How do I strip wallpaper?

[Keenoonvino]

We moved 3 months ago and have since lived in a house with awful wallpaper in every room and I am now ready to tackle it....room by room! However, I have no idea how to get wallpaper off the wall so I can paint it. It's all glossy wallpaper so I don't think I want to paint straight onto it, I'd rather remove it first and then paint. The internet seems to be full of conflicting advice, and my dad has told me to hire a steamer which from what I've read seems a bit out of date.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you...

Have just realised this May be better in DIY topic - have reported the thread

Ideally you need a wallpaper steamer thing and you will need a scrapper. If you are right handed start in the top right hand corner of the room. Holding the steamer in your left hand put the steamer on and let it work it's magic, then move the steamer down and scrap off the wallpaper the steamer has soften.

Thanks - we will leave for now - mostlyjustluker's replied with more help than I would be. You can always link from one to the other thread if you like.

Happy Stripping

You can buy wallpaper steam strippers really cheaply (all the usual places B&Q, Homebase etc). It's not worth hiring one :)

If it's a glossy paper you might need to do the 'top' layer then the underneath separately.

It's fun I'm actually quite sad mine is all stripped and plastered now.

Thank you all! Great advice about not bothering to hire a steamer. I'm not even sure I would have looked at the to buy prices but there seems to be a good one for about £30. :)

Just use a wallpaper steamer they're cheap enough. Rip off the top layer (satisfying if it comes off in strips) then steam section by section and scrape off with a scraper. It doesn't take long.

For glossy paper you might need to score it - scratch diagonal lines over the wall with the corner of your scraper. Just enough to pierce the shiny top layer so the steam can penetrate the paper underneath. Go carefully though, you don't want to scratch the plaster. Alternatively I think you can get a roller that will put little holes into the paper, to do the same thing.

Keep a window open and don't wet the wall more than you can help. Sometimes you lose a patch of plaster, don't take it personally. If walls are nearly good enough for paint but not quite, one option is to line with the thickest lining paper you can find, then paint.

Yeah and they're all much the same.

Just check to see which one has the longest hose (snigger) and it's handy if it comes with a smaller hand piece too as they're handy for getting above the door, down the side of things, over cabinets etc. But essentially, they're just a big kettle with a hose!

Have fun! Oh, but if you have any woodchip paper (you will know, it looks like small chunks of bark under the paper) it take a long time to do it - you'll need plenty of and .

Ha, thanks, I'll examine hose lengths! I'm 35 weeks pregnant, so no wine for me, but I'll definitely stock up on the cake! Really good advice here, thanks so much!