Foil backed grasscloth wallpaper removal

[Strider]

Help!:banghead:
Please refer to the attached photos. I have this 70's style stuff on my walls. It is at least 15 years old, probably about 20-25 years old. It is on sheetrock. I have tried scoring it and using Diff remover. I have tried using steam (rental unit) with no results. I have tried warm water with soap, no luck. I finally attempted to sand it off with an orbital sander with mixed results (lots of dust and time). I can barely even tell where the wallpaper adhesive ends and the sheetrock paper begins. I have acres of this stuff I have to remove, including around all of the window sills. The foil backing comes off in slivers and strips like trying to remove the foil from the paper backing on the wrapper of Wrigley's chewing gum. I want to paint over these walls. The 3 options I am left with are, replace all sheetrock, sand it all off, use knock down texturing and try to cover it all up. None of these options are appealing to me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.:ack:

[Chris Murphy]

Good grief, you've got a mess, alright. I've never seen a foil-backed grass, and certainly hope I don't. But- I've handled my share of foils.

Using a broadknife, see if you can remove most or all of the grass & threads. You should be able to pull most of it off dry with an assist from the knife.

At that point, on one sheet, try sanding it enough to just perforate the foil surface. Then try misting it a few times either with Dif or hot water plus a squirt of dish detergent (that has surfactants that will help the water stay on the surface). All that may work, but will be slow.

Acres of it? With the grass off and the surface clean, I'd think about lining it with Cavalier's Maestro liner(http://www,wallliner.com (http://www,wallliner.com/)), and then prime and paint that. You would still need to condition the foil surface, and that would mean cleaning it off (of grass & threads); priming with an oil/alkyd primer, and then again with an acrylic wallcovering primer. The foil may react with any water based product over time and tarnish, that's why I'd use the oil first. The above is a lot of steps, but straight forward, and clean.

I feel for you. Let me know how you make out.

[Boston Hangman]

Help!:banghead:
The 3 options I am left with are, replace all sheetrock, sand it all off, use knock down texturing and try to cover it all up. None of these options are appealing to me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.:ack:

The 4th option would be to contact the professionals at Safe and Simple.com.
I don't know where you are , but you can buy their stuff online and/or hire one of their associates. I would at least contact them...this is what they do.:) I think they have a link on this site, somewhere??? Home page maybe?
or try safeandsimple.com


Good Luck
Mark White
NGPP Boston

[Chris Murphy]

The 4th option would be to contact the professionals at Safe and Simple.com.
I don't know where you are , but you can buy their stuff online and/or hire one of their associates. I would at least contact them...this is what they do.:) I think they have a link on this site, somewhere??? Home page maybe?
or try safeandsimple.com


Good Luck
Mark White
NGPP Boston

Contacting professionals for advice? Do you really think that's wise, Mark?:thumbup:

[Badams]

Brian,

I would also suggest maybe contacting a professional for advice. Maybe you can get a quote from a local wallpaper removal specialist. Look in you local phone book or internet yellow pages under Wallpaper Removal. When someone calls me for removal, I always try to look at the job and gladly give a free estimate.All might not be lost and as Chris said try and get the front facing off by dry stripping first .If that does not work, protect your floors and woodwork and wet the front facing with a pump garden sprayer,using some type of wallpaper removal solution combined with hot water. Wet it again after a few minutes,not allowing it to dry, then wet it again, the key is getting it wet enough. Then try and remove the front facing. If you can get the grass off , you can then prime the foil backing with a quick-drying oil primer as suggested. Then you have a few more options. You could skim-coat the walls to a smooth finish. Hopefully your experience with removal won't sour you on installing new paper. Most paper can be removed with a little elbow-grease, but foil is absolutely the toughest.
:banghead:

[Boston Hangman]

Contacting professionals for advice? Do you really think that's wise, Mark?:thumbup:

Only when backed into a corner and then maybe :roflmao:
sometimes I do learn from my past mistakes :o