Q: The person who owned our house before us, decided to paint a bathroom without removing the wallpaper. There are a number of areas where the smooth finish wallpaper has an obvious air bubble trapped beneath and where the seams are starting to come up. I want to texture and paint the walls and am guessing that it’s a bad idea to spray texture over painted wallpaper. What’s the best way to remove it? – S.W., Roswell
A: You’re right, texturing and painting over wallpaper is a bad idea and will likely cause problems and more work later on, even if the wallpaper surface seems to be flawless at the moment, says Elliot Johnson, owner of Quality Wallpapering & Painting in Albuquerque (453-8860). The best results will come from removing the old wallpaper.
A number of wallpaper steamer products are readily available to make scraping off old wallpaper easier. These work with varying degrees of efficiency.
Some wallpaper has a vinyl or other moisture-resistant coating, so steam has a difficult time penetrating. If that’s the case, then the paper will first have to be scored.
Johnson says he prefers to use a scoring tool, such as the PaperTiger, which is rolled across the surface leaving perforating holes with each pass.
He then uses a standard hand pump garden sprayer to saturate the wallpaper with water, waits 10-15 minutes, saturates again and then starts scraping. If the paper is still difficult to pull up, he’ll make additional water spraying passes.
Once the wallpaper is removed, patch gouges and holes and then sand the entire wall surface with 60- or 80-grit sandpaper. Spray or trowel on your texture, depending on the finish desired, and after it dries apply the finish coat of paint.
Removing wallpaper, texturing and painting is, unfortunately, a labor intensive process, and if it seems a little overwhelming, it’s best to hire professionals.
Q: While scrubbing the toilet the other day I found three hairline cracks in the bowl. No leaks. The house is 35 years old, but we’ve only lived here for four years, so we do not know how old the toilet actually is. Should we replace the toilet or is there no cause for concern? – C.J., Albuquerque
A: As porcelain ages. it is not uncommon for hairline cracks to appear. That, coupled with the fact that your house is 35 years old, indicates that your toilet is likely rather old, and certainly not a low-flow design, suggests Ken Vernon, owner of Kenco Plumbing Supplies in Albuquerque (271-2047).
“I’ve seen hairline cracks just sit there for 20 years and not get any worse, but it’s common sense that most small cracks eventually get larger,” he says. “There’s just no way to tell.”
It could also be a safety issue. A sudden catastrophic break along a hairline crack could not only cause water damage, but if the event occurs while someone is seated on the commode, not to put too fine a point on it, the broken shards of porcelain can be knife sharp and easily cut that person, Vernon warns.
Because of its age, your toilet probably uses 3.5 gallons per flush or more. Modern low-flow toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush or less. A new, decent quality low-flow toilet starts at about $100, says Vernon. But don’t think of it as an expense; rather, look at it as an investment.
Katherine Yuhas, water conservation officer with the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, says that switching out just one toilet with a low-flow model can save about 10,000 gallons a year.
Even better, replacing an older toilet with a latest generation “high efficiency” toilet that uses 1.28 gallons per flush or less, can qualify you for a city rebate of up to $150 in the form of a credit on your water bill. Coincidentally, the cost of a new high efficiency toilet is about $150, “so you break even,” Yuhas says. “It’s like we buy you a new toilet.”
For information on the rebate program, go online to abcwua.org and click on “water conservation,” and then “indoor rebates.” Details are also available by calling the water authority hotline at 768-3655.
From the Handyman is compiled by Rick Nathanson with advice from local experts. Send questions to handyman@abqjournal.com, or From the Handyman, Albuquerque Journal, P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103. Questions also may be submitted through the Journal’s website at ABQJournal.com/living. Look for the hammer and wrench icon. Please include name or initials, city of residence and phone number.
