The Lemon Fool

I’ve had a tradesman round to quote for stripping blown vinyl wallpaper which appears to have been pasted directly onto the plasterboard walls. I’ve never experienced this before – I’ve always had plaster-skimmed walls – but internet searching suggests it happens. The house dates from 1995 and presumably it must have been like this from new.

I want to have the textured blown vinyl removed and then have the walls emulsioned. Clearly the difficulty with stripping the paper will be separating it from the paper coating on the plasterboard. The tradesman has explained that the solution is to re-plasterboard the room, removing and reattaching skirting, architraves, sockets and switches.

Is there another way? Do I have any chance of removing vinyl wallpaper without damaging the underlying plasterboard? If there is significant damage could I get it skimmed in the normal way?

Any experience or views appreciated, thanks.

Sounds like the cowboys were there in 1995
Who knows what sort of adhesive they would have used?
I have no experience of that so maybe the tradesman is right
Can you get another trade guy to have a look and see what he says?

Helluva long time since I've done it (in my parents' home), but as I recall, the technique is the same as for any heavy vinyl wallpaper. You lift a corner and rip the vinyl surface away from its paper base - it should all come off in one sheet, leaving a felt-like layer of paper on the wall. Your next job is to get the paper off the plasterboard, which will involve a cheap steamer and quite a lot of patience. Sugar soap helps.

Forget all of the above if the cowboys have used anything other than wallpaper paste. If it's glue, you're into replacing the plasterboard anyway. Although come to think of it, I've got van-load of blown vinyl you can have. Ever so tasteful, it is. Palm trees and flamingoes, like a Spanish bar. Lovely jubbly.

BJ

Nice post Del-boy - pukka

bungeejumper wrote:Forget all of the above if the cowboys have used anything other than wallpaper paste. If it's glue, you're into replacing the plasterboard anyway.

Is it really so bad I'd need to have all the plasterboard removed and replaced? I was hoping at worst it would need to be skimmed.

Once the offending paper is removed, could you paper over using lining paper and then paint?

I find it very surprising that new plasterboard is being suggested.

In my experience - as a DIYer who has done plenty of wallpapering and a fair bit of stripping (stop tittering at the back ) - I have found that the worst that might happen is that in places the thin plaster coat on the board might come away. Surely a quick skim would solve this issue.

staffordian wrote:In my experience - as a DIYer who has done plenty of wallpapering and a fair bit of stripping (stop tittering at the back ) - I have found that the worst that might happen is that in places the thin plaster coat on the board might come away. Surely a quick skim would solve this issue.

With enough care and patience, I'm sure it can be done. But they tell me that some of the glues in use are (a) hard like plastic, or (b) rubbery and eternally sticky. I never hung blown vinyl, personally, but I believe that the technique was to slather the wall thickly and then apply the paper dry?

Either way, something tells me that it'd be a bother unless the paste came off easily with a stripper, as it did for me. Here's hoping that the OP is in luck. Not much to lose by trying.

BJ

monabri wrote:Once the offending paper is removed, could you paper over using lining paper and then paint?

I think the tradesman is saying that removing the vinyl wallpaper will certainly damage the paper covering on the plasterboard quite badly and lining paper will not cover the damage. I need to get another tradesman to look at it and explain why skimming wouldn't be possible.

staffordian wrote:I find it very surprising that new plasterboard is being suggested.

In my experience - as a DIYer who has done plenty of wallpapering and a fair bit of stripping (stop tittering at the back ) - I have found that the worst that might happen is that in places the thin plaster coat on the board might come away. Surely a quick skim would solve this issue.

There isn't a thin plaster coat on the board - this is what is so surprising to me. The wallpaper is stuck onto the paper of the plasterboard. It must have been done when the house was built as there is no other decor present, presumably on the assumption that blown vinyl would never go out of fashion.

You're looking at something called "dry lining". Plasterboards were fixed to the internal wall and a slurry mix was used between boards before they were painted. The paint sealed the boards.

This wasn't a bodge job. It was quite a common finish in the 1990's. The boards do not need to be removed. The paper will come off quite easily. But I'd suggest you don't use a steam stripper as this can often lead to damaging the boards integrity due to the heat. In the wrong hands a steam stripper can do a lot of damage.

The vinyl will remove by pulling it off. Often it will separate from it's lining paper which will then need to be removed. You could try and soak this lining paper with water to see if that removes it.

Failing that I'd suggest an approved chemical wall paper stripper. These are purchased concentrated and diluted on site. They contain enzymes which break down the wallpaper adhesive. They shouldn't damage the paint which originally sealed the dry lining but as always test a small area first.

AiY

Blown vinyl should come off ok unless it's been painted. an oil based primer was often recommended, if it has been used I'd move house.

Other than that I would just work a corner of the vinyl away from the backing and pull. It should come away in one sheet. you can strip the backing off relatively easily.

Personally at that stage I'd have the walls wet plastered and paint them. You will inevitably have gouged into the plasterboard and trying to fill and sand more than a few of these is time consuming and won't give a satisfactory finish after painting. The plasterer will PVA the wall and plaster it.

sg31 wrote:Blown vinyl should come off ok unless it's been painted. an oil based primer was often recommended, if it has been used I'd move house.

In our first house when we married the lounge, hall and stair walls were papered with wood chip and painted over with oil based gloss. Still there when we left 3 years later and probably still there today!

quelquod wrote:In our first house when we married the lounge, hall and stair walls were papered with wood chip and painted over with oil based gloss. Still there when we left 3 years later and probably still there today!

Ah yes, donkey's breakfast, they used to call it. We've had to get rid of a fair bit of that. The technique was to wire-brush the wall, so as to pierce the paint all over, and then apply a wallpaper stripper for six hours, and then finally use your steamer. It sort of worked, although you'd still end up sanding the wall to get the pesky bits off it.

BJ