Here are the steps we went through and some helpful advice for those looking to take on wallpaper removal.
1) Remove the trim.
The wallpaper was applied behind the trim of the paneling and cabinets. We decided if we're going to do this project, we're going to do it right. It wasn't too hard for Lucas to carefully pry the trim off the paneling and cabinetry. This will also allow for a better paint job.
2) Score the walls.
The last time I removed wallpaper was few years old at my parents' house. I used a round wallpaper scorer. This made the cuts so little that you couldn't peel off the paper in large chunks. Today, we used about a 5x5 inch diamond pattern. This worked very well. Also, score all the walls before you start if you are using a wallpaper steamer, like we did. We did not score all the walls, and then got stuck wasting steam (no on/off switch) as we moved to a new location and had to score it.
3) Tape on a drop cloth.
If you use a steamer, you need to protect any wood and carpeting. We taped a drop cloth above the paneling to keep the hot water and steam from damaging the wood and to catch all the wallpaper debris. Our floor is vinyl, so we weren't too worried about getting it wet.
4) Wear shoes, long sleeves and gloves.
I was in socks; Lucas was in his slippers. Well, when you toss the wet wallpaper to the ground, you're bound to step on some. It's like paper machete and easily sticks to your feet. You don't want to run wallpaper through the wash on your socks or have to scrape it off your house slippers. Also, steamers will drip water, which did hit Lucas in the arm and me in the hand several times. That shit is hot. Wear long sleeves and gloves.
5) Use a wallpaper steamer.
When I last stripped wallpaper, I used a round scorer and wallpaper solution. This did not work well. Fortunately, our friends let us borrow a wallpaper steamer. It took about 10 minutes to get the hang of it, but once we did, it worked very well. The directions say to hold the steamer for 10 seconds, move on to a new section and scrape off the wet part from the first section. As one person, you'd have to be really talented to do that. Four hands worked great. Lucas and I found a good rhythm and switched off between who was steaming and who was scraping. Once the paper was well-steamed (sometimes it took a second time), it came off super easily.
Stay tuned as we clean up the walls and paint them! Hopefully, that will happen within the week.