How to Remove Wallpaper Effortlessly
Have you been putting off painting and decorating a room because you dread the prospect of removing wallpaper? Well now is the time to get to work, because this is a DIY project for beginners, not architects and building specialists. Be prepared though, the wall beneath the paper might be in a sorry state and require plastering, but if you’re lucky you can go straight to the emulsion paint.
You’ll need a steam stripper from a DIY store; they usually cost about £20 and a perforation tool, along with a good scraper and lots of plastic sacks. While the steamer heats up, use the perforating tool to go over the entire wall surface of the room, but don’t press too hard or you’ll damage the plaster. Position the steamer’s panel on the bottom left corner of a wall and steam for at least 30 seconds. When the patch is ready, your scraper should lift it with a satisfying swish.
Work across the wall for around a metre, then go up and work back, zigzagging until you’ve cleared a floor to ceiling patch. Repeat the process, again starting at the bottom, for the next column.
Take care to throw discarded soggy strips of wallpaper into a plastic sack as you go, if you let them dry where they are they’ll leave annoying glue deposits on the skirting and the floor, which is something you really don’t want.
Take care to avoid light switches and power sockets with the steamer, water can easily drip into the wiring and ‘bang’; just don’t do it.
Finally, clean the walls with sugar soap and get painting.
Picture Courtesy of Qole Pejorian
