An easy process to remove wallpaper

If you are looking forward to renovate your room, then painting the walls might be the best way to give it a fresh look. But removing wallpaper before painting is really not the fun part. However, it doesn’t have to be an extremely unpleasant task.

It will take your full day to remove wallpaper from the walls of a medium-sized room. However, the time duration may vary based on your work rate. Removing wallpaper is truly a mucky tiresome job, but with the help of the simple process given below you can make it as effortless as possible.

You will need the following tools:

• Masking tape;
• Wide putty knife or paint scraper with rounded edges;
• Joint compound;
• Dishwashing gloves;
• Drop Cloth or towels;
• Mop and sponge;
• Hot water and a bucket;
• Wallpaper glue paste;
• Screwdriver;
• Work lights.

You may also need some useful tools, particularly for difficult wallpaper:

• Wallpaper streaming machine;
• Scoring tool (you can get this from wallpaper or renovation shops).

Preparing the room

It is important to ready the room where you want to do the wallpaper removal because the process can be messy and wet. So make sure to lay down towels or use a drop cloth beneath the area you are working on. Mask off the vents, light fittings and outlets with tape to prevent the water and glue from getting into them.  Remove the artwork, curtains and drapes.

It can be a good idea to remove the curtains, drapes and any artwork. Make sure to shut off the power at the fuse box as you can avoid short circuits and damage in case water gets into the electrical fittings or sockets. Either way you can make sure that the sockets are taped over properly.

It is smart to have protective dish gloves as you will be working with extremely hot water and make sure to leave a window open so that you can get rid of the smell of the glue.

Removal of wallpapers

When removing a wallpaper the primary idea is using a very hot water to soften the paper from beneath. After this scrape off the wallpaper and remove the glue.

Sometimes wallpaper don’t absorb water quickly because of the semi-waterproof facing. This is where you can use a scoring tool because it puts a lot of little holes in the wallpaper due to which water easily penetrate through it. But if you don’t have a scoring tool, you can use a scraper. You can use it to gently pull off the edge of the paper slowly piece by piece. You can often do this without wetting the paper and expect it will come off in large pieces.

Even though this process will take your time, but make sure to use the scraper gently so that it don’t damage the wall behind it very much. When you have pulled off all the facing, use sponge or mop soaked in a very hot water to the backing paper and then soften the glue. Don’t forget to check that your towels are in place because the water will run down the walls. It can take around 5-10 minutes for the glue to soak properly.

After this scrape off the backing paper, when it has properly softened by the water. Remember not to gouge too much on the wall because it will leave you with more work to fill before you start to paint the walls.

When the all the backing paper is off, make sure to remove the layer of old glue to get a good finish. Remember the room where you will be working should be well ventilated and consider wearing safety glasses, when spraying solvent onto high places. After spraying on the solvent and leave it to take effect (as given in the instructions on the bottle) and then scrap it off every gently. You can wipe it onto a cloth or newspaper to dispose it off. Once you have removed all the glue, you will get a nice and clean surface.

After the wall is completely dry, fill in the gouges (if any) by using a scraper and the joint compound. Finally, when the joint compound has properly set, give the surface a good sanding. After this you will get a smooth surface to paint.