Is There a Easy Way to Remove Old Wallpaper?

C.-

A steamer is the easiest way to do it. If you still have quite a bit left to remove it's worth the cost to rent a steamer from a hardware store. It will save you a lot of time. If you have a clothes steamer or a good regular steam iron that will work too.

Good Luck,
K.

you don't even need steam, the water will do it. I got one of those pump and spray containers from Home Depo and soaked the wall paper, it came off so easy if you have enough water on it, and it never even made it to the drywall so don't worry about that!

Morning C.;
Wall paper is installed on a cloth backing! It looks like
a bandage!
It is installed from top to bottom, if it was done right??
Take a "box" cutter knife and at the very top against the
ceiling cut along the cornice, then tear straight down!
You will be removing the backing as well as the paper, now
that will only work if the wallpaper was installed on the
cloth backing, if not, good luck and make it a fun thing!
Good Luck,
B. C.

Warm water and a scraper....that;s it!

C.,
I have removed a lot of wallpaper - that had many different textures and fabrics to them. The way that works the best is to get a good size rag - dish towel size - and a bucket of warm to hot water. Then get a good scrapper. Take the towel, get it wet and rub it around in an area of the wall. Do this for just a bit and then start scrapping. As you start getting some of it off, it becomes easier because the wallpaper gets more and more wet.
I promise - this is the only way to do it. Then wipe the wall of all the old glue before you put anything else up like new paper or paint.
Good luck with your project.
D.

steam. I have a steam machine and it takes it off like butter.

Try a steamer.. that worked wonders for us!

removing wallpaper is never easy.
The best way is very warm water ( to hot) and a heavy large sponge and get the wall real wet. It is held on by glue so you have to get the glue soft enough to pull it off. Put down towels or something to catch the excess water that will run down the wall. good-luck

I know you've already recieved this advice but I have to strongly recommend the steam technique. You probably won't need to put holes in the wallpaper, just a scraper and a steamer will do the trick, and fast too. They have an inexpensive steamer that I purchase at Wal-Mart, it's a conair for about 30 dollars, before trying anything else try this!

I've never tried it before but I've heard that the stuff you buy at the hardware store that is supposed to be for removing wall paper can really work. I also know your suppose to spray it on there and let it soak in, then start scraping. I would also think if it's a thick wall paper that won't let anything soak into it you could try rubbing some sand paper over it first to thin it out a bit.

I'm not much of a DIY person so I hope I've helped at least a little.

Good luck!
Jen
http://www.mommysjoy.com

You must must must rent a steamer - If the wallpaper is fairly new, it will just fall off, otherwise you will need to scrape a little. If the wallpaper is really old or many layers with paint between, it is just a lot of work. We ended up sheetrocking over 40 yr old wallpaper! We tried everything - but the new stuff is a breeze with a steamer.

We had the same problem. We took down the wallpaper in the small hall bath first and it took almost 2 full days. We got the scratcher thing, a scraper, and the Diff wallpaper remover. I got the concentrated stuff so you could make it stronger if needed. The huge kitchen went much faster once we figured out how to use the stuff. The Diff says to spray on/ leave it for like 15 min. If you actually just let it soak in for about a minute or two and then scrape it while still wet, it works so much better!

Best of luck! I know how much work it is to remove old wallpaper, but it's so worth it!

Have you been to Home Deport or Lowe's to get a scratching tool? It's cuts small slits in the wallpaper without damaging the wall. Then you just mist water on the wallpaper and leave for a few minutes. Peels right off. Hope this helps!

This super concentrated, non-toxic, biodegradable cleaner is excellent for removing wallpaper. Just 1/2 TBl per gallon of water. Soak wallpaper with sponge & peel or scrape. Use the rest of the cleaner to make solutions to clean your entire house. Just 2 drops mixed with 16 oz of water makes the best window cleaner for less than a penny per 22 oz bottle! It was featured on the top rated talk show last year, in the favorite things segment.
http://www.shaklee.net/martysaffell/product/00015

M.

We used a steamer. If you leave in on the wall long enough it gets even the glue off. And it worked so fast. I just a scraper and scraped it off once is was all lose from the steam.

we used warm soapy water. i think warm water would work fine. using a hand towel it got sloshed on. completly wet the paper soak it on the wall. there is also a tool that makes tiny holes in the paper so the water can penitrate it quicker. i have seen TLC Trading Spaces use a steamer to remove it. Its a job lots of elbow greese. Good luck.

I used a steamer. It worked fairly well. I had some parts that were more stubborn that others. But all and all I would recommend it. Good Luck
K.

There is wallpaper stripper you get at Home Depot or Lowes. I find it works best if you score the paper with something sharp, then soak with the stripper mixture, wait a few minutes to get it to soak in, then peel. This works better than anything else we've tried. Sometimes it comes right off, and sometimes it takes several tries. Using a scraper to get under the edges works well too. Good luck!

OMG! I feel your pain! I went through a horrible process trying to take wallpaper off one room and I still have two to go! I tried every product and got all of the advice that you have received.

Our wallpaper was installed directly onto the drywall, which I have since learned is the HARDEST to remove. After many products and A LOT of trial and error, here is what worked for us: Get a GOOD scraper (not the ones that are sold for wallpaper, they did not work!) and scrape it off. You may need to replace the blade often because it has to be sharp and you have to scrape it at just the right angle. Most of the time, scraping it off after spraying A LOT of water worked best, but I did find that some spots did better if I used some fabric softener mixed with water. Do NOT be stingy with the water and you have to let it sit for a few minutes to soak through. You have to get the edges of the paper up so you can make sure you are soaking under the vinyl layer. Use the blade to get the edges of each sheet up, then spray underneath and let it sit...getting started on a sheet was the hardest part.

I did NOT like any other mixture. I did NOT like the spray mixture sold to get the wallpaper off. I also found that the scoring tool sold for getting it off only made it that much harder to get the wallpaper off. We did get a steamer and were told that it would help, but we never got it to work, so I can't speak to the steamer. I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you don't have to go through the process I did!! :)

try spraying with some hot water after you have used a tool that makes small holes from the wall paper department.

If it's older wallpaper that's been put up with real paste then you'll want to go to the hardware store for a scorer and wallpaper remover.

Score the wallpaper, apply the remover and let it sit. Then scrape. Sadly, it's just a thankless job that takes a while.

Good luck!

A steamer from Lowes or Home Depot is well worth the $50. I removed a house full of wallpaper, and tried every method there is. Steam is the way to go!!

Score it, meaning cut a lot of lines in the paper, spray with hot water, let soak, then try. You can add vinegar to the water.

If its really stuck on there, you can paint it with Kilz, then roll the new paint on there.

I have a steamer that we bought several years ago. What we ran into with house here is that it was built in 1983. The wallpaper was put on top of a paper sizing which was put directly onto the wall board. The wallpaper comes off but the paper sizing is another layer on the wallboard. We did not realize this when we took the paper down in our entry room. Took the wallpaper off and then started painting the primer. All of a sudden, we had paper primer wallpaper! Thought the hubby was going to die! So we then tried to take that down and practically destroyed the wall board. When we did our dining room, we left the paper sizing on and got a wallpaper primer and painted over the wall. You can't tell that the paper sizing is still on. Works wonders!
So, if you are destroying the wall board, take the wallpaper down, leave the paper sizing and go to Home Depot and get the killz and paint over it.

You can rent a steamer for that purpose fairly reasonably. Use a special roller that puts holes in the paper to allow any solution or steam to get under the paper. Then steam off the paper. It's still work, but much easier than without it. I've done it both ways.

I just saw a new product on TV called wall wick (I think that is what it is called). I looked like it worked really well. I wish I had it when we took the paper down in our house. Such a horrible job! Anyway, I saw it on the DIY channel, so you may be able to find it on the DIY web site. First they scored the paper then they took the product, which is in big sheets, and stuck it to the wall and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. Then they pulled it down and the old wallpaper came off like a dream.

Use a steam Iron to steam the glue making it tacky instead of hard and more malleable...

good luck...

take joint compound, mix it with water so its really soupy, get a big sponge, and sponge the liquid all over the wallpaper. Give it about 5 or 10 minutes and you can pull the wallpaper off effortlessly. Remember to let the wall completely dry after removing the wallpaper before you primer and paint. Hope this helps, good luck!