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The Old House Remodeling Paint

wallpaper over lead paint; how to remove the wallpaper??

2 years ago

Subject says it all for the most part. We’ve got an old home we’re buying that has wallpaper from the 1960s and older. I know the paint beneath it is lead paint and I’m wondering how to remove the wallpaper safely? We have two young kids so I’m wanting to have this removed and the lead paint abated before we move in but I’m not sure who does this sort of thing. I’ve called and wallpaper removers don’t want to mess with the paint and painters don’t want to remove the wallpaper. I’m also aware that this will most likely cost 10K which is significant. I’ve read k can do it myself in which case I was considering removing the wallpaper and encapsulating the lead paint. We’ve also got a wall of mirrors which I’m sure will damage some plaster upon removal. 🤔

Featured Answer

Erin Luke
Original Author

2 years ago

So we should test each room first and then proceed accordingly

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Comments (6)

roarah
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Beautiful house. Is there paint under paper. My older home never had painted walls before I purchased. Layers and layers of paper but under the last layer was plain plaster no lead. We closed off each room and removed the paper to the plaster and used a lead test and each rooms, walls were negative for lead but our mouldings had lead. If we had had lead we planned to close rooms off, strip paper, clean very well with tsp and use containment paint on walls.
Erin Luke
Original Author
2 years ago
Ok great to hear you did you yourselves. Now that you mention it there may not be, I know some paper is original and some is from the 1960s but you make a good point that it may just be paper on paper.
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thanks again for all the responses and assistance. i did purchase one of those wagner steamers. brian, even my brother said "why didn't you get dif". the steamer isn't my method of choice, but it is working in the areas where there was no budge. there are what appears to be two different layers of paper over plaster. however, on top of the paper is a coat or two of paint. i can see two different blues in some areas, so i assume two coats of paint. there are some areas that the paper is coming off in large pieces (and some small) by getting the scraper under it. it would be an easy job if it all happened this way, but luck wouldn't have it. so i'm going around the room and getting those pieces off as the first stage. i haven't covered the one flat wall, i'm dreading that one. i did try the steamer in a few places and it works, it's just a total PITA and after a while my arm are killing me. i was thinking of taking it back, but decided because there is wallpaper in most of the rooms (painted, i might add) i'll hold on to it as it will be a necessary tool. maryanne
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If you get it off to a point where you are happy with it, then you probably will want to skim it with joint compound to smooth it out even further. Before you apply anything, be sure to paint it with Guardz or a similar product. This is to lock in the glue so that paint or joint compound does not lift off.
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Here's a link on skimcoating that might help you if you go that route. Don't use a topping compound but rather joint compound as it has adhesives in the mix that will help adhere along with the gardz. Another tip is to stay with the same brand of compound, don't mix with other brands as the mixes can vary between them enough to show where you stop and start. This is the mud I like to use if available in your area. It's a lightweight mud and although it is a topper, it has adhesives as a joint compound. http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materials-Drywall-Joint-Compound/h_d1/N-5yc1vZard1/R-100320403/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 Here is a link that might be useful: skim coat.
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"brickeyee" I appreciate your input about using drywall instead of floor boards. I've wrestled with that idea for a few days now. Here's my problem. The plaster walls are really old with a lot of bows and bulges, I thought the wood product would be stiffer and maybe give me a smoother finish than drywall. I thought the drywall might telegraph the imperfections of the wall. Plus, i have never taped and mudded before and when I mess that up it might look worse then the seams of the wood product. I don't know ? Additionally, I'm doing V-board at the bottom and the top 4 ft. to the ceiling with wood panels. I hope it does not turn into a disaster.
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Super Lumen
2 years ago
It depends a lot how the paper was put on and what kind of adhesion was used how hard you will work to get it off. When you wet it and warm it you want to get it to the point where the paper lifts right off. The issue after that will be the remaining glue. This is where it can get really hard to completely get the glue off to the point where you can paint it without disturbing the lead paint.

Also, one thing you may discover is that you do not have a fine finish that will look good painted on the plaster underneath, and that there is in fact no paint at all of any kind in some rooms. They will need a new skim coat anyway. It then becomes: do you have enough glue off to adhere a skim coat?

Whatever you do, just be careful. People get all bent out of shape about asbestos and mold but neither of those are really much of a danger in an acute exposure situation, but "lead stupid" is forever . It dissolves in water, it can get dispersed in the air, etc. and if you get it all over the place it can get VERY expensive and hard to clean it out of the house afterward.
Erin Luke
Original Author
2 years ago
Yeah I’m beth worried about the lead, our children are 2 and 4 and I can’t risk having any lead in the air or not handled correctly
Lauren Greer O'Neill
last year
I know this is an older post, but wondering if you know the age of the first photo mural style wall paper? We uncovered something similar in our 1915 house & are curious when it was installed!

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