Tips For Removing Wallpaper

If you're wanting to change your wallpaper or refresh your room with a new coat of paint, you’ll need to prepare your walls by removing any old wallpaper. Victory Colours are experienced in all things painting and decorating so have put together these top tips for removing your wallpaper, with the aim to make your life that little bit easier. 

Top 5 tips for removing wallpaper

Can you strip it?  

To make the job of removing your wallpaper easier, the first thing you should do is check if it can just be stripped off. Start by prying up a seam edge with a knife, tugging gently, your wallpaper may just peel off in long sheets. This will also mean there should be no adhesive residue, as the process will be a simple one-sept job.

Wallpaper paste

Use warm water and liquid detergent, with a handful of cellulose paste to a bucket of water. You need to soak your wallpaper in this paste for 5 minutes, this will help to hold the water to the wall, meaning then you will be able to easily scrape the wallpaper off. If you are trying to remove a washable or wipeable wallpaper, scoring the walls before will help the water penetrate. 

Steaming 

Try using a steam wallpaper stripper, this could be a good way to tackle any difficult wallpapers, or any walls that might be covered with a few layers of old paper. The steam plate needs to be held on the wallpaper for a maximum of 30 seconds, this will then penetrate the steam through the old paper. Once it has moistened the wallpaper, it will loosen it away from the wall. This may be a good method to make your job faster and easier. 

Chemical-Free Homemade Wallpaper Remover

If you are not comfortable with using chemical-based wallpaper removers here is a suggested chemical-free remover, all you need is: 

• ⅓ cup of lemon juice
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 2 cups water

Start by spraying this solution onto your wallpaper, then letting it sit for 3-5 minutes. This will give the solution enough time to penetrate the wallpaper, which will then lead to the glue dissolving. Once the wallpaper has gone and is slightly slimy, you can then begin to peel or scrape the wallpaper off. 

Vinyl wallpaper 

If you chose to use a vinyl wallpaper in the first place, this will already make your job a lot simpler, as vinyls are easier to strip off. To remove vinyl wallpaper all you have to do is pull it from its backing, then after soak the back away. However, with some more modern vinyls and papers, sometimes the backing can be left on the wall as a lining for the new wallpaper. 

Overview of tips for removing wallpaper

Hopefully, our tips for removing wallpaper, make your removal job easier. Once you’ve managed to get rid of your old wallpaper, you are ready for a fresh start. You’ll be ready to consider all the new wallpaper options or wall paint colours out there, here at Victory Colours we stock a wide range of eco-friendly paints, with a big range of beautiful colours to choose from. We also offer Olenka Design Wallpapers and bedroom murals, if you decide you want something more out there.