I broke my promise to myself and stripped wallpaper again. The only reason I did this is for $100,000 profit. My family and I did not have time to wait for professional help. We sold our investment property before finishing the work and needed the home ready for appraisal.

While stripping the wallpaper, I realized that many homemakers get wrong advice for this horrendous task. After years of experience on over 30 houses, I offer my tried and best tips:

1. Use a clothes steamer or rent a professional steamer
2. Soak a large section of the wall
3. Run a "Paper Tiger" scoring tool across the damp section
4. Steam the section again
5. Spray the section with fabric softener and hot water
6. Score the section with the paper tiger again
7. Steam again
8. Remove any curling edges (sometimes large areas peel off)
9. Scrape with a six inch sheetrock blade
10. Repeat the above steps on the section until most scrapes off easily
11. Scrub with hot water, TSP, and a sponge with a scratchy surface

Cautions: Use the Paper Tiger gingerly so you don't scratch or gouge the walls. Use gloves with the harsh chemical TSP.

Don't live with ugly wallpaper any longer!

P. S. Please email me if you have any additional tips on stripping wallpaper that would help others!

Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author's information with live links only.)

Jeanette Fisher loves to help home makers create homes for glorious living. For free ebook on Interior Design Psychology go to http://www.joytothehome.com

New installations:

1. Make sure there are no holes in your shower pan. Have your contractor keep a piece of drywall in the pan during construction. This will protect it from nails and screws that happen to fall on the pan.

2. Make sure any debris does not block the weep holes at the bottom of the drain.

3. Your installer should not have any low areas in the cement work. This slopped cement is the foundation for the tile or marble and should slope from the wall to the drain in a strait line with no depressions.

4. As was stated in part 1 of this article, the finished shower floor should be installed before the finished walls.

5. Have your installer seal the tile grout joints You should keep them sealed with a penetrating sealer (every 6 months or so) this is very easy to do and will only take 5 to 10 minutes. This will keep the grout joints water tight and easier to keep clean

In the case of a marble shower floor it is even more important to keep the entire surface sealed. Just remember to make sure the stone is thoroughly dry before applying the sealer.

6. The tile needs to be cut tight to the drain so no leaks can occur.

7. Walls can crack in the corners even though they have been taped with fiberglass tape. A better system I have found is to reverse a vinyl corner bead and screw it to the inside corners. This makes it very hard for the walls to separate if they crack from expansion and contraction due to temperature changes or the house settling.

Existing shower floors:

1. Keep the tile grout joints or in the case of stone, sealed with penetrating sealer.If a crack appears where the marble or tile floor meets the walls do not use caulking to fill the crack.This eventually separates and water runs behind it.

2. If your shower floor is leaking sometimes you can save it if the walls and floor are not deteriorated and still solid. The first thing to do is check that the diverter is not causing the leak.If that is ok then place a fan in the shower or a small heater, dry it out and then regrout and seal joints.

Anthony J. Ventura has been in the marble and tile business for 30 years as a contractor and advisor. He is also a manufacturer and importer of natural stone products

http://www.naturalstonesinksusa.com