Old Wallpaper

Removing Old Wallpaper


Although not on time honored tradition, the fact is that most homeowners will, at some time, will face a daunting task to remove old wallpaper. Although this work is not considered fun, it need not frustrating.




When done correctly, removing old wallpaper can be an easy task. If you have a classic, old-fashioned wallpaper on plaster walls, you're in luck, because this is the easiest scenario for the striping. You can apply a home made vinegar and water solution. Allow to soak through and moisten the old wallpaper paste. After the wallpaper saturated, it can be removed with putty knife or wallpaper scraper.




Unfortunately, today's vinyl-coated wallpapers are made to last longer, and therefore, more challenging to remove. Care must be taken not to damage the drywall underneath. The top layer of drywall easily gouged out, and further steps will be needed to fix it.




Coated surface of the old vinyl wallpaper should carefully pierced with thousands of tiny holes. Consult your local hardware store to find palm-sized tool for this purpose. This tool has a small thorn in the middle of the wheel as it turned casters. You can push the appliance over the wallpaper using moderate force and a small wheel will make holes that pierce the wallpaper, but these are not drywall. Getting past you've created, more holes are made.




After the holes have been made, apply an enzyme based solution to break the bonds of wallpaper glue. Be patient in sufficient time to allow the solution to do its job. After the solution had completely wet the old wallpaper, it can be easily removed, usually in the form of sheets.




After all the old wallpaper has been removed, remove all the residual glue from the wall surface with mild soap and water. Now that your walls are ceiling fresh, ready prepared to redecorate. By Lisa Herbik