The stripping solution used is important, but not THE only factor in making a stripping job the easiest it can be. I'm sold on Safe and Simple, but have had good results with DIF (dangerous stuff w/o respirator) Piranha, ammonia, plain water, fabric softener, and various other products.
One of the most frequent faults I see is the lack of patience to allow the stripper to soak into the paper and thoroughly re-wet the paste.
Spray the whole area that you will be stripping that day. Don't spray an area and let it dry over night, it will be even harder the next morning. Keep the room lightly misted as you work around the room. A light mist is enough to keep the paper soaked and not too much to cause run off that increases your mess and danger of damage. I have seen the ceiling below a room get wet.
Strip a small section at a time - one or two strips. When the paper is off, wash the residue paste off. Do NOT allow the residue to dry thinking you will come back later to wash off. Time will be wasted re-wetting that residue. A 3M teflon grill scrub and a micro fiber towel works well for this step. I strip the paper, then lightly mist the residue and then wash. Then go around the room and mist the paper. Proceed on next small section. Keep track of how long the unstripped areas are drying and mist accordingly.
The paste used is also a very important factor. If it's a pre-pasted paper and no additional paste was used, you are in for an easy strip. If a god-knows what combination of paste was used, you are in for some surprises, some pleasant, some not. I hate stripping clay, takes MUCH more solution to re-wet. But still the secret is allowing time for the paste to re-wet.
The paper itself is another important factor. A pulp paper with no protective coating sucks in the water and re-wets quickly.
Any coating on a paper needs to be busted through to allow the solution to penetrate into the substrate. I like a quick pass of a palm sander with 36 grit sand paper. I've started using a 1/2 sheet "finish" sander and it is quicker. 9 x 11 sheets of 36 are getting impossible to find. I now buy 4 x 24 sanding belts. The paper is more sturdy and last longer than sheet paper. Vacuuming after sanding is very helpful to reduce the wet sludgy mess wetting the dust creates.
Some heavy duty paper backed vinyl papers are called "strippable". This means the vinyl coating can be dry stripped off the paper backing. Try different directions to find which way is easiest. Up, down, l to r, r to l, or diagonally. One direction is always easier than others. The backing left on the wall is now an easy strip.
Your stripping tool is also important. I've grown fond of a shorter Olfa tool. About 8" long.
But just find one that works for YOU. I do not like a brand new blade, too sharp. Again, use what works best for you. And sometimes a 6" mud knife works. If you do not like the way a tool is working, try another one.
Next factor is the wall itself. Unprimed horse hair plaster is nasty. It has sucked paste into it's pores. One of the worst stripping situations I know is unprimed horse hair plaster with pulp paper pasted with wheat paste and then painted.
A paper on a properly primed/sealed finish plaster wall is my favorite.
If any paper has been hung on raw rock, forget about stripping. Patch and paint.
The two dedicated stripping outfits I know use various systems for spraying. They involve high capacity tanks and long hoses stretching through the home. For one room jobs, they use smaller electrical driven sprayers. I like my garden sprayer that I have modified with a tire inflation nipple and is pumped up with a DIY tire inflation tool - with an auto shut off. You guys with compressors could easily rig something up so you aren't wasting time and energy hand pumping the sprayer. Will a paint sprayer work ? I do not know. Can it deliver a fine mist in a controlled manner ?
