Best way to strip wallpaper
Discussion
As above. It’s time to start the light renovation of our 50 year old house. Every wall has previously been wallpapered then painted over.
Walls mostly look to be plaster direct on brick. Upstairs division is standard plasterboard.
What’s the best way to help the plasterer out? I know I should ring. Damp and scrape? Steamer? Who’s had good results.
As always, thanks in advance.
Walls mostly look to be plaster direct on brick. Upstairs division is standard plasterboard.
What’s the best way to help the plasterer out? I know I should ring. Damp and scrape? Steamer? Who’s had good results.
As always, thanks in advance.
It varies.
Wallpaper varies, paint varies, glue varies, wall porosity varies.
You have to try stuff and see what works.
Generally I would suggest breaking the paint so water can penetrate the paper.
Scoring or coarse sandpaper perhaps.
Then get the paper damp with warm water and a little detergent.
Then scrape it off.
Sometimes a steamer speeds the process immensely.
Sometimes a lot will scrape off dry or even tear off in sheets.
A wide metal palette knife style of scraper is weapon of choice.
Wallpaper varies, paint varies, glue varies, wall porosity varies.
You have to try stuff and see what works.
Generally I would suggest breaking the paint so water can penetrate the paper.
Scoring or coarse sandpaper perhaps.
Then get the paper damp with warm water and a little detergent.
Then scrape it off.
Sometimes a steamer speeds the process immensely.
Sometimes a lot will scrape off dry or even tear off in sheets.
A wide metal palette knife style of scraper is weapon of choice.
What is the plasterer doing? Skimming every wall? The issues can vary - on the plastered walls if you go too hard with a steam stripper you can blow the plaster off if it's a bit dodgy & on the plasterboard you can wreck the paper top layer if you use too much water, unless they were skimmed over before papering.
Steamer 100%.
Go top down. If you start to get the timing right, it can be like shearing a sheep, doing 3-4 layer of ancient paper in one go.
Score the paper to help the steam to penetrate. Tidy the paper away each time you refill the steamer and it's heating the water.
Done it many times!
Go top down. If you start to get the timing right, it can be like shearing a sheep, doing 3-4 layer of ancient paper in one go.
Score the paper to help the steam to penetrate. Tidy the paper away each time you refill the steamer and it's heating the water.
Done it many times!
Steamers are good for stubborn wall paper, but they're time consuming and messy.
Ive found a warm bucket of soapy water and a sponge works wonders. Wipe the wet sponge over the paper and leave for 10 mins or so to soak in, and using a scrapper, the paper will fall off in large sheets.
Ive found a warm bucket of soapy water and a sponge works wonders. Wipe the wet sponge over the paper and leave for 10 mins or so to soak in, and using a scrapper, the paper will fall off in large sheets.
If you're going for a steamer, it's worth looking on the local FB recycle groups or on Freecycle / Trash Nothing. I've just picked one up for free to help me remove the wallpaper for one room, I'm now thinking that I might remove all the wallpaper in the house, then I can move the steamer on again and not have it taking space up. Some of the wallpaper is in decent shape, if not my choice of design, so it's a tricky decision to remove it all. Haven't tried it yet, but have noted the comments about not leaving it against the wall too long so it can soften the plaster too.
I did make some headway with a cloth soaked in warm water, but it seemed very slow going. Maybe it was just me not wanting to risk scoring the plaster, having never done this before.
I did make some headway with a cloth soaked in warm water, but it seemed very slow going. Maybe it was just me not wanting to risk scoring the plaster, having never done this before.
What scraper are you using?
Ones like this make a huge difference https://www.wickes.co.uk/Professional-Heavy-Duty-S...
Ones like this make a huge difference https://www.wickes.co.uk/Professional-Heavy-Duty-S...
Mr Squarekins said:
Steamer 100%.
Go top down. If you start to get the timing right, it can be like shearing a sheep, doing 3-4 layer of ancient paper in one go.
Score the paper to help the steam to penetrate. Tidy the paper away each time you refill the steamer and it's heating the water.
Done it many times!
Or a doner kebab!Go top down. If you start to get the timing right, it can be like shearing a sheep, doing 3-4 layer of ancient paper in one go.
Score the paper to help the steam to penetrate. Tidy the paper away each time you refill the steamer and it's heating the water.
Done it many times!
As mentioned, it totally depends on the paper, some falls off in full strips, some comes off 1mm2 at a time. I usually start giving it a good soak with a pump garden sprayer, if it needs scoring due to paint then those tiger things are good (but don’t last long) Last resort is a steamer, good but slow, and can blow plaster if it gets too hot.
The aforementioned paper tiger in combo with Zinsser DIF concentrate wallpaper stripper worked a treat for me on some very firmly fixed textured wallpaper that had been up for probably 20 years or more. Thoroughly score the outer paper, spray diluted Zinsser concentrate diluted with warm water, leave for a few mins and remove the outer paper with a scraper, rewetting with the Zinsser mix occasionally. Then repeat to remove the lining paper. Plaster underneath was in good order, which might not have been the case had I used a steamer, which is far more of a faff anyway in my experience. Zinsser DIF is a superb wallpaper stripper.
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