My learnings on stripping that 70s wallpaper

In May I mentioned that we'd be redecorating our house. That was back in the glory days of wilful blindness when I thought painting over the wallpaper would be achievable and a quick and easy cosmetic change to revamp the internals of the home. Ah, I miss those days.

It since revealed itself that painting over wallpaper was not a viable solution and therefore it needed to be stripped and the gib skim plastered. 

Wow - just like when I was a kid .........

The first area to tackle has been the hallway. The wallpaper often generates cries of delight from people who say "ooohhh, we used to have this in the living room when I was a kid". Well that's all very nice people, and great for you, but its still the length and breadth of our winding hallway while your childhood living room has no doubt had a face lift since.

A few things have revealed themselves to me during this process.
- the glue used in the 70s was of exemplary quality
- this wallpaper was made to last
- it doesn't wanna come off.

Being DIY novices we read the blogs for wallpaper stripping which tell the same storey: (i) score the paper with a tiger claw do-dacky, (ii) put on stripper solution (iii) wait (iv) steam or just peel off. Safe to say, this is an optimistic version of events. Our version was a bit more like: (i) score that paper like its the last thing you'll ever do, until you think there's more holes than paper (ii) lash on super-strong stripper (iii) wait (iv) curse in frustration as you achieve millimetre by millimetre of peeling.

The lesson we have learn - and I share this in case there is some other poor soul out there trying to remove wallpaper of the same extraordinary quality as ours - is as follows:

1.) Use tweezers (crappy pair you don't want anymore) and find that little bit of peeling wallpaper. Catch hold and rip. Yes, this will only take the top patterned coat off - it is true - but it is this top coat that is making life a living hell. The paper will prefer either an up or a down ripping action but should come off in large strips. If you have previously been moving at snail's pace, this type of activity will be extremely satisfying. (It also means if you have a vague sense of silliness, you can save a piece of wallpaper for posterity. I shall be framing a piece in the hallway as a memorial to this work.)

2.) Now you are simply left with the under/backing paper. It is porous to allow the stripper to soak in and absorbs water well. We have attacked this by rolling on a stripper solution, leaving for a few minutes, and then going at it with a scrapper, armed with a spray bottle of stripper solution when it dries out. I won't pretend its not still a long process, but compared to the previous tear-inducing progress, we are rolling along. After 2 months of on/off efforts we are nearing the end.