How about heating a putty knife?

Oooo..both good ideas. Thanks!

I am of no help but just wanted to say that I have also made decisions based on the idea that whatever I was doing was so perfect, I'd never change my mind so OK if I did it "permanently"-- and of course, I always changed my mind! (This is why I can't get a tattoo!)

If you don't want to do the wall repair your self, you might want to hire a painter to remove patch and repaint.

Anele, I am with you. Can you imagine having a pink and blue goose with hearts tattooed on you?

that and the story of the late 80s old aunt with Felix the cat on her thigh who like to ask if you want to see her..... "Cat"

Once you get the trim off the wall, you will need to scrape off any residual glue. After you have everything you can remove off, I would advise using a blocking primer -- any residue on the wall could come through the paint if you don't block it.

Anele - This is why I can't get a tattoo!

Oh yes, me too! A dear friend will soon be moving far away. For a moment I had the thought we should get matching tattoos. I quickly turned that into some type of nice personalized jewelry!

Kippy - Hmmm...I didn't think about a painter. I was figuring massive drywall disaster. I can handle some patch and repair but not large sections of drywall that involves tape and compound. I've done a little before but it wasn't pretty.

Lascatx - I'm wondering how it's going to be scraping off that glue without damaging more drywall. Hot glue seems almost impossible to remove unless it's glass to glass. Also a good point about using blocking primer. I didn't think about either of those two things until you mentioned.

The part that really bites about all this is there were other ways to achieve the same look I was going over. Live and learn!

I don't know what this would do to drywall, maybe nothing bad... but I'd try it in an inconspicuous place, maybe inside a closet, to see.

removing dried hot glue

I'm not sure I'd want to put a liquid on the drywall. Granted it's been painted, so the a pint may protect the paper that covers the drywall, but yes, I'd try it first in an inconspicuous place first as Oly suggested.
I know hot glue will pop off things when extremely cold, but not sure how you could cool it, which is why I agreed with your heat method and added using a five in one tool. I suggest that over a putty knife because it's not more rigid.

I did this about a month ago! LOL So far no regrets. It was just a small dot of hot glue tho. I have a tall, slender (vertically hung) iron element on a wall in my entry. Over the years it has bowed out and not as flat against the wall as it needs to be. Occasionally someone will snag it walking thru the door. I located the "high" spot and hot glued that puppy to the wall :D I don't foresee it being too much of a problem when I decided to remove it. It's a smooth textured wall with eggshell paint. A razor blade or perhaps even some dental floss will be my first attempt at removing it. Worse case scenario is a little spackle and paint.

I doubt that a hairdryer will heat the glue enough to soften it. You may need a heat gun. I found the video linked below that shows that isopropyl alcohol removes glue gun glue. But my guess is that you are looking at some drywall repair.

hot glue removal

I'm sure I don't need to say this, but don't use the heat gun and the alcohol at the same time!

Hmmm. I did the backsplash over the bar area with glue gunning split corks to the wall. The other day, 2 popped off and I had to glue back. The glue stuck to the cork and not the wall...the wall underneath was fine. Not sure if I intentionally tried to remove them, but there it is.

Be careful with the ideas of a heat gun and anything you might put on the wall. The mention of alcohol in the next sentence made me cringe -- I don't think you will need to replace sections of drywall, maybe a little repair, but even drywalling the entire room would be easier than dealing with a small fire and smoke damage.

Isn't hot glue a wax based substance? Wax is flamable -- a la candles. So you may not even have to have another substance to create a fire starter. Try the old bag of frozen peas or corn and instead of an injury or sprain, put iit over the molding, then try a scraper behind the piece to see f it will pop off. You may have to refreeze the peas from time to time, but if that works, there's less risk. If you do try heat, remember that you only need to slightly soften the glue to get it to release. Melting it will make a bigger mess.

I've never had anything hot glued that didn't show at least a slight propensity for coming apart. I am not so sure you will have a terrible time with this project. And drywall isn't really all that bad. And at least half of the pros I have encountered would use glue rather than finishing nails (which can split some trim) and having to fill and sand the nail holes. And they would use something like gorilla glue or liquid nails. Either of those would be harder to remove and ore certain to damage the drywall than hot glue.

Anele, I'm with you on the tat! I foolishly promised my daughter that I'd get a tatoo if I ever actually went back to school and got a bachelor's degree. That was in 2007, and now I'm ABD (all but dissertation) for my PhD, haha! No tattoo. DD has brought it up over the years, and I came pretty close a couple of times. Luckily for me, I got diabetes type 2 a couple of years ago, and my doctor says no way on the ink because it would take so long to heal and the chances of infection would be much greater. Whew! Saved by the bell! Haha!

I have also done things around the various houses I owned back before the divorce that I thought would be "permanent" but weren't. :-) Berber carpet, for one. A wall mounted bracket for a dust buster for another...how did I ever think that was anything but hideously ugly and tacky?? LOL

I'd try the hair dryer and/or the iced vegetables first, since those are basically free to try. Or, hey you know what?!? Try popping into a Michael's or JoAnn Fabrics or whatever you have in your area, and asking them! Those ladies (and a couple of men) are SO into crafting and I bet they use hot glue guns all the time! I promise you somebody there will know what to do, and you will bring joy into their day for presenting a challenge they can all talk over. :-)

Hope this helps! :-)

Yes, please don't use a heat gun. The heat is way too hot to get that close to drywall.
lascatx, why didn't I think of a bag of peas! As I said above, cold makes more sense, I just didn't think about a bag of peas! The cold completely solidifies the glue making its adhesion come apart, which in turn makes it easier to remove.

I've had plenty of occassions to use the bag of peas trick, and one of the reasons is that it molds around an injured body part better than a ice pack, Hope the idea helps.

Glue sticks are made of thermoplastic, not wax; a heat gun can be used judiciously on drywall (I've done it); and I am pretty certain that a bag of frozen peas is not going to work in this project.

I would try the dental floss first. It can do amazing things. Might have to saw back and forth.

The reason I suggested dental floss is because it was suggested to me to use in removing the dealer's emblem from my new car a few years ago. It's stuck on with an adhesive. Worked like a charm. I know hot glue is not the same but it's worth a try :) And yes to the sawing back and forth. And using a hairdryer might make the glue a bit more soft and aid in the use of the dental floss.

Cold usually allows hot glue to pop off. I have used hair dryers and heat guns successfully on many things to remove hot glue...but not drywall. I would try the hairdryer on high and then the heat gun on low but keep that puppy moving, do not stay in one spot! I think you should be able to pry up the molding with a large putty knife a bit at a time.

Repair is not that difficult. Had to remove a lot of wall paper from this old house, which was applied directly to drywall with no paint or primer!!!! A lot of the dry wall was torn off. Just get some drywall mud and go over the damage, then sand.

When I did a search isopropyl alcohol was mentioned most often. You can get the stronger strength (probably more effective that rubbing alcohol which is diluted) at the drugstore -- just compare. But do let it dry completely and any fumes air out before trying any heat if that doesn't do it completely for you. So you've got three basic options -- alcohol, heat and cold and something non-marring as possible to coax the trim off. Let us know what works.

As for flammability, it looks like they may vary by type, but would not generally be the thing to catch fire. If a flame starts elsewhere, they will burn -- so the wood, paint and drywall would probably catch first.