- Recruit someone to help with the demolition of the wall.
- Cover vents, windows, and other fixtures to protect from debris.
- Create a partition with cloth or plastic between other rooms to shield them from traveling dust.
- Remove doors, trim, and baseboards with your pry bar and hammer.
- Consider renting a dumpster for cleanup since curbside collection will not accept construction debris.
- Take out an interior wall to open up your floor plan and make your home more inviting. Hiring professionals for demolition can be costly, but you can remove an interior wall yourself as long as it’s not load-bearing.
Remember to order material, pull appropriate permits, demo, trim, and drywall, and build temporary supporting walls on each side. Consider issues such as load-bearing walls, electrical wiring, and plumbing when removing the wall.
Using a reciprocating saw, cut through the studs at the bottom of the wall and ask volunteers to help hold the stud in place. Use a taping knife and hammer to pry trim from the wall one piece at a time, so it can be reused later. Sever the ceiling-to-wall joint to ensure a safe and successful wall removal project.
📹 Watch This Video Before Removing Non Load Bearing Interior Walls – Old Home Remodeling Part 5
Https://www.homebuildingandrepairs.com/remodeling/index.html Click on this link for more information about home remodeling, …
📹 How To Remove Wallpaper
Forget the chemicals and steam machines! In today’s video, I’m showing you how to remove old wallpaper EASY – using only a …
Hey Jeff you are absolutely right! Removing wallpaper is very tricky. Tricks of the trade. Soak the wall several times with hot hot water. Steamers don’t work! Drop cloths on the floor to absorb the water. You probably used a STIFF putty knife to avoid-gouging the wall. Friendly tip when installing wallpaper make sure to apply a sizing or a sealer. You won’t be ripping off drywall when it comes time to remove the wallpaper. If you get a moment can you do a short article demonstrating the gooseneck paint brush. I have been featured twice in Professional painters magazine in Toronto and once in the Sherwin Williams in North America. I am a self taught professional/expert painter. I am also known as a paint problem problems Kind Regards! Don
I used the Paper Tiger and it made the job go faster. It perforated the top of the wallpaper so the water could get to the adhesive. I used a small garden sprayer with hot water to quickly apply the water to the wallpaper. (Worked faster than a steamer). Let the hot water sit on the wall for 3-5 minutes so it has time to loosen the glue behind the wall paper. Then use a 5″ putty knife and slide it behind the paper. It comes off in large pieces. Hopes this helps.
Paperhanger here, and this is exactly how I was taught. Of course there are different materials out there, but if you have a paper wallpaper, this is the way to go. We’ll usually add a bit of soap which keeps it from drying out quickly. Since most wallpaper adhesives are water-based, you can use this to wipe down your walls if you don’t plan on installing wallpaper again. Now last week we had a removal which didn’t go as planned, the existing wallpaper was installed with a glue that was not water-based, and no amount of soaking it would soften it enough to remove it easily. We primed over the wallpaper, and the parts that were not glued down well bubbled up. We just cut them out, and skimmed the wall. A fresh coat of primer and it was ready to go. If you plan on putting up any wallpaper, do your future self a favor and make sure the wall is prepped correctly, with a good wallpaper primer, and ask for a “strippable” adhesive. In the future when it’s time to remove it’ll make your life a whole lot easier. If you hire a wallpaper hanger, not all of them will make sure the wall is primed. If you can paint, consider priming the walls yourself before they get there to make sure it’s done right.
You are amazing! We had a so-called handy man come in, and he destroyed our bathroom wall when he scraped and made tiny holes on our wall. I just did what you did with the the box cutter and was smmothly able to peel some of the wallpaper. I had a bad feeling of that guy the first time when he tried to fix our door but needed me. No one listened to me. Thank you for your knowledge. Now i know i can do this myself if the need be and what to look out for.
Just an AWESOME article and explanation with all the little details regarding variations in walls and paints. I’m doing this tonight to make the wife happy in the bathroom. This is just EXACTLY what I was looking for and needed. Utility knife, sponge, water, and a wide putty knife. Today I was this many years old and I learned…
I rented a steamer from Home Depot and Started to remove the old wall paper in a small bathroom. The tile people were coming that day. I soon realized that that option was not working. I went to Youtube and found your article. In less than 2 hours I removed all the paper and paper backing, wiped it down, and had it ready for the tile guys. I could not have completed the job in time with the steamer and the paper tiger. I think you saved me at least a day. The paper was strippable but it left a backing that had to be removed before tiling. Thanks, Jeff. Jim Allegretti
How satisfying to peel off that adhesive layer with ease! Wish I saw this article before I bought that circular tool, but funny, we used it only for one small section, as the painted-over wallpaper peeled off easily! I think the adhesive deteriorated over 14 years, but we were so relieved to use only water & scraper, like in your article.
I just removed some wallpaper in my house that was applied in the ’70s. The brittle old top layer in my house was a bit tougher to remove than what you showed, but it was still much easier than all of my friends and family made it out to be. (Edit: There were even parts where wallpaper was on top of more wallpaper.) Thanks for the great tips!
Thank you so much for this article. My question is,you mentioned that the wall behind was painted, how do you tell if it is just plain dry wall? Silly question, I know. Lol. New to all this and wouldn’t want to ruin my wall with too much water. Trying to save money not spend more. Thank you in advance.
I find it best to use the perforation tool. Many, if not most, wallpaper can be difficult to simply peal off the outer layer of wallpaper. This is where the perforation tool comes in. It let’s water get behind the first layer and begins to break down the adhesive. I do find the wallpaper removal chemicals to be a waste of money. Usually hot water does the trick.
Excellent information Jeff! I appreciate you letting people know that the ease of your removal process depends highly on the different factors like the type of substrate, how the substrate was prepared, the type of wallpaper adhesive, how many layers of paper and if the paper has been painted over. I’ve removed a ton of commercial wallpaper and every wall is a little bit different and might be faster with a different technique. The technique you use in this article I call the dry scrap method. Dry scrap works very with vinyl faced wallpaper and vinyl faced fabric but not so well with paper faced wallpaper. With paper faced wallpaper I would recommend sanding the face of the paper with 60-80grit sandpaper on a random orbit sander to open up the pores of the paper to accept water similar to the scouring tool but easier on your arm and easier on the wall. Then I’d recommend vacuuming up the paper dust, taping the baseboards and putting towels down, get a garden style pump sprayer and and spray down the wall with the hottest water that comes out of your tap wait 10 mins and spray again.
I use a 50/500 solution of white vinegar/water in a misty bottle. I mist the wall in small areas. Wait about 30 seconds and scrape with the scraper. It removes the paper and the adhesive. Mist the walls with the solution to clean the rest of the adhesive off the walls. I’ve done this over four decades. It works.
Great article, thanks for sharing! I’ve stripped wall paper several times and my system is slighty different. I use a 1 gallon garden sprayer instead of a sponge. Using the sprayer keeps me from bending over so much to reload the sponge. The sponge will slow you down and help prevent over-soaking the wall, I guess. Anyway, I use hot water with a good squirt of dish soap. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water and allows it to soak in a little faster. Spray a good section of the wall, about 4×8 feet, until the water just begins to run then stop spraying and wait about 3-5 minutes. If the paper doesn’t peel easily, spray it with water again and wait a few minutes. Once you find the paper peeling easily, spray the next section and let it soak while you peel the previous section. While peeling if you feel resistance, stop and give it a little respray of water, wait a few moments then start peeling again. Patience is the most important tool in the tool box to avoid damaging the drywall. Lastly, have a big trash can handy to put that wet paper in. It’s a pain picking it up off the floor. I’ve enjoyed all your articles over the years. Thanks for helping us duffers out!
I recently bought a large house with all wallpaper. Thankfully all the walls were primed and the installation job was really well done. Unfortunately it was her 90s pink roses and plaid. This is exactly what I did for two of the rooms and it worked great. Then I tried two other rooms and this method did not work quite as well. A much lighter, less strippable paper. Ended up getting a wallpaper steamer and that worked well for those rooms. In between I did try the thing that scores the wall with holes. That wasn’t great, because no matter how light you try and score, you end up puncturing the dry wall in some places and then end up with drywall bubbles from the water, and having to skim coat the whole thing anyway.
I’ve been painting for 20+ years and had my fair share of removing wallpaper. All I can tell you is this method will only work on the easiest of easiest wallpaper removals. Definitely should be your first approach in tackling it. But if the top layer only comes off in half inch tiny slivers and water can’t even soak in, that is when the perforator tool comes in handy. It makes that impossible to peel layer pourus so you can sponge and peel it, or more than likely bust out thr steamer and have the steam get passed it and finally make it removable. Wallpaper can be super duper duper easy to remove like in this article to a complete nightmare that is literally impossible to finish without a steamer and perforator. You will know when you run into the ladder…. And this method, even if you soak it down 20000 times will not get it done.
Funny story: I tried your method and was less than impressed. There was a lot more scraping involved on the first wall than your article led me to expect but, in for a penny, in for a pound and I soldiered on. It was several days before I tried again due to a shoulder injury and I was afraid the scraping would be painful. I started the second wall and immediately noticed a huge difference. This time I could peel off the backing in sheets, almost no scraping required! 😳 It turns out the wall I started with hadn’t been painted so I was scraping the backing off textured drywall but the other walls had been painted before the wallpaper was hung so your method worked great! Thanks for taking the time to post a article that saved me time and money 😊 (plus it’s so satisfying!!)
Thank you for this article. I followed all your advice and the paper is coming off relatively easily. Only issue I’m having is that there is still a ton of glue on the walls. Any tips on how to easily get the glue off? My guess is that the former owners wallpapered right over sheet rock because I don’t think there is paint under. The wall under the paper looks nasty yellow 🤢 maybe they smoked or it’s just the coloring of the glue from 1987.
I just did this earlier this year in one of my bathrooms that had a ugly blue wallpaper covering the majority of the walls plus another wallpaper border that had sailboats and lighthouses on it. I lived with it for 10 years thinking it’d be such a major pain because of all the wallpaper horror stories but it legit took me 15 mins to pull off cleanly and easily. I used a very damp rag to wet the the wallpaper and it came off in whole sheets. Some bits of backing was left behind which rubbed right off with a swipe of the damp rag. Gave the newly uncovered wall several wipes with a clean damp cloth to get leftover glue residue. Super easy. Can’t believe I was afraid to do it for so long. Same with popcorn ceiling removal. Why do ppl (contractors included) dread popcorn removal? A spray of plain water with a squirt bottle and a putty knife gets it right off cleanly. 🤷
This has been a great help to me. I am removing wallpaper from every room of what was my parents house. This paper was put up probably 30 years ago. Once finished pulling the paper, the backing paper and glue, I plan on painting the walls versus new wallpaper. Thank you so much for all the helpful tips!
I just have one of the steam wallpaper removal tools. Basically it uses water, same as this method, but in steam form and you don’t have to remove the top layer of wallpaper first so it is a lot less work. A model from a low cost brand costs about US$35 here (Sweden), but so far both me and my dad has gotten the moneys worth out of the tool. I prefer this method, just Steam & Scrape.
That looks like the right method, only I’ve never once seen the top layer come off anywhere near that easy. In every room I’ve ever stripped, the top layer comes off mostly in little bits and a few strips a few inches wide before tearing and leaving an inner white paper layer firmly glued to the wall. Of course, that will soften with moisture, but I think the intent of the scoring tool it to penetrate such recalcitrant paper so it’ll turn loose of the backing, not necessarily to get all the layers off in one go. If you try to do that then yes, you’ll score the underlying wallboard and have to repair it.
I am likely the best wallpaper removal guy in Sarasota, Florida, by way of New England. I use the same process except I use a spray bottle with a fine mist and it has worked out fine for decades. The biggest thing is to let it sit for 60 seconds or so before you start to remove it and also, keep it wet ahead of you. If it is dry, you can’t do it, you have to stop and re-wet it. Good luck.
I was perusal your articles before and i enjoyed them. Now I am in the process of buying my first house that was built in 1963 without any renovations whatsoever, when i saw the wallpapers during my visit, i remembered your DIY articles and I will try to do some of the works myself and save money, hopefully. So, thank you for sharing your skills, tricks, and knowledge, keep up the great work.
You’ve made it look so easy. My wallpaper was installed 40 years ago. We tried to take half-bath wallpaper off using DIF and paper tiger. We have a mess as far as having 3 layers on wall. We still have to remove the second layer of wallpaper in some spots without removing top layer of wallboard. We are going to tackle kitchen this weekend. Since we’ve already scored it, should we expect to have small portions to strip off even if we reset over and over and wait longer? The DIF said to wait 2-5 minutes, I think.😖 we didn’t wait long enough. We can try hot water and see. Also, we bought a wallpaper scraper when we should have bought one like yours
Stripped a bathroom and dressing area a month ago. Wallpaper was pre-1960 before pre-pasted wallpaper, back when wallpaper glue was applied to the paper back with a wide brush (over plaster of course). An additive to the water for soaking the paper does accelerate the process. The chemical sold at Big Box stores is about $20 /liter, but a liter of fabric softener (Fleecy) is $1.50 at the dollar store and may be superior.
I finished a closet in my old house yesterday. With multiple layers over plaster, nothing bigger than the palm of my hand peeled off and it took me ten hours for 56 sq. feet. The best thing I did was tape off the woodwork to attach plastic sheeting and cover that with 4 or 5 towels— I used a LOT of water! Thanks for saying don’t bother with that scorer tool; I see it would’ve just added more time for nothing!
I bought my grandparents’ home, in which they’d lived for the last 45 years after fully gutting and redoing it. I used this method to easily remove the wallpaper in the bathroom, but in the hallway, I’ve discovered they applied the wallpaper directly to the bare, unprimed drywall. Using this method worked great to get the paper layer off, but is breaking down and damaging the drywall in the process of trying to get the glue layer off. What do I do? I’m at my wit’s end 😢
Or if you are like me, all the walls are nicely plastered and have been a breeze to get the wallpaper off, the last wall, ffs I am currently trying to scrape off left over wallpaper adhesive, tried a few different products best seems to be watered down vinegar in a spray bottle and a lot of elbow grease.
Hey, Jeff! New subscriber here. I was searching the web for a “how to” for wallpaper removal. I’ve done it in the past and fought the removal every inch of the way. Thankfully, I found your website and this popped up. Sure is easier to do it this way. My only issue was that the wallpaper (vinyl coated) has been up for 35 years. It didn’t strip as nicely as your demo, but removing the paper backing from the wall went really well. Thanks for all you do to help the DIY folks out here.
While Jeff had no problem removing his wallpaper with properly primed wall and all. Not a situation everyone is in. I inherited a place and it had 4-6 layers of wallpaper, probably used wrong adhesive that has been there for 20+ years. I tell you, removing with just a sponge and a putty knife would have been a job for foreseeable 3 years. Hell, I went with steamer, chemical, some voodoo and some heavy metal music and it still took me a day or two per room.
As a contractor and carpenter 30+yrs excellent article. Sometimes even pros forget things we learned 15/20 years ago. Most of the bathroom remodels we do it’s demo to bare studs for plumbing/ electric/insulation. Then tile over new durarock or whatever is the newest product. Crazy the last 7yrs how many new systems have come out.. thanks again.
I am going through this right now in my hall bathroom. It had three layers which peeled off like Jeff showed, but when I got down to the last layer, I found that the drywall was not primed. Also, the previous owners just ripped off the first layer of wallpaper, tearing the drywall paper. My house is 56 years old and the glue on that last layer will NOT come off. I am using a solution to try and remove that. There is so much damage, I am considering replacing the drywall.
My Dad died in March, and I am buying his $360k house for $130k after buying out my sister’s half. Hoping to finally have it in my name before Thanksgiving. We agreed on $260k as a middle ground between $250k (Me) and $275k (Her). The house is assessed at $360k, but other than the kitchen in 2007, and windows in 2007, the house is still the same as it was when Dad built it in 1994. So despite the real estate websites having it worth $400k, and the assessor having it at $360k, it most likely wouldn’t sell for even $300k in it’s current condition. He added some border wallpaper to my old room, his room, the bathroom, and laundry room back in 2007 as well. It has been a NIGHTMARE to take down, as I am learning everything on the fly (Dad never taught me anything. “I’ll just do it myself” was his motto as a Construction and Mechanical Engineer. He was an absolute perfectionist). Hell, when I mowed his acre of land for the first time, it was the first time I had ever mowed (I can do it in 75 minutes now). I turn 37 on Friday. I need to patch some drywall after removing trim in mine and his rooms, and then repaint the entire second floor to the original 1994 white. Update the bathrooms, replace the near 30 year old carpet. Ugh…. I am just gonna paint the 2nd floor, do the carpet on the second floor, and refinish the hardwood floors on the first floor before I move in. From there (after moving in), update the bathrooms on the second floor, and then remove the wallpaper and repaint the entire first floor (THAT will be done professionally.
I do two things differently. 1. A little washing up liquid in the water to break the surface tension. 2. A garden spray (pump up type) I don’t over spray, no rivulets of water running down the wall ;o) Take the top layer off. Spray the underliner paper then it’s Brew Time. Then spray again if there are any dry patches and it comes off like magic (most of my walls are plaster as the house was built in 1911).
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and one more for the road, THANK YOU! I have an older house and removing the pasted wallpaper was depressing and I was just about to give up and then I found your article and I want to say that removing that stubborn paper was like cutting through soft butter. Thank you so much! You definitely have a new subscriber!
I just did a wallpaper removal. It was a complete disaster. Took me over 5 days just to remove the wallpaper. It was in a home that was built in the 60’s. I literally cussed out a wall 😆 I finally removed it, but had to remove mostly the dry wall that exposed the brown paper. I painted on 123 primer, and then did a joint compound, sanded a small amount, and redid the primer, came out great. Looking back, I should of just hired somebody, it was a nightmare.
This worked really well at first–just like Mr Thorman demonstrated. But it turned out I had a second layer of wallpaper behind the first. Put on probably when the house was built in 1967. This is on drywall. I had a hard time separating the decorative layer from the adhesive layer for that second wallpaper. Maybe adhesives were different back then? Quite a bit of damage to the dry wall. I’m looking for that article on skim coating the whole wall.
Why wouldn’t anyone do it like you’re showing? Well, for me, I dont happen to have a vinyl laminated paper that delaminates easily- it’s an all paper product. Nor do I have a painted wall behind it. This narrative basically says Im inept for not having an ideal situation on my hands, but Im happy that it’s so easy for you. Jealous.
I was just about to get a steamer to remove paper wallpaper. Then when you showed this, I thought to give it a try your way first to potentially save money on rental. My 11years wallpaper actually came out in one piece also together with the back glued side too :). Only several small pieces of the back side was on the wall, so I sprayed it and it went like a margarine off of the wall. 20mins work and no money spent. Thank you ever so much!!!! 🙂
Just bought a home full of wall paper that I’ll need to remove. This could have not come at a better time!!! Just a question – I believe the wallpaper was installed back in 1978, what should I do if water is not enough? Would adding some vinegar or fabric softener (like a lot of other people recommend) be a good solution?
Painter here with 21 yrs experience. Make this even quicker, get a pressurised spray bottle for $15 and a wallpaper scorer. 1. Peel the top layer if it’s vinyl or thick paper. 1a. Score the wall. 2. Spray a solution of vinegar and hot water. 3. Saturate the paper 4. Leave 10 mins. 5. Check if the paper is saturated, if not, respray. 6. Repeat step 5 if required. 7. Scrape paper of reeeeeally easy. If you really want to help this and have several rooms to scrape. Use a steamer! But…. not against the wall. Put the steamer nozzle on a ladder facing out into the room. Put something underneath to catch the water! Spray the walls as above, then leave the steamer going for an hour or so. When you go back into the room the wallpaper will be so much easier to remove and may peel on its own. Once you have stripped the room, open all of the windows and crank up the heating to dry the moisture. You may have to wait a day before painting if it is really saturated walls.
There are many types of wallpaper and wall situations each requiring different removal products and techniques….. Great that he took the time to show how its done…but that was the absolute easiest paper removal situation. When you get a 60 yo wall with various papers and no seizing under the first paper… You will be begging for a wallpaper steamer and any chemical that could ease your frustration. Im a house painter for 30+ years.
Had to remove wallpaper today. 90% of my wallpaper was on a painted drywall surface, the other 10% was non painted drywall. The non painted drywall is taking 20x longer to take off than the painted drywall. Basically the adhesive bonded to the face of the drywall, making every piece you scrape the size of a penny and easily damage the drywall. The wallpaper is over 30 years old.
I tried this method and my wallpaper top layer kept ripping into tiny shreds. Then I got it wet. After that I could take as big of pieces off the top layer as I wanted. The bottom layer came off just as the article said. Patience was the biggest challenge after I figured out the top layer. So glad it worked!!
I agree. I’m removing wallpaper from two baths being remodeled. I started thinking this will be a breeze according to the article instructions. If it was only that simple. Started in a upper corner where some was slightly peeled back. I get a couple inches off and that’s it. The surface paper does not come off anywhere close to as easy as the article states. The paper is a single layer and is almost 30 years old. I’m likely hiring it done because two rooms of floor to ceiling wallpaper at this pace will test my patience big time. So take this as a warning that you may run into very stubborn wallpaper and find it’s not as easy as you think. I’ve learned long ago when something is out of my capability to do easily, just let a professional do it, it’s cheaper in the long run.
As I have found, there is some wallpaper where the outer layer just doesn’t come away in nice big strips like that. Most people will be looking at alternatives for a reason. Kind of annoying to have to buy a perforator / chemicals / steamer, but I would prefer to do that than spend 3 days on stripping 1 room.
You just potentially saved me a LOT of hassle with that comment near the start of the article. This is a very very old property in Scotland and I think, as you put it, the wallpaper is holding the wall together 😅 stripped a little bit and it’s crumbling to bits. I was about to just keep going but in this case, it’s better if I just paper over the paper? It already has very thick plain wallpaper that’s been painted on it. Still ok to just paper over that? It’s all ripped in places (bloody pets) so definitely needs done
Thanks Jeff! Always pays to consult with your website before tackling any job, even when I think I know what I’m doing. Often some new tip to learn. I just stripped wallpaper out of a closet that had been there for over 40 years. The back wall had one layer, the side walls had two layers, with a very brittle top layer. Your method worked like a charm on the single layer as I was able to strip the face off fairly easily. From there it was a breeze. For the wall with two layers I had to use the perforation tool and one application of DIF spray gel in order to get the top layer to peel. I’ve used the perforator successfully in the past without affecting the drywall at all. As it only takes minimal pressure to score the paper, the key is to only apply enough pressure to keep the tool in contact with the wall, that does the trick. Learned the hard way the first time I used it, pressed too hard and did slightly perforate the paper layer of the drywall.
Good tips. Just want to add for anyone here that feels bad about not making these work… There is a big difference to the techniques and work depending on how many layers of wallpaper, and what is underneath. The biggest pain is when the surface underneath is not a painted one, as this means the last layer wont “glide off” with the techniques. You will instead have to be careful and not jack the surface underneath – For this I recommend using the steamer for the last layer, and having patience for each section. 🙂 Just sidenote, dont use steamer on the boards that are more wooden/cardboard (not sure of the name in english) You will notice they cant handle steam, for those you can spackle a little more and then use a cover wallpaper for smooth surface.
Maybe I wasn’t paying attention but where is the info on removing the glue residue after you get the wallpaper of? Using sandpaper is not going to cut it for me. My glue residue is some stubborn stuff! I have old wall board from the ’60s and don’t want to be messing with removing old paint from the surfaces.
We bought a house that is 103 years old with 4 layers of wallpaper on lath and plaster on 90% of the walls and ceilings! 😢 I wish the paper came off that easy! I have had to score, spray with solutions of vinegar and water and fabric softener and water spray it on the paper and use a steamer to scrap it off. It is a long, strenuous process. Why did I buy this old house : /
So my parents put theirs on top of a knockdown textured wall. I know they did it that way with the idea it would be easier to remove, but I really cannot find a article of wallpaper being taken off a textured wall. A little test showed me both layers are coming up while it’s dry, but not cleanly, and I’m worried it’s going to take the paint underneath with it or ruin the wall. Should I just wet it first without peeling anything?
This did not work for me. Whatever paper was used in my house is not the same as what is being demonstrated here. Mine isn’t separating at all. Certainly not in large pieces— More like half inch strips. He also isn’t showing how he got to this point. He’s half way through and can easily get under the paper. The was he’s doing this – might as well be magic.
IF the wallpaper is smooth and IF it is stuck to the wall well and not coming off you can prime over it with Zinser odorless oil based primer to seal the wallpaper and then paint over it with latex paint. The trick is to brush the primer on all the wallpapaer seams first to get a good seal and then roll the wall. With primer and 2 coats of paint your wallpaper seams will all but disappear and you won’t have to worry about the wallpaper bubbling because the oil based primer prevents moisture from the latex top coat from penetrating the wallpaper.
im looking at two layers of wall paper a lot of which already pulled off and its on bare drywall at least 40 years old im thinking it be faster to just skim coat it all will pre-mixed drywall compound all this because the customer ie mom wants to save 50 bucks on drywall i want to pull the old drywall ti inspect the inside of the wall house is over 150 years old and the main thing is we are trying to fix the floor yes this small thing turned into a can of worms concealed electrical boxes missing support post in a load-bearing wall and header over a window well the question is when skim coating over the wall paper what type of drywall compound should be used