Wallpaper removal

[elvislives2012]

I've got a whole house that I have to strip of its ancient wallpaper. I've been googling and there seems to be mixed opinions of the best way to do it. We've got a wallpaper stripper so is it best to do it manually or with the machine? Any experience?

The steam from the stripper loosens the paper, so - if you are lucky, it just slides off easily, if you are not so lucky, it will make it easier to scrape off. It's not really either/or though - you still need to scrape - but it will be easier if you've steamed it first.

A steamer is quicker
But be very careful if you have old plaster as the steam can make it crack and fall off the wall

It is old plaster, I think. 1950s house so not sure when last done, if ever!

Dh stripped all the bedrooms in our house recently and used a spray bottle with Fabric conditioner and water in, it came of very easily. He said he found it on youtube. Didn't want to use a steamer we don't have one dont want to buy one

Steamer is faster but messier. 1950 is not old plaster

Hoe long does plaster last for then?

any plaster before about 1930 that I have seen was lime plaster (some with horsehair etc) and can last for hundreds of years. The oldest I have seen in England was about 800 years old. In other countries that were not invaded by Normans or others, older buildings may exist. It can be damaged or fail, especially on ceilings where it is liable to crack and fall down. It is usually near-white, creamy or light grey. It can withstand damp.

Modern plaster since about 1930 has usually been gypsum plaster (as is Plaster of Paris). It is usually pink when dry. It will crumble if persistently damp. Ceilings since about 1946 are usually plasterboard, which is less likely to crack or fall down.

As ceilings are held up by nails, any damp will make them rust and the ceilings will then fall down.

Modern houses are much drier than in the past, so nails are less inclined to rust.

I spent last weekend stripping wallpaper. I borrowed a steamer and the paper came off easy. Has put me off getting anymore wallpaper. Just waiting on a plasterer showing up

I am not very fond of wallpaper, but it seems to me that if the wall has previously been painted, the paper and residue of paste come off fairly easily.

I hate wallpaper!!! Such a pain. I'm going to do an experiment and do one room manually and one with the stripper

Don't know about about the dates of plaster (I bow to Piglet's superior knowledge) but would agree that a steamer can 'blow' the plaster. Did this in my MIL's 1960s bungalow, if you held the steamer a fraction of a second too long against the wall, the plaster kind of expanded, then cracked, and fell off the wall.

We have since successfully used a steamer in our own (1930s) house but the key was having a couple of tools that my H borrowed from a professional decorator - both very sharp very wide scrapers (almost like windscreen wipers). Meant he we managed to get rid of one woodchipped ceiling in 3 days rather than more!