Hi,

What I've been doing with my 50+ year old paper is:
a. Strip the wallpaper off.

b. Wash wall with Dirtex, following 2-bucket process that I read about on this forum (one bucket with Dirtex solution, one bucket with clean rinse water).

c. Put GARDZ on the now clean walls.

d. Then repair whatever needs to be repaired with joint compound.

While I don't have actual dry wall (I have the old-fashioned plaster walls), I do think that you'd want to wash and apply the GARDZ. I think that the GARDZ is supposed to lock down anything that might interfere with adhesion of the paint--and I'd think that you'd want that before doing the repairs.

Strip paper, sand off loose and fuzzy stuff, apply Gardz, sand, skim, sand, clean dust, apply Gardz, paint.

interesting... no wash and dry. I like that.

My wallpaper stripper of choice is fabric softener & water. There's a lot of residue of it on the walls (and floor and woodwork and ...) The Gardz will go over that too?

Is Gardz a special primer? I already bought a gallon of my favorite Ben Moore All Purpose PRimer. Will it be okay?

Medium grit sanding? There is tons of drywall damage. I have a power sander that I think I will use for this project.

The Gardz will go over that too?
No, it still needs to rinsed with water and preferable all paste residue removed.
My wallpaper stripper of choice is fabric softener & water
There are far better alternatives out there.
Is Gardz a special primer.
Yes
Will it be okay
To seal up residual paste,NO
Medium grit sanding?
100 grit will do most of it

http://www.zinsser.co.nz/wtb-GARDZ.asp?SID=11&WID=27

http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?productid=17

Here is a link that might be useful: S&S

No, it still needs to rinsed with water and preferable all paste residue removed.

The rinsing is the crux of my question. There's a lot of drywall underlayer exposed. I'm not sure if that should get wet, so I was thinking maybe do the rinse step AFTER covering up paper repairs with the skim coat.

While christophern's advice to wash prior to the GARDZ has never failed me, I am working with plaster walls, and not drywall like you are.

With a lot of drywall layer exposed, it does sound like your main question is whether to wash/rinse the exposed areas and what will that do to them.

You might try reposting your situation and question to the "Home Repair" forum here. When I did a search on wallpaper and drywall and repair, there were a bunch of hits. Most of them said to GARDZ the bad areas, repair with compound, and re-GARDZ again--however, they did not comment about the wash/rinse aspect.

Thanks for looking. I went ahead and washed the walls anyhow (with drywall torn paper exposed). I just tried to be careful and avoid too much dripping.

I let the walls dry thoroughly overnight and today I am patching the drywall paper raw. I am using a product I like called Ready-Patch. I've used it before on other wallpaper/drywall damage and it works fine. I don't prime under it.

http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductId=37

Hope I remember all this next wallpaper removal project -- LOL!

You would be wise to apply the Gardz BEFORE the patching, that is what it was made for.

It's difficult to patch over damaged drywall anyway....you end up with mud bubbling and snots in your compound trying to patch over that. The Gardz locks all that down....that's really the main purpose the product was invented. The fact that it also locks down residual wallpaper glue is a side benefit. You can rinse over the damaged drywall no problem...just make sure it is dry before priming/painting or applying the Gardz.

Paintguy, I have damaged dry wall into the brown paper which is fuzzy so to speak. I plan to trim around these areas with a razor to leave a straight edge. I plan to use Gardz on the fuzzy brown paper and then mud. Will the Gardz make the brown paper lay flat allowing for the thinnest possible mud course?