How To Remove Wallpaper

Lesson one … It Depends!

Removing wallpaper is a room by room job. It is often easier to put up than remove. As professional painters we routinely remove wallpaper from new and older homes and I would like to tell you it is easy and quick to remove but it is usually neither. The good news is I have some helpful tips in addition to: rent or buy a steamer .

How your wallpaper removal efforts will go depends on: the wall, the paste & the paper

First, the wall is usually the least import factor since most walls will be either horse hair plaster, modern plaster or wallboard and the first two act the same way. Horse hair plaster seems able to tolerate much more wetness than plaster alone and certainly more than wallboard which responds poorly to moisture and scraping.

If you have horse hair plaster underneath the wallpaper you can use lots of moisture i.e. water or steam to remove the topcoats of paper. Water and steam may breakdown the paste and paper so it comes off easily. If it breaks the paste the paper peels off like it went on - in large pieces. If it breaks down the paper then it comes off in clumps with a drywall knife. horsehair plaster = easy time use steam or a spray bottle and moisten to the wall.

With regular modern plaster (non wallboard) you can use steam and wallpaper remover additive. You can also use a spray bottle to wet the paper especially if it is thick and paper-like I have used mild bleach (warning do not use more than 10% bleach and never with steam) The only additive I add to a steamer is a little fabric softener to soften the paper and paste. Try a small area off to the side first to see how the paper paste and wall respond to the steam. You can score the paper with a razor knife to get more steam underneath the paper; however, if you score the paper too much it will come off in tiny pieces when you may have been able to get it to peel away in large pieces.

Wallboard presents a different problem in that the original paper hanger likely used a fair amount of paste in order to adhere new wallpaper to the wallboard paper casing. The problem occurs when too much water is used and the wallboard paper casing gets too wet and falls apart. With wallboard, short exposure to steam works best and it is usually a good idea to score the wallpaper in order to allow the steam underneath the wallpaper. I have not found the wallpaper perpetrator, a tool that creates hundreds of tiny holes in the wallpaper for the steam to reach the glue to be that effective. Watch out for soaking the wallboard - but if you do there is always mud to repair it.

The paste used 40 years ago was applied with a brush and was something that looked like you used in kindergarten 40 years ag0. Most paste will loosen up with steam and a little fabric softener or one of the brands of wallpaper remover. There are some paste paper combinations that will not come off so just expect to dig into the wall a little and fix it later but first try different additives, or steam or water. I have found that the type of paper is more of a problem than the paste.

In general, commercial / retail wallpaper remover solutions or Additives are not very effective or no more effective than a 10% beach solution of using a cap full of fabric softener mixed with water. Again, never use bleach in a steamer! It is a serious health issue.

The walls and paste are fairly consistent from location to location, however the wallpaper is not. Wallpaper can range from near 100% vinyl to 100% paper to 100% cloth and 1000 variations in-between. Vinyl which is more likely found in kitchens and bathrooms will come off fairly easy in large strips. 100% papers with loose weaves will not. Paper is water permeable so moisture usually gets it off the wall. The Age of the wallpaper will effect how it comes off- generally older papers hold together better when peeling off and newer papers will tear at the least amount of resistance. They tend to be much thinner.

It is your job to access the type of paper and try different techniques to see which works best. It is time well spent. For example place the steam iron at the top of the wall and let the steam penetrate and attempt to slowly peel the corner of the paper away from the wall-wall - let gravity do the work for you. You will quickly get a sense for how this is going to go. The sweet spot is just enough heat and water i.e. steam to release the paste and then move down. If is a struggle to get off try a different approach like soaking the paper with water, scoring it, scrape harder! One you figured out which technique works best for which paper repeat ! Remember the next room will have a different type of paper.

A word about renting vs purchasing a steamer. Wallpaper Steamers rent for approximately $35.00-$45.00 per day an inexpensive steamer from Amazon is approximately $80.00. The rental steamers are better constructed and produce steam more efficiently however, a low end steam works fine especially if you have a little more time because you do not need to get the steamer back to Home Depot. So, if you have a small job of 1-3 rooms rent the steamer if you have to do an entire house buy the steamer and maybe sell it at the end of the day.

Here are the important takeaways:

• Definitely put a little washer machine fabric softener into the steamer

• If you have plaster that can take a little water use a gardeners pump sprayer and keep welting the paper from the top. The wetter the better until it ruins the wall- tricky.

• Don’t spray water on the ceiling.

• No two wallpapers are the same so take a moment to experiment on a small section and discover which technique works best i.e. long soak with water, using bleach, a quick burst of steam, scoring the paper?

• Some Wallpaper is really on there and no amount of water or additive or steam is going to remove it- you have to dig under it and fix the wall after wards.

• It is not going to come off perfectly - there will be small pieces, damage and glue residue when you are done.

• It may be much cheaper to buy a steamer if you have more than a couple of rooms to clear.

• Don’t be too proud to call a professional painter to help.

Cleaning and Repairing the Walls: After you get most of the paper off the wall will most likely need some work. In fact, if the paper just peels off it is usually because the glue is still on the wall. You can remove glue with warm soapy water or additives like Simple Green. You can use water and vinegar as well. Do not apply too much moisture to the walls and make sure you allow them to dry fully before painting.

More likely than now you will need to repair many areas an the wall may feel rough or pitted from the paste. You can use basic joint compound to repair damage and to smooth the walls try this skim coat technique: for a basic 10x12 room take one gallon of warm water and mix two cups of joint compound into the water so you have a soup-like slushy mix. Then, using a large small cell sponge (commonly found in the flooring department) wash the walls down with this slushy mix watching out for woodwork and electrical plugs. This will create a very thin plaster filling in the rough glue riddled texture. Repeat this a second time or thicken the mix for larger pitting. After this dries sand the walls to 200-220 grit texture. Instant finish plaster -

Brush With Color is a local interior painting and restoration company that specializes in high quality paint finishes throughout the Seacoast. Contact us for a free estimate or simply call if you have a DIY question at (603) 770-5073 or james@hommiellc.com.