Removing double-sided foam tape from your walls requires harsh chemicals!

The daughter of a client on mine had covered her walls in her room with posters adhered using a strong version of this tape. Since she moved out to college, clients would like to paint and furnish it as a guest bedroom.
The painters were trying to remove the tape residue to no avail. They called me in!

They had already tried sanding and scraping, and the foam residue was still there and the sander was just getting clumped up.

They said they had to get "Goof Off" to soak it and hope it would come off and they knew I was not going to be happy at this solution.
They needed my approval before proceeding. I was terrified at the thought of using it especially when I advise against bringing in anything with VOCs in a house. Any product that removes adhesives has strong chemicals with VOC's. .

After some research and agony, decided to send the clients out for the entire day, open all the windows, bring in a large fan to circulate the air and let the paint contractor do his job wearing gloves and masks. Needless to say I was having a headache as soon as they opened the bottles. It was heart-breaking to see the chemical applied all over the walls. Strong chemical was doing its job, but the odor was definitely harsh.
It took about two hours to remove and scrape off the tape residue. It took another 3 hours to really air out the room, so the painters could paint without using respirators. The paint was zero VOC, so it covered the walls and eliminated the remaining odors.
I always recommend to let the room ventilate for 24 hours after painting and before moving in.
Never paint while pregnant. Never move your baby into a freshly painted room. In this case allow 72 hours to one week.

So how do you adhere posters? Use thumb tacks now available in variety of fun colors and shapes at your office supply store.

Lesson learned...