My home was built in 1910 and the inhabitants have been happily applying wallpaper of all sorts over and under paint and other wall paper for apparently the entire 100 years. No one has paid the slightest attention has to how to properly apply wall paper and consequently each wall is a whole new experience.

I have a room that has these layers:

Extremely Old paper wallpaper on plaster
On top of that is paint
On top of that is vinyl wallpaper

In other areas in this room the layers are as follows:

Paint
On top of that vinyl wallpaper

I have successfully removed the wall paper in the first configuration. However, it is the vinyl on top of paint that is proving impossible to remove short or tearing it off in one quarter in pieces.

I want to try using that gel paint remover to see if it will dissolve the vinyl wallpaper.

Any comments would be very appreciated. Thank you.

Are you using that thing that tears small perferations in the wallpaper? That plus the gel may get the paper loose. My husband and I owned a house like you are describing. The older the wallpaper got - the uglier it got. We also had a kitchen floor with 8 layers of vinyl toped with ceramic tile. What a nightmare!

I have also used the gel wallpaper remover and put cling wrap over it and let it sit overnight. I had trouble getting vinyl off plaster - it was like it sealed.

I believe the tool EM is referring to is called a Tiger Paw. It is a palm sized disc with a toothed wheel under it. As you move your hand left or right the wheel perforates the paper. Gel does work well but so does s steam paper revoer.

I have used the tiger paw in another room and found that it made little holes in the drywall. This room, however, has plaster and not drywall. It doesn't work here either... all it does is put little holes in the paper but nothing gets under the paper.

I was wondering if the gel that dissolves paint off wood would dissolve the vinyl wallpaper off plaster. The paint removal gel is very expensive so I don't want to buy it unless there's a good chance it will work.

In this room I am working on now I have discovered another wonderful element. At about 6 feet up the wall, on all four walls, in a perfectly straight line, the vinyl wall paper is applied to plaster that protrudes from there to the ceiling about 1/16th of an inch out farther than the rest of the wall. This is a real mystery to me. I am thinking of just sanding it in a gradual angle and letting it go. Any other ideas? :eek:

I would like to agree that the older the wallpaper gets the uglier it gets.

I took a little peak at one of the bathrooms and it looks like it is going to be a real challenge. The deepest wallpaper is certainly from the time the house was built. Also, one of the back rooms was apparently a kitchen at one time and it has hardwood floors, glued on black tar paper on top of that, linoleum on top of that, more black tar paper on top of that, more linoleum and then indoor/outdoor carpet glued to that. I'm sure I'll be back here when I start that one.

I just went thropugh this on an 85-year-old house. Here's a couple of things to try:
1. Use the Tiger Paw as instructed.
2. I found that the concentrated DIF (mixed with hot water) actually works better in this type of situation than the gel. Spray liberally onto surface over which you've run the Tiger Paw.
3. Wait AT LEAST 15 minutes. If the DIF hasn't penetrated and started to loosen the paper, repeat step 2.

This can be a lengthy process to completely remove the paper. When you're done, be sure to wash down the wall with something like TSP to remove all of the paste residue.

Ask the people who did it to kindly remove it <G>?

How about putting moulding along the ceiling?

Thanks for the advice... I'll try it all... thanks

Hey VK the claw isn't supposed to make holes in the drywall, just the wallpaper so feel free to use it. It actually works well on plaster but you need to get the moisture into the paper via the tiny Tiger Claw holes so you may still consider a steam machine.