Wallpaper stripping tools and techniques

[LumpHammer]

I've got several rooms to redecorate, that are currently covered in

1970s textured wallpaper, some in reasonable condition, some not.

I've stripped one room so far, using a cheap paint scraping tool to remove as much dry paper as possible, and some "Zinsser" wallpaper stripping solution for the difficult bits. The underlying plasterboard goes soggy easily, so I'm reluctant to use steam.

Any tips on the easiest way to strip the remaining paper, tools I could buy?

The fancier wallpaper stripping tools on Amazon have mixed reviews.

[harryagain]

If your plasterboard has not been skimmed, (with plaster), you are f***d. If it has, you can use a steamer with care.

ISTR there are products out there to put a skim layer on top of various textured finishes but I have never used them. I think "Polyskim/filler" makes one.

[Thomas Prufer]

Standard procedure is to get the paper wet, often using a garden sprayer. Or, in more difficult cases, use very thin wallpaper paste on the surface, and stick the thinnest cheapest poly dust sheet to the wall to let it soak without drying off too soon. Try frequently to get the wallpaper off when it's just right, not too damp and not too dry.

I have found the stripping solution to not be of any more use that a small dash of washing-up to aid in wetting. YMMV.

Wetting is not particularly helpful for the problem of the plasterboard going soggy. However, I think getting the plasterboard damp/wet is worth it if the wallpaper then peels off very easily, and the plasterboard dries again whole, IYSWIM. Scraping dry may damage the plasterboard more. Standard advice is to paint the plasterboard with cheap diluted emulsion to size it before sticking wallpaper to it. (Yeah, not helpful here...)

None of the tools I have used were of more utility than a scraper like these:

Thomas Prufer

[newshound]

I've been a huge fan of steam strippers since the 1979s. They will take gloss painted anaglypta off Victorian lath and plaster surfaces (OK in that case the finish layer is often friable and comes off as well).

I think they work in two ways, by saturating the paper and softening cellulose type pastes, but the heat also softens older adhesives.

I don't think I have ever had to take wallpaper off straight plasterboard, but I would expect them to be good at that (obviously, if the paper is painted you may need to abrade the surface). If you do it at the right speed, you just dampen the paper but not the substrate so you are less likely to have the "soggy plasterboard" problem than using the wet method.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Thomas Prufer writes

On embossed paper over lath and plaster, I found it necessary to scratch the surface to allow water penetration. The tool used was something like the largest scraper shown above but with the edge having 6mm serrations. Dragging this across the surface created score marks which allowed water in to soften the glue.

The plasterer employed by our builder was so impressed that he stole it:-(

[Dave Liquorice]

What do you mean by "soggy", actually soft an squidgy or just a colour change and easier for a badly handled scraper to damage. Without a skim the PB paper may well come off...

I've never used a steam stripper on PB but things don't get anything like as wet as they do with the hand method. Also as it's hot/warm it dries quicker. The first scrapings are preety much dry by the time you've gone round a normal room and with a steam stripper that is a lot quicker than manual.

Has this wallpaper been painted? The paint film will keep the steam or water away from the paper/adhesive. Might be worth gently running over it one of the spikey roller/wheeled things to peirce the paint.

As I have a steam stripper I'd try it even on unskimmed PB but wouldn't get upset if it didn't work as I know there is a risk.

[stuart noble]

I imagine scoring paper fixed to plasterboard will inevitably damage the surface. An alternative strategy I've used is to scrape off a 2" wide section all round the top, and then keep toshing water on with a brush. As more gets behind the paper with each application, the job gets easier as you come down

[Tim Watts]

I used one of those prior to steaming - it worked well for me for scratching through the plastic layer or paint.

[Thomas Prufer]

There are also spiky rollers to do this.

I googled for a picture, and the first hit was a picture of a wallpaper roller thing on Amazon.de. Only they had wrapped the handle in innertube rubber, and the price was about 10x that of the wallpaper roller. There was also a bit of text on showing who's the boss, "skin roller", and fifty shades of grey.

So buy a dozen wallpaper rollers on Amazon, sell them back rubber-handled with a bit of old cycle innertube and saucy text for 10x the price, and get someone else in to sort the wallpaper for the difference?

Thomas Prufer