How To Remove Wallpaper…

Have you ever looked at your bathroom or bedroom, and just wanted to remove that ugly wallpaper? Those wanting to remove wallpaper will quickly discover that it can be a tedious task and an aggravating process that sometimes has you wishing you never started! Whether you are looking to install new wallpaper or paint your walls, you must begin with the process of removing the old wallpaper.

Improper removal of wallpaper can lead to severe flaws in the fresh new look of your room.

There are a few types of wallpaper we run across in the Colorado Springs area during our interior painting projects. We will focus on the strippable wallpaper since it’s its the most common form of paper we remove and the easiest. The process and tools for each type of wallpaper are very similar.

Identifying Different Types of Wallpaper

Different Types of Wallpaper:

Peelable Wallpaper: Use a putty knife to peel a corner of the wallpaper back. If the wallpaper peels easily while leaving a paper backing, it’s peelable wallpaper.

Strippable Wallpaper: Loosen a corner of the wallpaper with a putty knife, and if it removes right away, it’s strippable.

Traditional Wallpaper: Take a putty knife and try to peel a corner off. If the paper doesn’t budge, you will need a chemical stripper and water to remove the wallpaper for total removal.

Prepping & Getting Ready to Remove Wallpaper

Proper room setup is a crucial step during this process. Wallpaper removal is a dirty and messy project. If you don’t take the time to prepare your room, you will regret it later and with a much bigger cleanup time. You will want to prep the room in a similar way that you prep a room for painting.

-Take everything off the walls and remove everything that you don’t want to clean later.
-Tape plastic sheeting to the baseboards and spread the plastic across the room. Plastic makes your life easier since you can roll the plastic at the end of the project and throw it away.
-We recommend using a water-resistant tape or a tape with strong adhesive backing, so it’s less likely to release during your project.
-We like to tape all the electrical outlets to prevent an accidental electrical shock and to protect the outlets from paper scraps. We prefer to take it a step further and turn off electrical power to the room. Safety First!

Removing Peelable Wallpaper

One of the easiest types of wallpaper to remove in our opinion.

Materials & Tools:

Putty Knife: We use a 2” & 4” Putty knife.
Water
Laundry Softener: We find this helps loosen stubborn paper a little more than water will.
Ladder
Scoring Tool
Rags/Sponges

Here’s the process on how to do it:

1. Use a putty knife to peel up a corner of the wallpaper at the top or bottom of the wall.
2. Grab the corner and give it a gentle pull.
3. Remove the entire top layer of wallpaper. We recommend throwing away the big pieces and vacuuming any small pieces up before proceeding. This
4. helps clean up later and recedes the sticky mess.
5. If the top wallpaper is stubborn, use the scoring tool to slice tiny slits into the wallpaper. This allows the water to seep in during step #6.
6. You should be left with the paper backing.
7. Take a sponge or rag soaked in warm/hot water and sponge a 3’x3’ section of wall at a time.
8. Allow water to soak into the backing for a minute or two.
9. Scrape and peel off paper backing. Continue until the entire wall is free from wallpaper!
10. Wash walls thoroughly.
11. Allow walls to dry before painting or wallpapering.

We recommend using an oil primer to paint the walls before painting. Sometimes water-based glue might still be clinging to the walls. When applying a water-based paint, there’s sometimes an interaction between the adhesive and the new paint causing blistering or bumps. The oil primer seals in the glue and allows the new paint to adhere correctly.

You can watch a Facebook video of the whole process here.

Next Steps?

Drink a beer or your favorite beverage! You earned it! Decide if you are going to hang wallpaper again or paint your room. Make sure to choose the correct paint depending what room your project is in. If you need a quote for wallpaper removal; contact us or call us at (719)-362-5304.

We remove wallpaper in the following areas: Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, Briargate, Black Forest, Monument, Woodland Park, Falcon and Manitou Springs.