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Stripping Wallpapers

• Basically the way to remove most wallpapers is to soak with cold water and remove with a scraper.
• Using a wallpaper Steam Stripper makes the job easier and will work on most wallcoverings. They are fairly cheap to buy and can be hired from many decorator retail outlets,
• Steam strippers are easy to use but always remember you are dealing with boiling water and steam. Keep children well away.
• As in the picture on the right, the steam plate must always be held against the wall even while you are stripping off paper with the other hand. This has two purposes; firstly, you are softening the next area to strip ; secondly, if you don't then the room will fill up with steam and you won't see what you are doing! If you cant get someone to help you and it becomes difficult to work this way have an old square of carpet you can lay the steam plate on. Switching off the power stops the steam straight away but you have to wait for it to build up again.
• If the wallpaper has a sealed surface such as a washable then the surface must be broken to allow water to penetrate the backing paper.
• To do this you can use a scraper or knife to score the paper criss-cross fashion or use a proprietary tool like a paper wheel(small spiked wheels which perforate the surface of the paper) or a paper tiger which does a similar job.
• Vinyl wallcoverings are easier to deal with. Starting at the bottom of a length, pick the corners carefully and pull gently and the vinyl surface will come away from its backing paper. You can remove the complete vinyl surface in a room this way, then you can strip off the backing paper in the normal way.
• Peelable wallpaper are those which come off in two layer, e.g. vinyl coated (normally just referred to as vinyl).
• Strippable wallpaper is one without a backing paper which you can pull off the wall without soaking or any special treatment, e.g. Novymura®.
• If the backing paper is very good and adhering firmly to the wall you may decide to leave the backing paper on as a lining paper. If you do this stagger your lengths so that the new paper joints don't coincide exactly with the old joints.
• If the walls(and this applies more often to ceilings) are old and uneven you may have to line them with lining paper. The rougher the surfaces are the heavier should your grade of lining paper be.
• If you are lining once then fix the lining paper horizontally to prevent joints coinciding when you paper.
• If the surfaces are so bad that you need to line twice, do the first lining of the room vertically and the second lining horizontally.