How to Remove Wallpaper Easily 2024

Have you grown out of the barbie wallpaper your parents had set up when you were 8? Do you want to match the wallpaper with the entire aesthetics of your room? Then the first step of such a big change is to try learning how to remove wallpaper at home!

If you have constraints like time and budget coming your way then doing it yourself can cost you nothing but effort. Wallpaper removal means that whatever has been pasted along with the old one but be stripped down. According to the interior experts, it is necessary to remove the old wallpaper to make a painting, or redecorating that surface would be easy.

These methods will guarantee to remove every bit of the paper to give you a smooth wall. You can choose from these methods as per your requirements. Regardless of the type of wallpaper you’re willing to remove, we’ll be suggesting some of the most profound ways of getting rid of it.

Preparing the Room for Wallpaper Removal in 3 Steps

The initial step of removing wallpaper from your walls is by preparing the room to start the process. Start by bringing all the furniture of your room to the center or just take it outside for more room. Next, you have to cover floors and nonremovable items with cloth or plastic sheets to avoid ruining them.

1. Cut the Power

For every safe and successful DIY project, it is important to take precautions. In this case, you must switch off the power source of the room and cover all the sockets and electrical outlets with tape. If you match the sockets with the wallpaper for blending them in then you can choose any contrast of the wallpaper to make the wall pop.

2. Know Your Wall

Before starting any work, you have to figure out whether your wall was plastered before or if it’s drywall. This knowledge matters because of the damage it can handle, for instance, drywall is known to be sensitive to water. So, when dealing with drywall you’ll have to use less moisture or don’t implement a method that requires soaking.

3. Knowing Wallpaper Type

Now for determining the type of wallpaper you have, just try peeling any corner of your wallpaper with a putty knife. There might be three end results to it. The first one would be strippable, if it comes out without putting in much effort. It is one of the easiest ways of removing wallpapers.

Secondly, if your wallpaper is removed but leaves backing of some sort, then you have a peelable wallpaper. Lastly, if the paper doesn’t move even a tad bit then it’s the traditional wallpaper and would require a detailed process.

3 Simple Steps to Remove Strippable Wallpaper

Once you know the type of your wallpaper then removing it would be quite easy. If you have a strippable wallpaper then you’ll be required to implement some basic steps to remove it.

1. Prepare your Materials

Start by gathering materials required to remove to make the process fast and easy. The materials required are soap, water, rags, and a putty knife.

2. Loosen Up Wall Corners

The next step involves using a putty knife for lifting your wallpaper’s corner. You must use your hands to peel the paper and then pull it by keeping it close to the wall so you don’t tear it in the process. However, if you just somehow tear paper then you can loosen the other corner and start over. You can easily repeat this process for the entire room.

3. Cleaning walls

Once you’ve removed the entire wallpaper from your room then it’s time to clean the wallpaper. Just use a bowl of warm water and soap for smoothing the surface. Lastly, you’ll have to completely dry it before painting it over.

6 Steps to Remove Traditional Wallpaper Easily

The next method is for those who have traditional wallpapers. It is known to be the most difficult wallpaper to remove as it sticks to the wall semi-permanently.

1. Prepare your Material

Start by gathering materials required to remove to make the process quick and simple. Get wallpaper stripper, any spray bottle or paint roller, water, scraper or putty knife, a scoring tool for wallpapers, rags, soap, rubber gloves, and ladder.

2. Create Wallpaper Stripper Mixture

Now, put on your gloves and combine the wallpaper stripper and warm water as per the instructions on the back of the packet. After that, you can just pour down the mixture into any spray bottle.

3. Applying the Mixture

Next, you can use the spray bottle with the mixture for even application throughout the entire wall. However, you must start by sectioning the wall into four by four feet as per your height and motivation. After applying, let it rest for just a few minutes.

4. Scrape the Wallpaper

After the solution has been rested, try using the putty knife for peeling it off. You should scrape everything in the section you’ve applied the mixture so that it would be cleared up.

There are special scraping tools specifically designed to scrape the wallpaper, helping you with stubborn paper. It’ll be easier and more comfortable and won’t require much effort. If you have drywall then don’t push it when scraping as it could affect the surface.

5. Score for Precision

Before applying the solution, if you need to be precise with the sections then try-scoring before scraping off the paper. You just have to roll the scoring tool over the wall and make any circle or square determining the sections.

6. Clean your Walls

Lastly, you must clean your walls with water and soap to remove every bit of the remains. It may be leaving adhesives behind or leaving small holes in the wall so you have to overcome these flaws before papering it again. Here is how to fix the hole in the wall.

3 Easy Steps for Removing Peelable Wallpaper

Now it’s time for the method to remove peelable wallpaper, this method won’t require any hasty steps.

1. Prepare your Material

You must start by preparing materials required to remove to make the process quick and simple. Take a wallpaper stripper, water, putty knife, spray bottle, soap, water, and cloth.

2. Remove the Top Layer

You can start by peeling the topmost layer of the paper gently. Just loosen the corners of the paper with a putty knife and pull it keeping close to the wall leaving the paper backing behind.

3. Remove the Backing

Lastly, just remove the remaining paper backing which you can just remove like you have removed the traditional wallpaper.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the perfect way of wallpaper removal?

There isn’t a perfect way of removing the wallpaper as it totally depends on the type of wall and wallpaper you’re dealing with.

Can we paint over wallpaper?

Generally, it won’t be a wise option to paint over the wallpaper. As the paint won’t be absorbed and will loosen the paper which can result in showing the old paper giving an ugly look to your room.

Can we wallpaper over the old paper?

Similar to painting, re-papering over the old one won’t be a wise decision as it can create bubbles in the older paper making the new one look weird.