If you are anything like me, you may live in a home that is 30 to 50+ years old. It’s a great home, but could use some updates in many areas. It’s not uncommon for homes like these to have a combination of design styles throughout the years. Wallpaper, wood paneling, shaggy carpet, etc. You get the idea.
In this how-to article, I’ll be tackling a smaller section of wallpaper. I will show you how to remove wallpaper from walls without using harmful chemicals. This article will provide a step-by-step process and the tools you will need to complete the job.
Supplies needed:
- Plastic drop cloths/tarps (.07 millimeters thick works fine)
- Blue painters tape
- Wallpaper scoring tool
- Wallpaper scraping tool
- Spray bottle
- Plastic bucket (1 gallon or so)
- Step ladder (tall enough for you to reach the ceiling easily)
- Towels or rags (use something you don’t mind getting dirty)
- Sponge/scrubber (or wash rags)
- Dish soap (optional)
- Hammer/pry-bar (only if removing baseboards)
Step 1: Gather or buy the tools you might need.
Hopefully you have most of these tools already. If you do, great! If not, I’ll provide links to some of the more special items in a future update.
Step 2: Remove any baseboards and objects on the wall you will be working on.
You might need to use a pry-bar or hammer to remove the baseboards and nails. Do this carefully if you plan to reuse the baseboards afterward. Take off any light switch or outlet covers that may be on the wall you’re working on.
Step 3: (Optional) Find a corner or edge of the wallpaper and peel off the top layer of plastic.
There are different types of wallpaper and some will be simpler to remove than others. If you are able to, peel the top part of wallpaper plastic off by hand. Peeling off the top plastic layer really helps for softening the glue underneath the wallpaper in the next steps.
In this project, I was able to use a utility knife to pick up a corner of wallpaper plastic and pull that off. On a different project (not pictured) I completed, a fair amount of wallpaper already had lifted off the wall in some corners because it was in a bathroom.
If you have difficulties on this step (removing the plastic layer, if there is no plastic layer to the wallpaper or if the wallpaper has been painted over) then continue to step 4.
Step 4: Use a scoring tool to make lots of tiny holes in the wallpaper.
If the plastic layer mentioned in step 3 came off with no problems, you can skip this step if you wish.
To use the scoring tool, place it against the wall and while applying a little pressure, move the tool in a small circular motion. This will dig the tool’s teeth into the wallpaper to make small holes (also known as scoring). Scoring helps the wallpaper to absorb moisture to soften the glue so it releases from the wall better.
It’s nice to have a couple of the scoring tools on hand because I was a bit aggressive one time and the repetitive motion broke part of my tool half way through a wallpaper project.
Step 5: Lay down the plastic tarp in the area you will be working and tape the edges to the wall the best you can.
Clean any dust off surfaces that you will be taping. That helps the tape to stick better. Make sure to tape thoroughly over any outlets and light switches. Tape around any other edges that you want to keep clean.
Tape plastic tarp (or drop cloth) to the bottom of the wall you’re working on. Using a plastic tarp will help protect the flooring next to the wall. As you can see from the pictures, I have carpeting along the stairs.
Optionally, you can place rolled up towels underneath the plastic tarp right next to the wall to absorb any possible moisture that gets past the tape and plastic.
Cut the tarp to size if working in a smaller area or you can use the whole tarp and fold unused parts under the rest of the plastic.
Step 6: Fill a spray bottle with hot/warm water and spray the scored wallpaper with water.
For me this worked quite well without the need for using additional chemicals on the wall. It also kept the air cleaner for me to breathe.
Caution: If you are spraying water on a wall/area that has a light switch or electrical outlet of any kind, then it is highly recommend to turn off all electricity to that wall from the breaker box. Not doing so is at your own risk.
I find that working in a 2 foot section (floor to ceiling) at a time works well. If you spray higher on the wall, any excess water will flow down absorbing in the lower areas and will collect on the plastic tarp. Having an old towel or rags are useful for cleaning up excess water.
Step 7: Let the water absorb into the wallpaper for a few minutes.
Spray as needed to keep the paper damp. If you see some of the paper start to bubble, that’s good. It means that the glue is softening and the paper is separating from the wall. Since I had a smaller wall to do here, I ended up spraying the whole thing.
Step 8: Test the damp wallpaper by scratching it with your fingernail to see what will come off.
If you are able to scratch off the paper with your fingernail, then the glue underneath has absorbed the water and the paper is ready to be removed. If it comes off fine, keep going to the next step. If not, either let the water soak in a little longer or spray some more water onto the wallpaper.
As mentioned above, some kinds of wallpaper are different. My wallpaper has a couple layers, a plastic layer and a paper layer. Underneath that is the glue. If your wallpaper is different or you still have issues, you may need to try a few different methods to see what works best for you.
Step 10: Scrape the damp wallpaper off wall with scraping tool.
The scraping tool worked best for me in this situation. I was able to get strip after strip of the damp paper off of the wall. This left the wall relatively clear of wallpaper. Repeat this step as needed to remove all the wallpaper in the section you are working on. Spray additional water as needed on the paper for easy removal. If you do spray the wall quite a bit, some of the water will run down the wall and onto the plastic tarp. Wipe up this excess water as needed to keep it from getting onto the floor.
Step 11: Remove wallpaper glue residue.
After you’ve finished taking the wallpaper off the wall, there may be glue residue leftover on the wall that was used for the wallpaper. You will notice this if you run your finger against a damp part of the wall after you finish removing wallpaper. You will likely feel a sticky or slimy substance. That would be the wallpaper glue.
To remove the glue, fill a bucket with water (dish soap is optional) and scrub the walls from top to bottom with a dish rag or scrubber. Rinse the scrubber or rag often as glue is coming off the wall. Repeat this step as needed until the wall is clean. Again, wipe up excess water as needed.
Step 12: Let the wall dry and clean up the project area.
Wipe up excess water on the plastic tarp or floor. Roll up the plastic tarp and throw in the trash. If there is any used tape, or small pieces of wallpaper that didn’t land on the tarp, throw those away too.
All done!
If you’ve gone through all the steps above and completely removed the wallpaper, you are now all done!! No more outdated and ugly patterns. You can now prepare the wall for additional texture (if needed) or a fresh coat of paint.
