Using wallpaper is always a great idea to reconstruct the apartment, which is gradually gaining popularity. You may probably think about using the new wallpaper in your apartment or house, but first you must get rid of the old wallpaper on the walls. We all know that it’s quite an unpleasant process that requires a lot of effort and time. The good news is that there are some smart ways of removing the old wallpaper. This article will present you a new lifehack – how to remove wallpaper with vinegar.
How to remove wallpaper with vinegar
You will need:
- water
- vinegar
- a plastic sprayer
- a stripping knife
To begin this process, you must first prepare the walls by spraying old wallpaper with water mixed with and let it soak into the paper for some time. Once the water has had enough time to loosen the glue, you can start scraping the edges of the old wallpaper using a stripping knife (or a wide spatula, if you prefer this tool). This tool will not damage your wall, but will be quite comfortable while using it. You must make sure that you start fro, the bottom of the wall; then work from the bottom up. Also, make sure that you wipe up any drips on the floor immediately if they appear.
If you find that the first attempt did not work completely for removing the old wallpaper, there is the second stronger technique that you can try. If you still find some sections of the old wallpaper clinging to the adhesives, you have to loosen the paper using more vinegar. This is one of the most evvective ways you can use while trying to remove the old wallpaper completely – we all know that leaving the pieces of the old one on the walls may destroy all your finishing work with the new wallpaper in one hour or so! Using vinegar is very effective in destroying the old wallpaper glue that seems stuck to death to your walls. The elements contained in vinegar will actually dissolve the adhesive and, consequently, will make the process of removing wallpaper easy.
We hope this article helped you to get proper information on such a useful lifehack as removing wallpaper with vinegar.
How to remove wallpaper with fabric softener
During the finishing works included in your repairing process you may face serious difficulties removing old wallpaper. For the wall to look perfectly and have no flaws, the old wallpaper must be completely removed from the working surface – all the pieces of the old decorative finish. This work requires time and patience. In order not to waste time, strengths and nerves, many people prefer to leave everything that was too hard to remove on the walls and the glue new wallpaper over it. For the new wallpaper to be glued evenly and smoothly, you need remove the old finishing in a very thorough way. The most common way of simplifying this process includes using water, rarely – steam machines. But the second variant is not available to everybody, while the first one is available to every person every minute. In this article you will learn how to remove wallpaper with fabric softener. Not so many people may guess that removing wallpaper with fabric softener is quite a useful lifehack!
There are several reasons why you must remove the old wallpaper completely:
- After pasting on the walls the new wallpaper you may get visible irregularities, especially if the preceding wallpaper was rather textured one
- The new wallpaper may peel due to disintegration and detachment of the old one
- The last, but not the least – you should do it for your health! Not so many people know that the development of bacteria and mold on the wall which is often not visible because of the decorative trim. Removing the old wallpaper allows to clean and treat the surface of the wall with antifungal drugs
You will need
- fabric softener
- a wide spatula
- warm or hot water
- a roller
- polyethylene film
- masking tape
- a knife
- a roller
- a respirator
Before you begin removing the old wallpaper from the walls, you need to cover the furniture with polyethylene film using masking tape to fix it to the floor. The film will protect the furniture from dirt. You can also cover any areas of the floor you like. All sockets and switches have to be de-energized and covered with masking tape. Paper wallcovering is the most difficult one to be removed as its removal requires more time and diligence in comparison with the other species of finishings. The difficulty is that it tears too easy. Moreover, if the repair is carried out in an old private house or a summer cottage, under the old wallpaper you can surprisingly meet a few more layers of different old finishings – this may become a terrible headache! There is also an unpleasant possibility that the walls appear to be covered with glued newspapers – they have often been used as a base be the “old school” house owners or old people.
We Recommend: Best way to remove wallpaper glue.
Removing wallpaper with fabric softener
The order of works should be as follows:
- Add fabric softener to water for soaking wallpaper
- The resulting solution is applied to the wall surface using conventional rollers or sponges
- Wallpaper need to soak completely, so before you proceed with the removal, you will need to wait for about 20-30 minutes
- After the wallpaper soaks well, it will become very flaky
- Using a spatula, the old wallpaper is separated from the wall
- Those places that are soaked badly need to be treated with a fabric softener solution one more time – be patient! The remaining pieces of the wallpaper (which are not peeled off) need to treated again. Perhaps, they will need to be treated for 3-4 times for you to thoroughly clean the walls
We hope this article ensured you that you can easily use water and fabric softener to remove wallpaper.
How to remove wallpaper from plastered walls
Removing wallpaper from plasterboard may become quite an unpleasant process. But there are some tips which can do your work much easier. Here are some of the most useful pieces of advice on how to remove wallpaper from plastered walls with your own hands.
Before you start! You will be working with wet compositions and water, so, in order to comply work with safety, you should de-energize the electrical wiring in the working area. This will prevent the possibility of short-circuits and eliminate the possibility of accidents.
You will need:
- a ladder
- a sponge
- a tool you prefer for removing wallpaper
- steel trowel
- a long roller nap
A way of removing wallpaper from plastered walls depends on the wallpaper type.
Removing paper wallpapers
Paper finishing materials are usually applied on plastered walls in several layers. To remove such a multi-layered “wallpaper cake” will take a lot of your time and patience. Modern wallpaper is usually removed without too much difficulties – a thin layer of purl paper that remains of it may not be removed – new materials will be glued straight onto it without the loss of the quality of the new finishing, especially if the walls are flat and do not need to be repaired. To remove modern good quality two-layered wallpaper simply hook the strip edge with a spatula and gently pull the panel – it is usually completely removed from the wall. Unfortunately, such materials do not occur very often – sometimes we deal with cheaper ones. After pre-wetting paper wallpaper is usually removed without too many difficulties. But if they are glued in several layers, you will need to act very accurately for large chunks of plaster not to crack! The restoration work will require additional time and, of course, some extra cash!
The order of works
- Pre-moistened wallpaper using a garden sprayer or a sponge, after complete water absorption the procedure may be repeated. 20 minutes later the paper will be easily separated from the wall. In case of any obvious problems, you can moisten the surface one more time.
- To avoid too much moisture while working with water, you can use hot water. If the cleaning of some parts of the walls will need using a scraper, then you will need to try not to damage plaster – the result is in your hands only.
- If you plan to hang the wall again the same material, they have to clean up the surface of plaster.
IT’S IMPORTANT! Pay particular attention to locations near the switches and sockets. To start the work, you can just turn off the power in the house.
Pro tips
- Do not risk leaving pieces of “old school” paper wallpaper on the plastered walls, even if they are super stuck. The old clay, which includes water, can soak into the new finishing starting to bubble it – the new wallpaper can be compressed or can start to curl or keep up the walls.
- Washing the walls is not required. If the wallpaper was removed with difficulty and had to be scraped off the surface of the wall, it should be treated with emery or pumice stone. Otherwise, the wall will remain tiny grains of old wallpaper.
Removing washable wallpaper
Any washable coating is usually made of moisture-resistant material. Naturally, the method of removing paper wallpaper is absolutely wrong for removing washable wallpaper. But if the surface of the washable coating is pre-treated with toothed roller or a scraper, the water will get inside and after some time it will be easy to remove the washable wallpaper.
If washable wallpaper is removed too badly, you can use a steam stripper to save the day. You’ll have to press the sole of steam to all problem areas. If you don’t have any steam machine – it can be replaced by conventional steam irons.
Removing vinyl wallpaper
Vinyl wallpaper coating is usually consist of two layers – that’s why many people face serious difficulties while removing it. The lower layer is covered with tissue paper or polyvinyl, applied to its surface or embossed pattern. The removal should be performed in the following order. First, it is necessary to disrupt the film layer, then moisten the paper substrate heavily. To remove the old vinyl wallpaper, you can use a special solution that significantly reduces the complexity and the time of the works. Before their application you need to read the instructions on the package and learn the precautions for working with any particular solution.
The most important procedure to be performed after the removal of the old coating is testing the strength of plaster left on the wall. All suspicious areas should be deleted, and then you have to re-align your wall.
We hope this article helped you to get all the necessary information on how to remove wallpaper from plastered walls in in the fastest way.
How to remove painted wallpaper from the walls
Removing painted wallpaper is quite difficult. In order for everything to be done perfectly, you need to prepare the surface before painting the walls: to remove the old finish completely, to remove the cracks using putty, to primer walls. Even the best quality non-woven painted wallpaper may be torn while removing, even without much efforts – the process of their removal in this case seem real flour. Here are some tips from pros how to remove painted wallpaper.
How to remove wallpaper that has been painted over?
Be ready that this process will take a lot of time and effort. But there are some ways to simplify your work.
- a basin of warm water to which detergent is added
- a foam rubber sponge or a roller
- a metal scraper – which will be one of the most important elements – or a spatula
- a ladder
- polyethylene film
- masking tape
- chemicals designed specifically for the removal of decorative materials
- a big knife
The #1 rule in this process – not being in a hurry. You really should practice a little bit of Buddhism, indeed! Doing this should always be a very special process, starting from the top and gradually falling down. To do this, you should first hook the upper edge of the finishing materials above, then pull it down very slowly, without abrupt movements using a spatula or any other similar tool you like to be used to remove the wallpaper in the places where they are separate with difficulties. Take your time and do some small researches, working out what places are to be treated with more care all the time. If the process is not very smooth, it requires additional moisture to soften the old wallpaper glue.
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The work must be performed in the following order:
- First of all, you will need to worry about the safe performance of work. Do not forget that walls always have electrical outlets or switches, but your future removing work may require the participation of water. So, you will need to turn off the electricity in the switchboard and use masking tape to seal sockets and switches. Refresh your memories on the safety while working with electricity! Your life is in your hands!
- It is necessary to prepare the workplace. For this purpose, the floor is covered with plastic film glued to the baseboard on one side (which will be the removed wallpaper) or to the floor on the other side.
- Now, use warm water and detergent, soak the sponge and wet the old finish, then wait for about 15 minutes, then again moisten the wallpaper (3 times may be even better!). But it is not necessary to wet a very large area at ones, because the wallpaper will dry quickly. Afterwards, use a scraper or a knife for careful removing.
- After the swelling, vinyl and paper wallpapers should be cleaned off with a spatula. During the process you can also use a special “washer” for wallpaper – it will destroy the structure of the adhesive solution, and after its removal the removing of the wallpaper will not make much effort.
How to remove painted wallpaper from the plasterboard?
If drywall was not primed, the removing may be problematic – the wallpaper will strip off the top layer of drywall. So, it is not recommended to moisten the wallpaper in this case – plasterboard is afraid of water. If the wallpaper must be removed anyway, you will have to putty the plasterboard or to glue the new wallpaper straight to the old one.
We hope this article helped you to get all the necessary information on how to remove paintable wallpaper from the walls in your apartment or a house with your own hands properly.