Cleaning the walls

I guess wall paper is pretty common in the United States.  I have never really wanted it in my house.  I always thought it was just a mess to install and couldn’t compare with just painting the bare wall.  I was a little surprised when I learned we would have to wall paper our flat before we could paint it.  That didn’t really make sense to me at the time.  If we’re going to wall paper it why are we painting it was my thought.  Then I found out the truth.  Since our new places is of brick construction, like everything seems to be here, the walls are covered with a mortar.  The wall paper gives that a smooth finish that doesn’t look like concrete.

Before we start on anything the old wall paper had to be removed.  In the pictures to the right you can see our progression after 6-8 hours.  The closer picture shows the wall with most of the wall paper removed.  You can see the mortar covered wall in the lower sections.  The upper part still had paper on it when picture was taken.  In the far right picture you can see the mess upon the floor after scrapping the wall off.  In some places the mortar came off with the wall paper.  While that means removing the paper was easier we have to recover the wall with mortar again.  I never thought I would say this, but I miss working with sheet rock.

This will be a fun learning experience though.  Almost every tool we have or will use to complete the project is similar to what I would have used in the United States.  I am just working with different materials and different building practices.  Just another chapter in my new adventure.