Replacing Damaged Wallpaper

 

ELAINE: I have a question. I had a leaky roof next to the – it was leaking next to the wall of the house, outside wall, and the ceiling is marred and discolored. I know what to do about that but my question is what can I do about the wallpaper where the water ran down the wall?

TOM: Well, has the leak been fixed?

ELAINE: Yes.

TOM: OK. And the wallpaper is now water-damaged?

ELAINE: It’s got that orangey, dirty-water look and streaks on it.

TOM: Yeah. You know that’s – what’s happened is you’ve actually had a sort of a chemical reaction between the paper and the water that leaked through and, unfortunately, that’s not something that you can reverse. So this is a situation where you’d have to actually replace that wallpaper.

ELAINE: OK.

TOM: Is that a possibility?

ELAINE: I guess so, if I have to.

TOM: Yeah. That …

ELAINE: And it’s only a small amount above the sliding-glass door.

TOM: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, you could try to clean it with a little bit of TSP very, very gently but I’d also be concerned about that same cleaning solution taking the color out of the wallpaper.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: It might fade it out.

ELAINE: OK. Alright, I’ll try that before I redo the wallpaper.

TOM: Alright, Elaine. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.