I once simply installed 1/4" sheet rock over the wall paper. After trying to remove it and finding it would take a steamer and LOTS of elbow grease and time, the sheet rock took less than a day(I could do that myself with kids help).

It depends upon the age of the wallpaper. Most wallpapers made within the last 10 or 20 years are what are called 'strippable'. This just means the glue will let lose easily. Have you tried just tearing a corner to see how it comes off? If its the old kind, that can take hours. From what I know the best way is to lightly score the wall paper all over, use a glue dissolver you can get at Lowe's or a paint store (just ask) or rent a wallpaper steamer and have at it. You may have to use the glue softener on the strippable kind, but wouldn't have to resort to the steamer and scraping it off. I moved into a house built in the 70s that had wallpaper everywhere and it took me 8 solid hours to strip the kitchen. Ugh! Wouldn't want to go through that again! I hope this helps...good luck!

Scoring it and stripping it off with a steamer and a couple of different size joint compound knives is still the best method. Cover the floor as it's a messy job. For scoring, many people like a gizmo called a "Paper Tiger." Once you get started and have a little hands-on experience, it gets easier.

I always used a paper tiger and a garden sprayer (the pump kind) filled with really hot water.

Score the paper, spray the wall really well and let it sit for a couple of minutes, peel off the outer layer, spray it again and use a joint knife to get off the adhesive layer. Be generous with the water when spraying. It makes it an easy job.

here

Here is a link that might be useful: stripping

Depends on the paper and walls. If paper was attached to sheetrock/drywall forget it. You'll just strip the facer off of the board. Either cover with new rock, or paint or re-paper over the old paper.

For plaster walls I used a combination of the liquid stripper and a steamer. If the existing wallpaper is "paper" then the stripper/water/glue softener should permeate through it without scoring. If it's a vinyl material, then you need to score it with the paper tiger to get the softener through to the glue line. The heat from the steamer will help it loosen and it scrapes off easily with a wide putty knife. It's a messy and unpleasant job but it's a great feeling when it's done. As for installing new sheetrock, you just need to be aware that all the trim around windows, doors, outlets, switches, etc. will need to be redone also to accommodate the additional thickness.

just FYI it is paste and or adhesive NOT glue

I had vinyl-coated wallpaper, @20 yrs. old. I removed the top vinyl layer by just peeling it off the backing, it was easy. Then I mixed 50-50 hot water/white vinegar and sprayed that on the backing until soaked, used a large putty(Or spackle?) tool to scrape off the backing, most peeled off in large sheets. I took off the remaining wallpaper paste residue by using the water/white vinegar solution and the same tool, scrubbing with plastic scrubby to get stubborn spots. This is worth a try before using paper tiger & steamer if it works for your wallpaper, simple & cheap. I've heard fabric softener works, but I figured white vinegar is cheaper and less messy.

Thanks, all! I don't believe the new sheetrock is something I could manage - but it would be ideal. I contemplated painting over the WP but if it didn't work, that would be a worse problem. Oh, if only I could hire it done!! Anyway, I appreciate all the hints.

if it's NOT VINYL. score the paper, and brush water on till nearly soaked. brushing forces water in the paper. then use a heat gun (not a hair dryer) that'll loosen the adhesive or paste depending on the age. p.s. be careful not to set anything on fire.

It's a good thing you discovered that painting over wallpaper is generally a bad idea. If you don't want to rent a wallpaper steamer, I've found that an old steam iron and a scraper in the other hand work pretty well together. You can do this..it's messy but easy.

This post was edited by kudzu9 on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 21:09

I would be very, very, leery of using a heat gun, for sure

FWIW, when I did this job about 10 years ago I was struggling with just the chemical wall paper remover and a razor scraper. My wife rented a steamer for me from our local hardware store for $35/day. It was a low cost Wagner unit that worked great. I looked on line and bought one for $75. (It irked me that the hardware store didn't tell me the cost of the unit nor did they offer any sort of discount for the rental fee towards purchasing but that's another story). I just checked online and it appears that Wagner's latest offering can be had for $50 at Wallyworld. Here's the link. I believe it will be money well spent.

Here is a link that might be useful: wagner steamer

Want to remove your old wallpaper yourself? Forget the nightmares of either spending endless days trying to scrape the old wallpaper off, or endless hours dealing with nasty, messy, dangerous chemicals that may or may not completely remove the wallpaper.

The Wagner Wallpaper Steamer will shock you with how easily it removes your old wallpaper!

It beats any chemical wallpaper removers hands down, and obviously beats manually trying to scrape the wallpaper off! It is quick, clean, easy to use, and there are no chemicals involved. AND the Wagner Wallpaper Steamer works better than renting professional wallpaper steamers - which is awesome since the rented wallpaper steamers were always so heavy, tended to trip my electrical breakers, and spewed steam everywhere constantly, often burning me in the process!!!

Pro tip: try using the Wagner Steamer to remove your wallpaper without scoring it first (like with a paper tiger) - we found it actually came up much cleaner that way.

And guess what? It only weighs 5.5 pounds!!

here's a good tutorial on how to remove wall papers easily and quickly

Does the fabric softener not have to be removed with a degreaser, before you can apply texture and paint?