Wallpaper. I Hate You.

As we move from room to room we seem to be encountering different wallpaper obstacles. Some wallpaper is thick and when you do a dry pull you see that it is tearing down drywall behind it. Exhibit A below



If you see this happening stop. Try working from the top, nice and slow with a spray bottle of warm water and fabric softener. If the problem persists have a dry wall specialist take a look, quotes are free, OR do what we did and make the decision to simply put new sheets over it. Stucco look is another option but it depends on the look you like and your future buyer.

Some of the walls were prepped before the application of the wallpaper making the job much more manageable. Today I will discuss the easy way to tear down wall paper.

Tools you will need:

1. Spray bottle

2. Putty knife or 5 in 1 tool.

3. You can use fabric softener on the thicker paper or non prepped walls as you are going to have a lot more adhesive to scrape off in the end.

Yep that is about it. Fill your spray bottle with warm water and begin. My drywall guy said to start at the top and work your way down. He also introduced me to the fun fact that steamers are not the best way to go. If you leave it on in one spot it can saturate the drywall too much. This is the best way in his opinion. I am going to post pics we did not start from the top we just went every which way. I find the easiest way to scrape is in an upward motion. When you spray on the warm water give it a couple minutes to soak and then go to town. 

that it my mom going to town on the wallpaper.

Prepping after wallpaper includes:

1. Scraping off any glue residue and good washing of the walls. We purchased DIF from Sherwin Williams. It was good but when you scrape like we did I am not sure it is completely necessary.

3. Putty

2. Applying two coats of multi purpose primer (screw oil based it sucks)

Wash. Putty, Prime. Paint. If your house consists of 80% wallpaper like ours does my heart goes out to you but you will love your room when you take the time.

The Devil Incarnate

Grass Wallpaper from the 80's....

This stuff can get nasty we started with a basement full of it...

Some panels came off quite easy while others took a lot of scraping. The end result is simply what you see in the first picture.. a big mess, and no matter how much you scrape and wash the wall will never be perfect. SO options include:

1. Prepping the hell out of it then doing a skim coat

2. Prepping enough that the grass is all off and doing a stucco finish

3. Putting new dry wall sheets up.

there may be other options but these were the 3 presented to me. We are not going to be doing stucco in my opinion it is not easy for re-sale so we are going to choose option 1 and see where is gets us.

Where is the leak?

So after a few days of working on the house I came in one night and opened a closet door only to find moisture at the base of the drywall. As I looked down at my feet I noticed that the carpet was saturated all the way into the room next door, we have dubbed this room the bonus room. Behind the closet one will find a wet bar, so naturally one would assume the leak was coming from there. Well you cannot know where a leak is coming from without seeing what you are working with behind the wall. After a few holes in the drywall, the disposal of the carpet in the bonus room (it had to go anyway) and the gutting of the entire wet bar we found out that leak was not there!

So you get the dehumidifier, you dry it out, and THEN you turn on the water again. Go figure we have water again however it is coming from under the concrete slab HURRAY! Please take note it is winter and we also wanted to see if the water was coming from the exterior wall as THEN it would be a drain spout issue etc. So we were presented with 3 options from our plumber Chuck: 

1. break up the concrete fix the leak. 

2. isolate the hot, and then the cold, to determine which one or if it is in fact both that are cracked and run new piping over the concrete and then put a raised floor in the room.

3. run new piping up thru the wet bar (that will now become a closet) thru the ceiling and into the bathroom next door as that is really the only place that needs it

We chose option 3. Breaking up concrete is a pain in the ass so avoid it if you can. And I do not like the idea of a raised floor...

If you have a leak it's usually not a big deal to fix just a pain in the butt to find sometimes. We fixed up our condo and had water running thru the ceiling and down the walls, I learned how to solder pipes and it's really not that hard at all. I will be running new piping in our laundry room so in time I will post a you tube to show everyone how we did it and what you are capable of doing without a plumber handy and when you probably should just call the plumber :)

One Month In

Let's begin with a little background on this particular home. It was built in the 80's and whoever put in the trim work or assisted in the building of the addition to the home should quit their day job. Everything used in this home from the siding, to interior trim, to the vanities is simply an abortion. Almost 90% of the walls are covered in wallpaper and when you rip it down you find that they just applied wallpaper to drywall. I am Italian so for my blood pressure I have made up an alternate world and in that world the previous home owners did not CHOOSE to put wallpaper on drywall, no in this world primer did not exist during the 80's and they just simply had no choice! So instead of cursing the name I found written under the carpet I pulled up the other day (this name has been verified as the original home owners confirmed by the neighbors) I will just assume that they did everything wrong in this home because they simply had no choice.

So with all phases of construction there is demolition, which we seem to be very good at. However, when you take something a part you must put it back together again, this is where things seem to slow down. I keep watching the DIY channel and hope that maybe I can miraculously flip a room in one weekend, or sometimes I put on "Men at Work" in hopes that an 80's montage will happen in our living room where everyone wears overalls and by the end of the song the room is complete. Alas this dream remains in its true form and I am faced with the reality that this will probably take us 5 years. So with that said I find sanctuary in this blog and at the ears of my friends and family to listen to my woes. 

Along with my bitching you will find answers to some construction questions as we go along this journey. We will cross the bridges of, proper ventilation in your roof, water leaks under concrete slabs, flashing properly, the love of trees and the nightmare of root systems from hell, and even how to evict chipmunks from your basement.

Hope you guys enjoy the blog!