Removing old wallpaper without wrecking the wall

Removing wallpaper is either straightforward or genuinely destructive, and which one you get is decided by things you cannot see until you start. Ten minutes of testing first is worth several days of repair later.

Test before you commit

Pick an inconspicuous corner and lift an edge with a scraper.

**It peels off dry, cleanly, in a full sheet.** Strippable paper. This is the easy case — carry on.

**The top layer peels and leaves a paper backing.** Peelable paper. Remove the top layer dry, then soak and scrape the backing.

**It tears into small pieces and resists.** Traditional paper. Soaking and scraping, and it will take a while.

**It lifts and brings grey or brown paper with it.** Stop. That is the facing of the plasterboard, which means the paper was hung on unprimed board. Continuing will destroy the wall surface.

The soaking method

For anything that will not strip dry:

1. **Protect the floor properly.** Plastic, then drop sheets. This gets wet and messy.
2. **Score the surface** with a scoring tool. Light pressure — you want to perforate the paper, not the board behind it.
3. **Apply hot water with a wallpaper stripper additive** or a little fabric softener. Use a sponge, a garden sprayer or a roller.
4. **Wait.** This is the step everyone rushes. Fifteen minutes minimum, and re-wet as it dries. The water has to reach and dissolve the paste, and no amount of scraping substitutes for it.
5. **Scrape at a shallow angle** with a broad stripping knife. If it is not coming easily, wet it again rather than pushing harder.
6. **Wash the wall** afterwards to remove residual paste. Paste left on the wall causes adhesion problems for whatever goes on next.

Steamers

A wallpaper steamer makes stubborn papers much faster and it introduces two risks.

Held in one place too long, steam softens the plasterboard face and you push the scraper straight through. And on old lath and plaster, prolonged steam can loosen the plaster from the lath.

Keep it moving, use it in short bursts, and be more careful than feels necessary.

When the wall is damaged

Sometimes the board face tears regardless. You then have three options.

**Skim coat.** A plasterer skims the whole wall to a new flat surface. Best result, and the most cost.

**Seal and fill.** Seal the torn areas with an oil-based or shellac primer — this stops the exposed paper fibres swelling when you apply water-based filler — then fill, sand and prime. Works for limited damage.

**Line it.** Hang lining paper over the whole wall and paint that. Legitimate, quick, and it means the wall is papered again.

The sealing step in option two is important. Filling torn plasterboard paper without sealing it first raises the fibres and produces a fuzzy, uneven surface that will never sand flat.

Painting over wallpaper

Occasionally the right call — when removal would destroy the wall, or the paper is well adhered and smooth.

It works if: the paper is firmly stuck everywhere, it is not vinyl, it has no heavy texture, and the seams are flat.

The method: glue down any lifting edges, skim over the seams so they do not show, sand, then prime with an **oil-based or shellac primer**. A water-based primer soaks the paper and lifts it. Then paint normally.

Be clear that this is a one-way decision. Painted wallpaper is much harder to remove later than unpainted.

What to do before hanging anything new

Prime the bare wall. It is the step that was skipped by whoever hung the paper you have just spent a weekend removing, and it is what will make the next removal a two-hour job instead of a two-day one.