So, it seems like the wallpaper is brown paper bags stuck on with elmer's glue? We ran across that same issue last year on drywall walls, also in a place where virtually everything was wallpapered. It's a real PIA to deal with.

This is going to take a lot of elbow grease. Ideally, you need to get as much off as possible. Your final step will be lots of washing with a scrub brush. Unless you have quite a heavy texture sprayed on, the wallpaper stuff is still going to show. Ask me how I know.

You may want to tackle sample spots in several other rooms to see if this problem is the same throughout the house of if it is just the type of paper that was used in this room.

Get a spray bottle with warm water, and spray all that paper backing. It will all scrape off, with a scrapper. Yes, it will ball up, because, it turns to a type of mush when you spray it. Once thats all off, you can re evaluate what exactly you have underneath it.

Photos? Have you been using a commercial wallpaper remover solution or one of the home recipes? Or a steamer?

There are some glues that are not soluble in water. They were sometimes used by professional wallpaper installers for Mylar and vinyl coated papers. Other glues just take time, water, and sometimes an enzyme wallpaper glue remover.

If you don't have proper wallpaper remover, use a mixture of half fabric softener and half water. Spray until it's soaked, scrape and then repeat if it doesn't get it all. You definitely can't paint until you've got it all.

The property is 4 hr. away and I didn't think to take pictures...

I used a steamer and also had liquid wallpaper remover. From the sound of things I just need to keep plugging away at it!

Zinsser's Gardz is also used to lock down wallpaper glue residue. Less expensive, less messy, less smelly alternative to shellac.

Did some of the drywall paper come off when removing the wallpaper? It did with mine no matter how careful I was. And I even primed the wall with the correct stuff you are supposed to use under wallpaper on the sheetrock. I had three spots where I tore the sheetrock paper and had to skim coat it. There are videos on youtube on how to do this. Or you can hire a drywall guy that knows how to skim coat if it's too much.

I've pulled my fair share of wallpaper from our house. I pull as much wallpaper by hand as possible. Use a scorer on any remaining wallpaper and spray with Zinzzer Wallpaper Stripper using a garden sprayer. Let it soak for a few minutes and scrape. The brown paper back left behind doesn't need to be scored, just sprayed and scraped. Time consuming but works well every time.

Sorry to hear about your experience. Mine is/was similar. I found several layers of wallpaper, with a skim coat in between, and then under that, it seems to have been applied directly to drywall. I have removed a lot of wallpaper in the past, but I ended up damaging the drywall in one room so badly, we decided to hire someone. I had several contractors come through who looked at the amount of wallpaper and wouldn't do it! One guy was willing and he starts this morning so I will see what magic he uses. If he has any tips, I will share.

We had the same issue in our hallway—older house (1950) with what the painter called “first generation” wallboard (not plaster). I tried steaming, wetting, scraping, etc. to no avail. The painter (who works in old houses all the time) took one look at it and told me I would never get the base right again without either re-drywalling or applying skim coat everywhere. His advice was to re-wallpaper which we did. Good news is that wallpaper has come a long way. Best of luck!!

Thanks so much for all your valuable suggestions. In the end I had someone come in and skim coat over the whole place. I haven't seen it yet but I have high hopes!!