In the seventeen or so years that I’ve been running my own decorating business, I have been asked many times to strip old wallpaper, and over the years I’ve adapted my technique for doing so. In this blog I’m going to share my thoughts how to remove wallpaper.
We’ll look at the tools and equipment you need for the job, the techniques, and also touch on alternatives to removing the wallpaper, and the pros and cons of those.
Decorating is Cosmetic
One of the good things about decorating is that it’s “cosmetic”. If you make a “bad” decision about the colour you paint the walls in one room, or you move into a new property and don’t like the previous occupants’ taste, it’s relatively easy to change it.
If you have a new bathroom or kitchen fitted, or a new extension built, and then realise that you’ve made a mistake, that’s far more serious, but decorating is “cosmetic”, and therefore it’s fairly easy to change the décor in your room as often as you want.
If the room isn’t painted a colour you like, it’s simply a question of choosing a new colour and (after all the correct prep) repainting it. But what about if the walls (or ceiling for that matter) are covered in wallpaper that you don’t like? All you do is remove it and start again, simple!
Tools & Equipment Needed – Shopping List
- Stepladder/hop-up
- Dust sheets of various sizes
- Your floor covering of choice
- Bin bags
- Access to supply of hot/warm water
- Garden Sprayer
- Wallpaper steamer
- Scrapers
- Perforator
- Pretty Boy Brush Cleaner
Steps for Removing Wallpaper
Protect the surfaces in the room
Ideally, you would remove all furniture from the room, but if some items can’t be removed, cover them with dustsheets. Cover the floor too – small pieces of “mushy” wallpaper will inevitably end up on the floor, and it’s not really great practice to tread them into your customer’s carpet or parquet flooring, and then spread them round the house when you need to go to the van for something.
What to cover the floor with is another question: the small bits of discarded (wet) wallpaper stick to dustsheets (although I find in most cases they can be vacuumed off once dry). Plastic floor protector rolls work well, and are of course waterproof, but single-use plastics aren’t a good choice environmentally. Cardboard-based floor protectors work well too and can be taped right up to the skirting. Whatever your choice, make sure the floor is well covered.
Strip the Wallpaper
Depending on how many layers of paper you are dealing with, the type of paper, and how well it was stuck down in the first place, this may be really easy, or really hard work! You may need some, or all, of the tools listed above. I’ll come onto discussing tools and techniques in more detail in a moment.
Clean Up
It’s a good idea to put all the discarded paper into bin bags as you go, rather than leaving it lying around where you could potentially slip or trip on it, or tread it round the house. Once all the wallpaper has been removed, wash the walls down thoroughly with warm, soapy water to remove as much paste residue as possible. Before you then redecorate the room, have a read of our blog on “How to paint walls after removing wallpaper”.
The Best Way to Strip Wallpaper
There isn’t really a “one size fits all” answer to this question; I tend to vary my technique (and the equipment used) depending on how easy the wallpaper is to remove.
“Super Easy” Paper: sometimes the paper is already beginning to come away from the wall, and you can simply get hold of a corner and pull the whole sheet off in one piece. If you can do this for the whole room you’ve just achieved the decorating equivalent of winning the lottery; you’ll be done in half an hour, you can then skip straight to the “clean up” stage and knock off early.
“Easy” Paper: often some (or all) of the top layer of the paper will come away easily, leaving the backing paper layer on the wall. Soak the backing paper using a garden sprayer. This is probably the most important thing: Don’t rush into getting busy with your scraper, let the water do the work for you. Leave it to soak for a good fifteen minutes, it will make scraping off the paper so much easier.
“Medium” paper: often the top layer of paper only comes away in small pieces. This is when a perforator, such as Zinsser’s Paper Tiger, comes in handy. It makes lots of small holes in the surface of the paper, allowing the water to soak beneath the top layer and start dissolving the paste. Click here to view the product on Amazon.
In situations like this, where the paper is being a bit more “obstinate”, I give the water a “helping hand” by adding some Pretty Boy Cleaner to the sprayer to help dissolve the paste faster.
Pretty Boy was originally developed as a paint brush cleaner, but it works well as a wallpaper removing aid too.
A bottle of Pretty Boy Cleaner might set you back a tenner or so, but the difference it makes to the job is unbelievable. It really does speed things up and makes stripping wallpaper a lot easier. If you only take one tip away from this blog on how to remove wallpaper, make it Pretty Boy.
As mentioned before, leave the paper to soak before attempting to scrape it off; the longer you leave it (within reason!), the easier it will be to remove the paper. You may have to soak-and-scrape, soak-and-scrape a couple of times, but you will get there.
Getting your scraper at the right angle is important – try to get the blade as flat to the wall possible. This makes it easier to get under the edges of the paper, and also reduces the risk of accidentally gouging the plaster underneath.
Really Difficult Paper: sooner or later we all come across wallpaper that does not want to part company with the wall. I used to use a wallpaper steamer for these jobs, but I’ve stopped doing so for two reasons:
- Timing – if you leave the steamer pressed against the wall for too long, it can cause the top layer of plaster beneath the paper to “pop”, leaving you with an extra repair to do before you can start redecorating the room
- Safety – I’m sure it was an isolated incident, but once I used a steamer it overheated. I could smell something burning and turned round to see that the steamer’s plug was literally melting in the socket!
The Best Wallpaper Steamer for Removing Wallpaper
Some Decorators spend hundreds of pounds on a wallpaper steamer. However, I’ve never bothered. Most of the cheaper steamers perform in a similar way to one another, but the one that stands out is Wagner Steamforce.
They’re reasonably priced on Amazon, they don’t take a lifetime to heat up, they’ve never overheated on me, and unlike a few of the others I’ve tried, they last.
Working Around Electrics
On the subject of electricity, take extra care if there are light switches, wall lights or sockets on the walls you are removing wallpaper from. Water can seep behind the faceplates very easily, and we all know that water and electricity aren’t a good combination.
I tape a piece of paper to the wall with masking tape just above any sockets or switches, so that any water dripping down the wall runs over my “shelter” and drips onto the floor. I then go back and remove the last of the paper around the socket or switch by dabbing it with a wet sponge and then scraping, making sure that no water gets on or behind the faceplate.
How to Remove Wallpaper from Ceilings
Stripping wallpaper from ceilings is essentially the same as on walls. I’m even less keen to use a steamer on ceilings than I am on walls, because of the added “pleasure” of scalding hot water running down your arms.
I do find when stripping ceilings that it’s best to get as close to the ceiling as possible. If you’re not in a position where your head is almost touching the ceiling, your scraper will probably be at the wrong angle and you’ll end up gouging chunks of ceiling plaster out. Also, if you’re staring up at a ceiling from floor level all day, you’ll end up with a stiff neck!
Alternatives to Removing Wallpaper
Can you just wallpaper over the top of existing wallpaper?
If the existing paper is sound, well stuck and not textured, in theory you can paper over the top of it, and I’ve often had to remove wallpaper where there were multiple layers. However, it’s not generally felt to be good practice. For one thing, applying fresh paste may soften the paste beneath the existing paper, causing it to come away.
Can you paint over wallpaper?
Again, if the existing paper is sound, it is in theory possible to do, although again, most decorators would say that it’s not the best approach. If you want to give it a try, have a read of our “Painting Over Wallpaper Guide” first.
FAQs
Does washing up liquid remove wallpaper?
Yes, a lot of people add washing up liquid to hot water and use that to soak wallpaper. The washing up liquid thickens the water, which means it runs off more slowly, and has more time to soak into the paper. Pretty Boy Cleaner is much better, but it’s not often you have a bottle of Pretty Boy handy under the kitchen sink.
How to take off wallpaper without a steamer?
Perforate the paper. Soak with hot water and soap. Wait 10 minutes, then soak again. Once soaked through, you should be able to remove the wallpaper without issue.
Can you use a hair dryer to remove wallpaper?
This is one of those ‘DIY hacks’ that doesn’t really work. It might loosen the glue in small patches, but it isn’t practical.
Do I need to replaster after removing wallpaper?
No, but you will need to sand the walls, and then seal with a product called Zinsser Gardz. This seals any leftover paste residue and stops it from reacting with your paint. Click here for more details.
What not to do when removing wallpaper?
Be careful not to soak electrics, as that can be costly and dangerous. The other thing is to avoid treading on wet wallpaper pulp, because you will walk it around the rest of the house.
Final Thoughts
Removing wallpaper is probably one of the less glamorous parts of a decorator’s life, and also one of the hardest to quote for; until you start work, it’s impossible to know how easy the wallpaper is going to be to remove. It’s not a difficult job, it’s just time consuming and messy. Take care with the electrics, tidy up as you go, and remember to let the water do the work for you; perforated, well-soaked paper is much easier to remove.
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