How To Remove Wallpaper

Dear Tim: I was attempting to remove some old wallpaper and found the previous owners of our home had applied the wallpaper over the wallboard un-primed (or at least that is how it appeared). I pulled off a great deal of wall board facing right down to the plaster core.

Thanks to your columns on the subject of wall covering, I think I have made the proper repairs, re-plastered, used shellac to keep plaster from soaking and drying too quickly, used a wall covering primer to provide the correct surface for wallpaper. I am also planning to use a sizing to help with the application process - good idea?

My question - My days are very limited and I do not know if I have the opportunity to apply all the wallpaper in one day? Can I set-up and apply only 4-5 pieces of wallpaper one day, and then come back days later and apply some more, and keep this progression till I am finished? With all the discussion of shrinkage and stretching, and the necessity to 'book' the wallpaper, I wondered if this would effect the wallpaper. George B.

Dear George: It sounds as if you have done all of the right things in getting the walls ready for the next wallpapering job. As for sizing, you absolutely must do it. I use a paint-like product that once dry appears to be a semi-gloss paint. But it is indeed a wallpaper primer that functions as a traditional sizing compound.

The purpose of this product is to block the adhesive from making its way to a traditional plaster surface or to the paper facing of traditional drywall. If the tough glue does this, you know the horrible results. This paint sizing is easy to apply and dries quickly.

As for applying wallpaper on different days, there is no problem with that at all. You only paste up and book as many sheets of paper as you can hang in one hour. The way I do it is that I always have one piece of cut paper pasted and booked as I am hanging the one before it. As soon as I finish hanging a strip of paper, I then cut a new piece from the roll, apply the paste activator, book it and then set it aside. At this point I have two pieces of booked paper, the first one having been set aside perhaps 15 minutes before.

The paper will expand at the same rate each day so you will not have any matching problems whatsoever.