Wallpaper Removal

There are a lot of different types of wall paper out there and they do not all come off the same way, but here are some helpful tips that should get you moving in the right direction. First, almost all wall papers come with a backing on them. If you have ever tried to peel wall paper off the wall and found that there was still a brown fuzzy paper on the wall, this is the backing. I will try to walk you through some steps to get your wall paper and backing down.

What I recommend you do first is:

1) Get yourself a pump or garden sprayer — this is the type you use outside of the house and will normally hold 1 to 3 gallons of water. This can be purchased at Lowe’s or Home Depot in the garden section. While there, also get yourself a 6-inch mud knife (This is what drywall guys use to spread drywall mud. You’ll use this on the later part of the project.)

2) Fill the sprayer with hot water and then put a small amount of dish liquid such as Dawn or another brand into the water. This will create bubbles that will help the water adhere to the walls.

3) Give your new pump sprayer a few good pumps and you should be ready to get on with some spraying. (You might want to put some towels or sheets along the walls to catch the run off water, because there will be some dripping.)

4) I suggest you experiment on one wall first just to see what is going to happen. Caution — Try not to allow much water to get on a popcorn ceiling because the popcorn will fall off if it gets too wet. But just a light spray will not hurt them.

5) Once you have sprayed the wall, let it sit for about 5 minutes then spray it again. (At this point you should be able to tell what kind of a mess you have gotten yourself into.)

6) On most papers you should be able to grab a corner at the bottom or top where it is starting to peel up or at a seam. Begin to give it a slow peel, don’t get crazy and start jerking at it! A nice slow steady peel is normally the best bet. What you should see at this point is dry brown paper that is still on the wall — this is normal, so don’t freak out. After you get the top layer (the paper itself) off the wall without a problem — you are half way home.

7) Now that you are staring at a light brown wall, spray this wall with the sprayer again and let it set for a few minutes. Normally it helps to spray twice before you try to remove anything. You will basically repeat steps 1-6 above to get the brown backing paper down.

This is where you use the 6 inch mud knife to lightly scrape the backing paper off the wall. Don’t dig into the wall — because you will damage it if you do. If the wall paper GODS are with you, it should peel right off without any problems. If it does not peel off, then you are going to have to put some elbow grease into it.

Depending on how the wall was prepared before the wall paper was hung, you might have to scrape the walls pretty aggressively. If this happens, you will tear the walls up some — but don’t worry that is normal. (In another article, I will help you do small drywall repairs.) If the backing paper is tough to get down, just be patient — it will come off.

8) Now that you have removed all the backing paper from the walls, there will probably be some glue still on the walls. Take that same pump sprayer and give the walls a light spray — then wipe them with a clean cloth. This is the only way to get it off. After all of this is complete — you should be able to lightly sand your walls and then be ready to prime and rehang or paint.

Keep in mind, there will be a few occasions where some types of wall paper are VERY difficult to remove. When you pull on it, it tears into tiny little pieces or the walls may not have been prepared right and it is tearing them up when you pull paper off. If this happens, you might want to consider hanging or painting on top of the existing wall paper.

There are so many different types of wall paper and wall issues out there that my article will not help everyone, but it should get you moving in the right direction. After all, if this work was as easy as it sounds, you would not have need for guys and gals like me.

If you get stuck and all else fails, call me, I can probably walk you through most problems on the phone. Hope this helps!

Ask for Mike at 864-621-8571