Stripping wallpaper - know your enemy!

Most wallpaper is hung using a water-based glue or wall paper paste. To remove old wallpaper, or strip the wall ready for redecoration, you have to find a way of rehydrating or softening the old wallpaper paste. Vinyl and other wallpapers with tough waterproof surfaces are particularly difficult to remove.

Key tips for wallpaper removal

• Work from the top of the wall to be stripped; then the chemicals or water can flow down through wallpaper
• Use protective gloves and, if suitable, protective goggles when using chemical wallpaper strippers or steam
• Score the surface of the wallpaper to allow steam or chemicals to penetrate through to the wall paper paste
• When using steam for wallpaper stripping, make sure the room is completely clear so that no furniture or fittings are damaged by the vapour

Removing wallpaper with steam

A steamer is a good way to strip wallpaper that is still only a few years old. The older the wallpaper, the tougher the bond between the wallpaper paste and the wall will be.

When stripping walls with a steamer, you fill the steamer’s boiler canister with water and wait for the water to boil. You can then use the steamer hose to direct jets of steam at the seams of the wallpaper.

Use a scraper to lift the edges of the wallpaper away from the wall, allowing the steam to penetrate. The hot vapour moistens and softens the old wallpaper paste, and you can use the scraper to strip the old wallpaper from the wall.

The downside of steam wallpaper stripping is that it can be hard, messy work. The room fills with steam and the scraper can damage the surface of the wall. Any chips or cracks must be filled before you hang new wallpaper.

Chemical wallpaper stripper

For older wallpaper, a chemical wall paper stripper can often be more effective than steam.

Wallpaper stripper is a powerful chemical agent that dissolves old wallpaper paste and makes it easier to peel or scrape off the old wall paper. It’s worth scoring the surface of the old wallpaper to help the chemical stripper to penetrate through to the paste.

You apply the wallpaper stripper with a brush, sponge or absorbent cloth and allow some time for it to soak into the old wallpaper. Note that chemical wallpaper strippers should be handled with great care, especially if there are young children or pets in the house.

You will also need to be sure that any residue of the wallpaper stripper is completely cleaned from the bare wall before hanging the new wallpaper.

SimpleStrip

This is a relatively new way to remove wallpaper.

A special scoring tool is used to break up the the surface of the old wall paper. You then hang absorbent sheets soaked in a paste-softening solution on the perforated surface of the wall paper. The sheets cling to the wallpaper and the solution penetrates through to the paste, rehydrating and dissolving it. You can top up the solution while the sheets are hanging, with a spray gun.

After about 30 minutes, you simply peel the sheets away and the old wallpaper comes with them. Often, entire strips of wallpaper can be removed in one go.

The chemical is a different formula to standard wallpaper strippers and is safer to use. It is also biodegradable.

You can find more details of this approach to wallpaper stripping and removal here: www.simplestrip.com