What’s the easiest and most effective way to remove old wallpaper?
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We had to take off wall paper in our sun room and we found that the Chomp Wall Paper Remover worked best. I have more details here: https://www.aratariathome.com/blog/sun-room-paint-reveal
Everyone has their preference. Scoring and steaming has always worked for me!
https://www.lowes.com/projects/paint-stain-and-wallpaper/remove-old-wallpaper/project
Any tool rental will have what you need.
Steaming is also the only thing that worked for me! We were going to rent a high-powered one from Home Depot - but the cost of renting didn't make sense compared to buying one - so we bought one.
First try to peel as much as possible off. Most wallpaper consists of 2 layers that are bonded together. If you can get the top layer off it will be much easier to remove, If you cannot remove the top layer, or at least most of it, then you will need to score it so that you can get to the adhesive layer attached to the wall. Paper Tiger is a scoring tool that you apply light pressure to perforate the wallpaper. Be careful not to press hard enough to put indentions in the drywall underneath.
Mix warm water & fabric softener 50/50 in either a spray bottle or a garden sprayer. Place a dry towel to catch in drippings along the baseboard and floor. Saturate a section at a time and let sit for about 5 minutes. Test to see if the adhesive has "melted". Once that has happened, take a plastic scraper and scrape the paper off the wall.
Some people have used vinegar instead of fabric softener but i haven't so I cannot attest to how well it will work. Bonus, your house smells like fresh laundry using the fabric softener,
I have tried a steamer and this method worked better for me. I had some paper that was put up directly on the drywall without painting first. In those cases it is very easy to damage the material underneath with a steamer. I have used this method to remove border and wallpaper, some of which was glued on as well as being pre pasted, in 8 rooms with no problemst