Any easy way to take wallpaper down

Stephanie
by Stephanie
I want to take wallpaper down in our family room downstairs but have never taken it down b4
  16 answers
  • Beth Lloyd Beth Lloyd on Apr 15, 2014
    I have played with wall paper for 20 yrs. That said. I have no idea what is the going thing. I use any means nessacery. My girlfriend and I stripted and rehung her bathroom in one night that was fun. I look for a bad spot and pull. If just the top comes of and leaves the paper and glue, wet it. I have used water, or u can add fabric softener. Scrape, SCRAPE, scrape. I used the cheap, plastic dry wall "puddy knives"? Don't remember what the tech. term is, In walmart, near the paint, there is a small section of spackle for dry wall. I bought an assorted pack of these in that area and use them for everything. There is a tool you can buy if you can not get even the top layer off. Do what ever. Just don't ding up the drywall. But you can patch it too.lol Good luck!
  • Adriana Adriana on Apr 15, 2014
    Like Beth said....pull as much as you can.....wet and scrape the rest...I have used a hot iron and heat gun...in some occasions.....with good results....depends I think on the type of glue that has been used.....they´re not all the same...good luck!!!
  • Stephanie Stephanie on Apr 15, 2014
    aw thank you
  • Shari Shari on Apr 15, 2014
    From my experience, there is no one "best" way to remove wallpaper. It's often a matter of trial and error since what works on one wallpapered area doesn't necessarily work for all wallpapered areas. You just have to experiment because there are so many varying factors like the age of the wallpaper, the thickness of the paper, what type of wall it has been adhered to (wallboard or plaster), etc. Sometimes I have good luck just using some fabric softener mixed with very hot water and sometimes I don't. Sometimes wallpaper removers like DIF have worked and sometimes they haven't. There have been times when I have had to resort to using a wallpaper steamer. On two occasions I couldn't get the wallpaper off with any method so I had to admit defeat and paint over it. When you are ready to get started, grab the paper where it is starting to peel and pull. Usually there is a top (decorative) layer and a paper backing. If it is already loose, the top layer should come off fairly easily (hopefully), leaving you with just the paper backing. You can use a putty knife to gently pry up the corners of any sections that are more firmly attached. To remove the paper backing, I would start by mixing some laundry fabric softener with HOT water in a spray bottle. Saturate the paper and let it sit for a few minutes to soften the paper and adhesive and then try scraping with a putty knife, being careful not to gouge your walls. Heat and moisture is what helps dissolve the adhesive so in most cases, the wetter you keep the paper, the easier it will be to remove it. If the fabric softener and hot water doesn't work, then you may want to try a chemical wallpaper remover like DIF. Or, if you can borrow a wallpaper steamer from a friend or relative, the steamer can make the process go a whole lot easier too, but a basic model isn't really very expensive. I think I bought my wallpaper steamer about 4 years ago for around $50 at Lowes. As you remove the paper, it is helpful to also have a big sponge or rag and a bucket of clean water so you can wipe your walls down as you remove the paper. After all the effort in removing the wallpaper, you don't want the glue residue drying on your walls. Good luck! Removing wallpaper is not the most fun DIY project but it sure is rewarding when that last little bit of wallpaper comes off!
  • Pamela Byers Pamela Byers on Apr 15, 2014
    I have found that if you can get some of it off...say the top layer, then put Dif on and scrape, it works best.
  • Moxie Moxie on Apr 15, 2014
    I agree with all of the above. I have put up and taken down more wall paper than I care to admit. My bathroom upstairs had 4 layers of wallpaper...some comes off easy and some does not. The real reason is two fold. If the wall was properly sized (pre-coated) before the wall paper was put up, it comes off pretty easy. The other factor is if the product on the wall is really wall paper or what they call vinyl wall covering. Wall paper is what is sounds like; paper that is pasted to the wall. Vinyl wall covering is a vinyl picture with paper on the back, pasted to the wall. You also never know for sure what condition the wall was when the paper went up. Any defects hidden by the paper will reappear. I pull off the top paper, wet the paper backing pasted to the drywall, wait until it sinks in and then scrap it off. They key it for it to be wet to release the glue but not so wet it damages the top layer of paper on the drywall. Good luck and have fun!! I wish you many "big pieces" lol
  • Susan Sheffield Susan Sheffield on Apr 15, 2014
    I use fabric softener in a spray bottle to loosen the glue and sometimes will make a few edges peel up. You should spray the fabric softener on and let set for about 10 minutes before you start peeling away. Keep spraying as you go for best result. GOOD LUCK!!!
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Apr 16, 2014
    I have taken down an entire house of wallpaper, patched sheetrock and redone and I can promise you I will NEVER allow wallpaper in my house again! THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO REMOVE WALLPAPER! I will, however, caution you not to paint it! That can turn into a nightmare and just more work! But do get it down now! And never, never put any up again! (Have you thought about moving off and leave it?)
  • Cindy W Cindy W on Apr 16, 2014
    Water and Downy in a spray bottle .Spray entire area and allow to stand 10 minutes or longer ,,You may have to re wet areas that area a little tougher but this will I assure you help in making it so easy. half and half on the mix ratio for whatever bottle you use.
  • Melanie E Melanie E on Apr 16, 2014
    We used DIF and the little tool that puts holes in the wall. We also had some that would not come off no matter what we did. First we sanded the wallpaper joints so they were not as visible. Then we painted over it with oil based primer and then the regular paint. It was a lot of work, but the paint job looks great 10 years later.
  • Stephanie Stephanie on Apr 17, 2014
    thank you so much
  • B.J. B B.J. B on Apr 17, 2014
    I agree with all of the above. There is no one best way, or easy way to remove wallpaper! I too, will never have it in my house again. We have tried all different ways but using a scorer to penetrate the paper, spraying with DIF and then using a steamer type of wall paper remover seemed to work the best for us. I wish you luck and perseverance.
  • Cathey DeRosa Cathey DeRosa on Apr 18, 2014
    I've used this before and it works every time. Even on older wallpaper. Buy cheap fabric softener and mix it with about 1/3 water in a spray bottle. Spray on the wallpaper, let sit for about 5 minutes and it'll come right off. Sometimes in sheets and sometimes in pieces and it also helps get the glue softened and easy to wash off the walls. Got that tip from Sabrina Soto on HGTV when she had her own show. Back when HGTV was really good. Remember?!
  • Cynthia Cynthia on Jan 23, 2015
    @ We LOVE Piranha gel remover. You can get it at Home Depot. You just score the wall with a scoring tool and spray the gel. Let it sit for like 20 minutes and the paper just peels off. You can always spray more and wait like 30 minutes and keep going if you run into some that's tougher.
  • Dru Dillon Dru Dillon on Jul 12, 2015
    I have removed LOTS of wallpaper in my home throughout the years. You must be VERY careful using the scoring tool because if you press too hard it will make marks in the underlying wall structure. If the paper has a water proof type outer layer try and peel it away to reveal the paper backing first. The spray on DIF or other brands work well but let them sit for 5-10 min and then use a steamer (again being careful not to get it TOO wet) and using a paper scraper the paper should come right off.
  • Marion Nesbitt Marion Nesbitt on Jul 14, 2015
    Have a 100+ yr old home. A wallpaper steamer was the best thing I ever bought for the task. Score, wet down well and keep wet. Lay on the steamer and scrape. Then wash off any residual glue with warm water and vinegar. The glue under the original paper was meant to last forever. Some rooms had multi layers of paint over wallpaper. Someone used contact cement to ensure the seams held in one room. The stripper handled it all.