Charlie:
Jarod in Humble writes, “I’m looking for the best ways to remove wallpaper.” So is Lucille in Humble. This is a two-for, Tom. They want to strip some wallpaper, and they want … Lucille seems to think you had some kind of recipe. Jarod just wants to get it off. What’s the easiest way to get wallpaper off?
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Tom:
There’s no easy way. It’s a mess. If it was put directly on the sheetrock which most of it is, you’re just going to tear the wall up. The answer to this is, if you’re going to remove wallpaper, a steamer. You rent one and you steam it off. It is just a horrendous mess. What I always did no matter what, if either you want to re-wallpaper, you want to paint and texture, whatever the case may be, I’d paint it with a pigmented shellac and I’d seal it. Then you an float over it with joint compound, smooth it out with a damp sponge, and then you can either re-wallpaper, you can go ahead and texture and paint, but I would not take it off. I would leave it on and seal it down. I think most people would follow that who have been through this before.