How to remove wallpaper on only one wall?

Question

We had plumbing issues and had to remove a portion of a wallpapered wall, I do not want to remove the rest of the wallpaper in the room only the wall that had the repairs, from corner to corner.  Is it possible to do without damaging the wallpaper on the adjoining wall?  I would like to paint the wall that was repaired, we no longer have any extra wallpaper or I would just wallpaper it and be done.

William · Answer

Score the paper in the corners, spray down the wallpaper you want to remove with vinegar and warm water, let it soak in, then peel the wallpaper with a putty knife.

Janet Pizaro · Answer

Or spray the paper down with fabric softener and water.

Christine Muff · Answer

Make sure you sand the wall before you paint and fill in any holes with putty.

William · Answer

Make sure you wash down the wall removing all adhesive after removing the paper. Patch any imperfections, sand them down, prime the wall with KILZ or BIN primer, then paint.

Queeniecda · Answer

What helped me in my many redo's around house was ; a hand held steamer. Saturate an area at a time, peel off with putty knife! It was soo easy...

Helen · Answer

I'm with Queeniecda428.  I've had a wallpaper steamer for almost as long as they were first introduced.  I've removed so much wallpaper I could repaper my entire home, probably 2 times around.   It takes a wee bit of getting use to, but before you remove one wall of paper, you'll have the 'knack'  Follow the instructions.

Jean · Answer

It think I would score the corners with an exacto knife.  You could then remove the wallpaper, being careful to use wallpaper remover sparingly when you get to the cut edges.

Jean · Answer

Also, I was told to remove as much adhesive as possible from the wall then paint it with a coat of oil based primer.  If not, your final coat of paint may crackle from underlying adhesive residue.

Alan · Answer

I have removed 100's of thousands of rolls of Wallpaper from walls in my career, it depends on the type of Wallpaper that you have on your wall, if it is a vinyl coated or 100% solid Vinyl it should be dry strippable in other words the plastic Vinyl coating should peel off leaving the backing paper still on the wall, next step is to get some plastic and masking tape to isolate the corners of the walls that you want to keep intact, from any damage when stripping the backing paper off, put  a decent drop sheet on the floor to absorb any over spray of water, get one of the 1 gallon plastic garden sprayers from WallMart or a similar hardware store, fill it with warm water and about a tablespoon of either liquid disinfectant or dishwashing liquid it helps the water hold onto the paper being stripped, now spray the water onto the wallpaper to be stripped in very light coatings, it may take many applications and let it soak in, when the shine of the wet water goes away spray it again and again and again with light coatings otherwise it will all just run down the wall, now it takes a while for the paper to soak up enough water to soften the adhesive holding the paper to the wall, now don't attempt to strip the paper off until it has soaked right through, otherwise you will damage the wall surface that you want to paint, this seems long winded but it's not as you will find, the paper when it has soaked long enough will come off very easily sometimes in full strips, now as you are going to paint the wall, while it is wet from your stripping, make sure you wash the wall to remove all of the old adhesive, if you don't the dry old adhesive will absorb the fresh new paint that you apply and swell up and look awful, this looks and sounds as if it is a real mission but it is not, it is quite a simple exercise, this system is exactly the same as using a steamer but you are doing the whole wall at once where as the steamer only does about a square foot at a time.
If you want to contact me for one on one, and if the site allows it try me on this...solutionssimple@xtra.co.nz        good luck!

Kathy Lovenburg · Answer

I would think that most rental places where you rent big tools etc would have a steam wallpaper remover. I agree with Jean about scoring the corners with an exacting or sharp utility knife. Start on steaming in the middle of your wall and gradually wirk your way to the edges. Make sure you have wallpaper seam sealer in case the corners are a little loose.

What are you going to do with the wall after you remove the wallpaper? If you are painting, you will need to be sure to clean and remove all the old paper, backer and glue 😉

Jennie Lee · Answer

Alan is exactly right;  you don't need a steamer! I did what he suggested, and only used a 99 cent spray bottle and water!

Debbie Kuhar · Answer

In a small bucket, put some fabric softener in it.  Dry sponge. Soak lightly, with a scraper that is not that is not the sharp, just start with a scraper to get a start and it eventually will peal right off. You may have to apply the fabric softener again. Works perfectly and inexpensive.

Mary Himmelspach Nelson · Answer

Thank you for your replies, they are all very helpful, I am going to give it a try!

Sue Kiene · Answer

Score the paper. Spray with Vinegar and water. Let sit for a bit and start removing. Also you can use a steam iron as a steamer and I have filled them with the vinegar and water.

Gwen Barham Loftus · Answer

I had the nightmare from hell removing wall paper!  It was a vinyl paper and no sizing was used.  I scored it with a 'paper tiger' and sprayed water and vinegar mixture (epic fail) Downy and water mixture (worked a little better) and used a putty knife to get most of it off the wall.  Still residue left so used a small mouse sander and fine grit sandpaper to hit the spots that refused to come off.  Worked hours and hours and only have 5 more rooms to go!!! UGH.  Also borrowed a friends steamer but that didn't work well.  Good luck to you.  If the wall is sized first, it comes off easily.

Alan · Answer

In the future if you have that happen again, remove the vinyl coating or the plastic coating and leave the backing paper on the wall, smooth the wall and fill any gaps holes etc and sand smooth, then use a LATEX based size to seal the walls if you are re wallpapering, when I get time I will try and find what latex sizes are available in the USA.

Agnes Chrzanowska · Answer

Spray water and it should come off

Johnavallance82 · Answer

Hi use a craft knife and maybe a piece of beading would give you a good finish.

How to remove wallpaper on only one wall?

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How to remove wallpaper on only one wall?

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