Think my wife is having an MLC, looking for help

[smith18]

Trent -

Have you ever shopped at City Liquidators under the Morrison bridge on the east side (about 3rd ave)? They have all kinds of cool and vintage decorating items and furniture.

[TrentC]

I have not.

Maybe I'll do that this weekend or the next.

I have plenty of furniture at the moment; what I need is LIGHT! I need real curtains and maybe another lamp to light up one of the darker corners of the room.

[Jack_Three_Beans]

Well...

Here are the things you will NEED.

Metal putty knife. AT least 3" wide. Clean off all the old putty and crud on it you want it flat.

I've used fabric softener, as well as heating it with an old iron.

You doing laundry?


Things you WANT:

1 - DIF (wallpaper stripper) from HomeDepot or Lowes. Seriously you want this. I wouldn't strip wallpaper without it.

2 - 2 gallon pressure sprayer. One of the plastic ones from again Home Depot or Lowes. These are the type you hand pump. Used in Gardens and such. Use the term above for a search to see what I mean. However a simple spray bottle will work just as well. A bucket and a sponge as your last resort.

3 - Garbage bags.

4 - OLD towels.

Step 1.
Mix the DIF and water according to directions. You want the water to be the hottest water you can get from the tap.

Step 2.
fold towels lenghtwise and place under walls with wallpaper. This protects the floor.

Step 3.
Spray the wallpaper, with solution. Or apply with sponge.

Step 4. wait 10-15 minutes.

NOTE:
Wallapaper is usually two ply. Usually Vinyl. You Pull, peel the top cover off first. All over the room, leaving a paper backing still on the wall.

Step 5.
Apply more solution to the next few...2-3 sheet of wallpaper you are going to be pulling down. Start with your fingernail or the putty knife to peel away the top layer. Once it starts coming up, try to pull evenly across the top and pull off the entire front cover of the wall paper. Leave the backing on the wall. If you do this right you can pull off complete sheets of wallpaper. TRY NOT TO TEAR it off. You make your job harder if you have to pull alot of little pieces off.

Step 6. reapt this process until all the front coverings are off.

NOTE if Wallpaper covering/front ISN'T coming off repeat spraying down and wait for 10-15 mins. It will. Unless some sadist used Elmers glue.

It should come off realtively easy. Use putty knife on hard patches and spray. Do not dig into the wall.

Step 7. Clean up as you go. Put trash in garbage bags.

Step 8. Spray down the backing that is left on the walls. It should be wet to the touch, not damp. WET.

Step 9. Use putty Knife to pull off but not tear off from the rest and using the same even pull from the top (OR BOTTOM/ wallpaper either lays UP or DOWN depending on how it was put up.) try to remove the backing in big sheets.

Step 10. Clean up. Remove towels, dry up floor.

Step 11. Clean walls with sponge and warm water.

NOTE: imporatnat USE HOT WATER with solution, this makes all the difference in the world.

Hope this helps.

Oh yeah...take off the light switch covers and the outlets covers. IF those are covered in wallpaper put them in a bucket of hot water and leave them until you are done. Wallpaper slides right off.

[TrentC]

Someone who had done some remodeling suggested unscented fabric softener because it works almost as well and is a lot cheaper.

I've used DIF; think I still have a bottle somewhere.

This wallpaper is not vinyl, sadly. We had a room done in that and it took like an hour to pull down. :P

This room has old, crappy paper. Shreds like nobody's business.

[Jack_Three_Beans]

Someone who had done some remodeling suggested unscented fabric softener because it works almost as well and is a lot cheaper.

cheaper...ehhh debatable. I'd rather spend 2 hours doing a project than all day. Time and money, I know I value my time.

Ok the older stuff.

WET. You want it Sopping Wet, and a putty knife. HOT Water.

[smith18]

City Liquidators has cool lights and I seem to remember lava lamps. I have a tall light I got there that is like an octopus (5 arms) with globe bulbs for my living room. I need to find one of those bendable lights for my daughter to clip on her bed to use as a reading light. I may go there this weekend too.

[TrentC]

OK, I've gotten more done by myself in 2 hours than my wife and I did together in 4, the last time we worked up the courage to tackle this.

If you can find me in the alt, you can see pics...

[TrentC]

I had to stop stripping wallpaper on Friday night because my stripper broke(!) and I couldn't find any of my putty knives.

Saturday, I took out the small set of blinds in the bathroom window and installed some privacy film instead, to let more light in. I also hung some curtain rods in my bedroom; I still have the bedsheets hanging from them, but finding or making curtains will be easy. I took a break and went to a movie with my friend's son, and got something to eat with him afterward.

Today is church following by a Retrouvaille post session; my wife said she wants to go, so I can't pass that up.

When I told my IC on Thursday about the books I was reading, she said "aren't you reading anything for fun?" I laughed and listed the other books I've read in the past few weeks. Her advice is to keep doing what I'm doing; GAL, work on myself, give my wife space to figure out whatever she needs to figure out right now.

[Puppy Dog Tails]

There's really nothing worse than a broke stripper.

Puppy

[job]

If you are in dire straits to get the wallpaper removed, try Piranha wallpaper & paste remover. It works quite well and you do not need a putty knife to remove the wallpaper once it's been applied.