Some years ago I redecorated the elevator landing outside my apartment with some pretty nice wallpaper and found a very, very good paperhanger to put it up. You have to look hard to find the seams from a few inches away. There is a ventilating shaft that opens onto each landing, covered with an ancient grill that has many coats of paint. When I re-surfaced the walls before the paperhanger came, I covered over the edges of the grill, screws and all, and generally integrated it with the rest of the wall.
So today, the company came that cleans the air shaft once every generation or so and chipped away my work to get at the screws, removed the grill, and taped cardboard over the hole so that they could vaccuum the shaft from several floors up. The idiot who put up the cardboard used masking tape, most of which has pulled away cleanly from the wallpaper, but several pieces of which, each about square inch or two remain stuck. I tried to lift the edge of these pieces very gently, which pulled away the paper beneath. Does anyone know a way to ease masking tape off wallpaper where it should never have been put in the first place?
Replies
Damp sponge or maybe zippo fluid. Ask at the paint store. Find the old guy.
__________________________________________
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Ok, Im going to give this up . Alcohol removes all water base paints and glues. It also wont hurt the wall paper.
Tim Mooney
It sounds like some of the paper is already torn. You may have to try several different things, or get that very good paperhanger back. The faster it comes off the better
Try a hair dryer to warm and soften the adhesive. After a minute or two, you can peel the tape away. Peel the tape off slowly, watching carefully. You may have to tear from another angle to minimize damage.
Rubbing alcohol sometimes works for removing light adhesives, or the residue, use a swab to try to work it behind the tape or soak the tape, but it drys quickly
Remember to test before doing on a large scale.