Call in the reinforcements...

My mother-in-law, Shari, may now regret giving me a coupon for Christmas that was good for 4 hours of wallpaper removal assistance. After peeling all the wallpaper off the kitchen walls the night before, I cashed in my coupon and called in the reinforcements to help me remove the paper backing and scrub the glue adhesive off the walls. Shari, Kelly (SIL) and Jenna (Kelly's roommate) arrived just after lunch.

Armed with Dif and plastic taping knives, we started to remove the backing and glue. Why plastic tape knives and not metal scrapers you wonder? Run your hand along our 105 year old plaster walls and you will understand...they are not what you call flat. They are in excellent shape for their age and have been well cared for over the years...but with age comes some sagging and some relocated material. If only this was the case for plaster walls alone. While removing wallpaper in the living room, Chris and I found that metal scrapers gouge the walls too much which meant more hours spent with spackle and sandpaper in hand. 

Shari hard at work with the scraper and spray.

 

Jenna removed the remaining wallpaper from the space between the radiator & wall.

The Dif worked well to remove the backing but the glue was determined to stick to the walls and seemed to be baked onto the plaster over the chimney. We tried out the steamer my parents had loaned Chris and I...and it was AMAZING. I completely regret not trying it a few hours sooner. Since four people per steamer is not quite optimal for efficiency, I ran out and bought another one for the cost of 3-4 big jugs of Dif...all of which we would have needed to finish the job. 

Kelly going to town with the steamer.

Ah, steamer, how I love thee.

Good to note, two steamers plugged into the kitchen blow the circuit breaker. The new steamer seemed to be taking forever to heat up...that's when Jenna opened the now-quiet fridge and asked if a light was supposed to go on when you opened the fridge. As I trekked down to the basement, I heard someone ask if the garage lights were on motion-sensors. Nope, they are on dusk-to-dawn sensors. I opened the circuit breaker box and flipped the blown breaker. Guess an outlet or two in the kitchen and the power to the garage share circuit breaker #14. 

Overall, we had a productive afternoon, removing all the wallpaper backing in the kitchen and the glue off one whole wall...a fantastic feat.