How to remove wallpaper

How do you remove wallpaper?

Before you start to remove your old wallpaper you’ll need to prepare the room first by taking out, or moving, any furniture and laying down a waterproof dustsheet.

Try lifting a corner of the paper to see whether it comes off the wall easily. If not, use a sharp knife to score the paper, enabling water to soak through and penetrate the backing paper.

Top Tip: A Paper Tiger with its rotating sharp teeth makes an easy job of perforating the wallpaper all over.

Next, add a little squirt of washing up liquid to some warm water and sponge the mixture across the scored paper, starting at the bottom and working your way up.

Wait 20 minutes for the water to soak in.

Using a stripping knife, scrape the paper away from the wall.

Repair any gouges with interior filler applied with a flexible filling knife.

When dry, sand the filler down with medium or fine glasspaper.

Seal the wall’s surface by brushing on a dilute mix of wallpaper paste in water. When that’s dry you’re ready to start papering.