Wallpaper removal vs new drywall installation and finish
Hey everyone, I’m from pittsburgh, PA but recently closed on my first OOS property in the Cincinnati area where I’ll build a rental portfolio. I chose Cincy for the development happening around the city so if there’s anyone already in the area would love to connect.
Also, I have a question about the property I just purchased. It deals with removing wallpaper but not necessarily “paper” but the green overlay seems to be more of a thick craft-paper type of material compared to wall paper which was easy to peel. So I was wondering if anyone has experience or ideas as to how to remove it and the glue behind it to reveal the walls? It only comes off in tiny pieces leaving the glue. I would really like to remove it myself but I have 1 quote from a contractor to cover that portion of the walls with a 1/4in drywall(about 6 pieces of drywall) for $600 installation + finish, the walls are about 192 sq ft plus wood trim for $200 for a total of $800
Hey Brennan. Congrats on the purchase! I had an older home I've been updating with a similar issue on wallpaper. What I found is that using a paper tiger to score the wallpaper if you can't get that first layer off. Then use some DIF Wallpaper Stripper to spray onto the wall (have heard you can also use fabric softener and water mix). After that and letting the solution get a soak on the wall, you should be able to remove pretty easily with the wallpaper stripper tool.
1. Skim coat the entire existing wall. You can do this yourself if you have some patience and time and the existing surface is clean and sound. Pros: cheap and requires no destruction. Cons: time consuming, dusty (from sanding) and a little bit of a learning curve.
2. Cover with 1/4 drywall. Pros: fast and relatively easy. Cons: most trim has to be pulled or it will look weird, then reinstalled, cost, switch and outlet boxes sometimes don't fit right, window trim usually needs to be redone.
3. Tear off the coating and patch the bad spots left behind. Pros: don't need to skim coat the entire wall. Cons: time consuming, more potential for bad blending.
4. Tear out all the drywall and just start over. Pros: a fresh start, and you can insulate outside walls. Cons: highest cost, time consuming, all trim must come down and be reinstalled.
A variation on #1 is to use a textured covering on the walls. You can buy "orange peel", "sand" and a few others that you more or less paint on the wall, knock down with a trowel and let it dry. The orange peel is probably the best of all of them - you see this all the time in Florida on the walls. Also a learning curve but virtually no sanding.
