I've Had Enough! Wallpaper Edition: Update 1

Scoring tool

Well, as anybody who has done any home improvement project can attest it always costs twice as much because you need double everything, and you need to go to the hardware store at least twice and probably 3 times for everything you need. My 1 afternoon project of removing the wallpaper and painting in my bathroom has now become a 2-3 day project of wallpaper removal, huge hole patching, sanding, washing, patching, taping and then painting.

I bought all the stuff I needed (or so I thought), Zinsser "Paper Tiger" scoring tool, scraper, Zinsser DIF spray-on wallpaper removal gel, paint, tape and painting stuff (pan, rollers, etc.) and I was ready to go. As I am removing only 30 sq ft of wallpaper (tops) I thought it would be a breeze. I discovered however that the paper has been up since 1984 and was stuck right on the drywall without any sealer or coating whatsoever on the drywall so the paper is literally a part of the drywall now.

Wall beneath paper in terrible shape

First I ran the scoring tool over the paper to make holes so the gel can penetrate, then I sprayed on the Zinsser DIF blue gel and waited the requisite 20-30 minutes and tried to remove the paper. Some came off easily, most did not. The more scraping I did the more drywall paper came off too. It was obvious that the bottle of gel was not sufficient to do even this small space I had to do. I got off as much of the paper as I could and figured that Inevitably I would need another bottle of that gel. Put that on the list.

This hole covered up with wallpaper

While I was removing the paper that I could get off, I discovered that when the drywall was put up someone had poked a huge hole in the wall and rather than patch the hole they simply covered it with wallpaper and left it. Now I need stuff to patch the wall. I texted our Frenchy's House Party DIY Expert/friend Mike the Dick (a real handy-man) and asked him for his advice on patching that up. He didn't get back to me as soon as I wanted so I went to DIYNetwork.com and looked up how to patch a hole in drywall. I watched the film and made a list of stuff needed. Put that stuff on the list.

By the time I got back from the Home Depot I realized I had forgotten to get a utility knife so I'll need to get one of those today. I said "F@#k it" and put the project to bed for the evening last night. Today I'll respray the gel on the paper that is left, scrape that off, do the patching and sanding. I guess I'll paint tomorrow. 

What a tzimmes!