Friday, January 9, 2015

Wallpaper Pulling SOLVED

I hate pulling wallpaper. There is nothing fun about thinking you have a big chunk of wallpaper coming off for it to only rip and it’s the size of a penny. Oh, and the clean up. Don’t get me started on the clean up.
When we purchased our home a year and a half ago one bedroom had a board and one full wall of wallpaper, a bathroom had a boarder, and to our surprise another bedroom had TWO LAYERS thick of wallpaper. We tackled the bedroom that only had one full wall of wallpaper and the bathroom with the boarder. I used a steamer, which seemed to help a little, however it was blasted hot! Here we are a year and a half later and I hadn’t touched the two layer thick bedroom.
I really wanted to work on the other bedroom, but the though of not only pulling one layer thick of wallpaper, but two, was daunting. At one point the hubba hubba suggested re-sheet rocking, however after he considered the amount of time it would take he pulled that offer off the table. So here I was, I had a bed, dresser, and chair with nowhere to put them. I sucked it up and started working on the wallpaper.
At first I went for what I knew, using the steamer. Of course, I was going at the same snail pace as before. The hubba hubba noticed me struggling so he jumped in and after about 5 minutes he was coming up with ideas such as putting paneling over and I vetoed. I gave it a rest but got up the next day and kept pulling. Again, the hubba hubba joined me and asked if there was a spray that we could use to help remove the wallpaper. When we did the other bedroom I did buy a spray but didn’t use much of it, honestly, I don’t remember why. I grabbed what we had and the hubba hubba followed behind me using the spray and a scraper.  I’ll be darn it was working!
            Seven hours, 5 bottles of the wallpaper removal, 4 trash bags full of wallpaper scraps (even the penny size ones!), and a few sore hands we were finally wallpaper free! So what is this magical wallpaper removal spray? Piranha Wallpaper Remover. We purchased our bottles at Lowes for about $7 a piece and it was worth every penny.
            How’d we do it? Since we had two layers I pulled the first layer that fortunately pulled the backer with it. I then used the scrapper to get under the second layer pulling facing however it left the backer on the sheetrock. The hubba hubba followed behind me spraying the backer left on the wall almost soaking it. He then used the scrapper to “push” the backer in rows and it just peeled off the walls.
            In the end, I am glad I didn’t give up on getting rid of the wallpaper. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of pulling wallpaper know the nightmares they can cause. The Piranha and help of the hubba hubba helped tremendously. Don’t have a hubba hubba? Call a few girlfriends and offer them some cookies and wine.



Rather Be Junkin' <3
Heather



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