics if you need to view any for your research before you try to tackle the job. The textured brick is a TOUGH job to strip. Unless you discover some trick that I have not found, just forget about removing all of the paint from each crevice - I don't think it's even possible. Mine has somewhat of a rustic/distressed look due to the paint residue. I described this project to my friends as, "....the equivalent of trying to remove paint from an English Muffin." I am just glad that I was successful in not ruining my hardwood floors - yaaay!

DEFINITELY what PG & CN said!! Paint is only as good as the weakest-link. In THIS case, that fail-point is the layer that lifted. It ain't the tapes fault! The green Frog-tape has been VERY popular here for yeeeaars. It's in the medium-to-firm-adhesion level. This year (?), they introduced a YELLOW tape...for delicate/suspect surfaces. Faron

The correct stuff that you would want to use is a flexible vinyl 1/4" tape that can be found at most garden centers. It is green colored- often sold as tie-up tape for various uses in the garden. It is the same stuff that I order from horticultural supply places as grafting tape. It is cheap (probably about 3 bucks for many yards of it) and easy to work with. You can adjust your tension with this stuff and it creates a water tight seal. All the waxes and other assorted things are just a pain to mess with. Once you get good with using this tape, you will understand why it is the most often used. I can sit and watch TV and about 1 union per minute. Cleft grafting is the easiest for a person just learning. It will produce a strong, durable graft on Pear. One thing I will mention, even I, who has done a bajillion grafts (I used to do contract work for orchardist when I lived in the North), find it hard to do a good job with a regular pocket knife. I use a grafting knife, looks and acts just like a regular pocket knife except that the is an edge only on one side of the blade. One thing I might suggest is to go out and cut a number of 1/4 branches from your Pear tree. Cut into correct lengths(5-6 inches are easy to work with), pretending one is your rootstock and one your scion. Now, make a bunch of "grafts". You will be better able to understand the "feel" of the pulling of your knife and the pushing of the scion into the rootstock. Use your vinyl tape to make a "mummy". Leave a couple inches of tape loose about an inch under your graft then press your thumb firmly with the tape between your thumb and rootstock. Now, slightly stretching the tape as you work, start winding up, overlapping the tape as you go. When you reach the cut edges of your rootstock, add a bit more tension forcing the tape to mold to the edge, pulling inward. Keep winding up about an inch above the graft and then simply change directions, winding down, always keeping the tension on the tape. Cover any parts you missed on the first pass up. Now, as you get back to where you started, tie the end you have been working with to the "tail" you had left hanging when you started. Just knot it. You are now done. Do this a number of times using your practice branches and all this will make total sense. One last important thing, get a wash rag use it to grasp your rootstock, letting part of it hang over your finger and thumb that is grasping your rootstock. It will protect you from a severe cut that you will most likely get the first time you go to make your slice down your rootstock. I used to teach grafting classes at a community college; it never failed, someone would say "I don't need THAT". Needless to say I always brought a good amount of cotton gauze and bandages, lol. I can still see the scar on my thumb from that first time. Good luck, you will do well. Pear was the first species I ever did too. I also did 5... I was never so proud as when I realized all 5 took. I felt like a real hero, lol.