DIY a Stay at home Dad can do: Wall paper removal

My wife and I love our house, for us it is perfect.  When we have to move it’ll be because we’re old, gray and can’t make it up the stairs anymore.  If we have to move before then and don’t like the people who’ll be purchasing the house, then this dad will spend hours putting up wall paper.  Ugly, thick wall paper that will be immediately dated to an era when boy bands ruled and Good Vibrations wasn’t considered a cheesy song.

When my bride and I moved into our house we had more free time and were undaunted by the massive amounts of paper that plastered our walls.   Some rooms had wall paper from top to bottom-with borders up high and low; while other rooms mercifully had the same print throughout the wall.  To continue the maddening inconsistencies, some of the wall paper had been properly applied to wall, while other rooms had the paper put up incorrectly.

‘Incorrectly’ may be an inaccurate term, technically, unless it’s 1986, you shouldn’t be putting any wall paper up at all.  However, the correct ways to put up wall paper are apparently only noticed when you try to take it down, so the cruel, dated joke is on the person who has the house after you.

 

 

In the pre Dad days

When we first got in the house I had nothing but time to devote to taking down wall paper.  I would concentrate on one room, initially using the steamer to take off the printed layer of wall paper and then using the steamer to take off the glue.  I would finish things off by cleaning it with a hot sponge, then priming the walls and finally painting it with a color that didn’t make us want to watch classics from the late 80s or early 90s.

Because we didn’t have responsibilities other than work and each other, I could devote myself to removing the wall paper for hours at a time.

The job

If the wall paper is put up correctly then removing it is a relatively pleasant task.

If the wall paper is not put on the wall correctly, then it is a cumbersome, difficult albatross that is akin to you removing Excalibur out of a stone.

The room in question, aka, ‘The Japanese Room’, was a mystery because it was the room that would become Toddler Mojos.      But we have plenty of time…..yada yada, fast forward two years, Mommy Mojo is pregnant and Daddy Mojo has to get the Japanese room ready by spring.    Good news:  the wall paper in the room was only on the borders!

Bad news:   The wall paper was put on incorrectly.  That means that the when you remove the wall paper it leaves a very thick glue residue that can only be removed by scrubbing.  More bad news:  there were two layers of wall paper, followed by one layer of glue that could only be removed by scrubbing.

After trying dozens of ideas, steel wool, goop off, steamer +steel wool, voodoo, cursing and hurling things at the walls I found the only thing that worked.  The only thing that truly removed the glue was scrubbing, lots of scrubbing.  So much scrubbing that it took me a month of work to finish the room.    If you were to percentage the amount of work needed per task it was 20% removing decorative, 70% removing glue, 5% patching and 5% priming.

It was also surprisingly physically exhausting.  The glue did not come off easy and we must have gone through at least 25 kitchen sponges, in addition to a bag of steel wool.

Why do it then?

If you don’t remove all of the glue then it will raise once it’s primed and painted.  Hint:  Use oil based primer to patch any dings in the wall.   If you use water based primer then the water in the primer will react to the glue and raise it.  True, we looked at our downstairs room and realized  ‘Bryan Adams’ *was due to our using water and not oil based primer.

The Bottom Line

This is a border line project and by that I don’t mean put on Madonna and ignore your wife.  If the wall paper wasn’t put on correctly then the task will be a punishing exercise in slow movement.  If it was put on correctly, then you can say it was put on incorrectly and ignore your wife there.

If you have ample time do it, if time is pressing-hire a professional to remove the wall paper.

 

As a stay at home dad I miss having the spare time to fix things. Even though the child is my full time job, things still break or need a fix in the house. Sometimes the repair will be something that I easily complete and other times it’s a repair that I simply should’ve paid to have it done. Regardless, I’ll write it up here in hopes that you may be able to gauge what you can do and when you need to call in for help. The series is called, DIY a Stay at Home Dad Can Do, but in some cases, you shouldn’t, because of difficulty, time involved or money. All dads aren’t equal. If you value your time and don’t want to curse at glue covered walls, then bypass this post and go straight to the fart jokes, which should be in the next column.

 

*Bryan Adams-a term to describe what the mastiff left behind by wall paper does once combined with water.  To the lay persons’ eye it may look like acne as it is in some spots, but not others.  “Yo, my wall looks all Bryan Adams”, is a correct way to use it.