Any top tips for removing wood chip wall paper?

[Madblondedog]

So the horrible task of removing wallpaper is about to start. One room seems to have sorted itself out and with no effort we could just pull the wallpaper off the wall but we're still left with 3 rooms to do. One of which is wood chip wallpaper which I have heard is a bastard to remove, does anyone have any top tips to make it easier?

mist it with a garden sprayer using half a drop of WUL per gallon.

By the time you have gone all the way round the room, the first coat will have soaked in and you can go round again. Keep doing it without letting it dry out.

Use a broad metal scraper to knock the scabs off, once softened. This will help the water soak in.

When you start to scrape it off, start at the top of the wall and keep spraying so that water can dribble down between the paper and the wall.

Turn off the electricity to the circuits that feed the sockets and the light switches.

Hire a steamer for the weekend.

I saw a decorator removing this at work once and asked for tips. He said to score the paper first, soak it with water and then leave it for a bit to let the water soak in - then scrape. Steamers are good too.

Score the paper first if you are using a steamer was the top tip we were given.

We spent literally days trying to shift the stuff, soaked all the ancient victorian plasterwork so it was getting quite badly trashed as we took off the paper and then got a fixed price quote and got someone in.

It was our hallway though and there were about 5 layers of woodchip/vinyl/paper combinations so it was impregnable.

If you can pull off the top layer at all so there is just the gluey paper underneath it is easier to shift. There's also stuff you add to water like floor wash and you just paint it on then scrape [once the top layer is gone] We found that very effective.

Don't plan anything for the foreseeable future. It takes days weeks to remove. I think it took my H and I (with all the right equipment) about 3 days just to do a bedroom ceiling. It is evil stuff.

Yes to a very broad, sharp scraper.

You can get a spiked rotating device which you can then roll across the walls, which allows the steam/water to penetrate more effectively. But honestly, it's a nightmare. In the end I got someone else to do it and it was worth every penny!

Oh god I'm filled with dread now, we have two steamers.

Lots of scraping and watering then!

I am seriously considering paying someone to do it but its seems silly when we have the kit to do it and under tight budgets.

Its just tedious and incredibly time consuming. I'd rather pay someone to perhaps skim the walls when you're finished than pay someone to take it off.

Yep I was about to say either plaster over it or just sell the house. Woodchip is the work of the very devil himself.

You will need to get it skimmed afterwards, it is a Destroyer of Walls

If you use a steamer, let it moisten the paper, but don't hold in one place long enough to make it hot, or the plaster will crack and burst off the wall.

Nooo, I was hoping to avoid skimming walls - can't I just use lining paper

Mine can off in full sheets!! Maybe rubbish glue though!! Try it first before you wet it

The wallpaper might be holding the plaster together. You won't know until it comes off. The two bedrooms we have stripped of woodchip have both needed skimming (and one much more than that) afterwards. We have another room with woodchip, which I have painted, but otherwise refuse to think about!

Lining paper sorted out the look of ours afterwards. You might have to patch any huge gouges though.

I've taken woodchip off and the room didn't need skimming, lining paper was sufficient, so you might be lucky.

It depends where it is. We had one room (child's bedroom) that we lined and it was OK, walls weren't too bad but we did go for a heavy duty lining paper and furniture does cover quite a large expanse of the walls. I think with children's bedrooms you tend to redecorate quite often too.

If its going to be a room you'll want to have a good finish, and look nice, like a living room / kitchen, then you will probably need to skim.

It is going to be spare room, so not really a big deal if its not perfect.

We have textured wallpapers in all the rooms to remove, although some is coming off beautifully in strips some seems more resilient. I am definitely finding that some of the wallpaper is holding the plaster in place. Argh its a cost I had not budgeted for

It does vary as to whether you'll need to reskim after removal. I prefer not to use a steamer as I'd rather keep the old lime plaster in tact, but even so lining paper is often required. If it does need reskimming and gypsum plaster is used, I believe the walls will need uni-bonding first in order for it to adhere properly, although in an older house lime plaster should be used in order for the fabric of the building to breathe.

We have twelve rooms plus two hallways that have woodchip on every ceiling or rather did have as I've begun the job and either woodchip or other textured paper on majority of the walls. Three of those have beamed ceilings and the bloody woodchip is between every beam....they even plastered it on to the underside of shelves inside an original linen press, ffs

So far I've found hot water in a garden sprayer coupled with scoring/scraping thoroughly beforehand works best for me. I read somewhere that eucalyptus oil added to the water helps soften it, but have no personal experience. I plan to buy a Paper Tiger scraper before going any further.

I've done four rooms and started one hallway here. The hall dates from 1853 and is pretty bad and will definitely need lining at the very least, but the rooms in the newer (1920s) part have barely a crack to be seen, so guess they just papered between every beam for the fun of it......grrrrr!

Raphaella you've made me grateful there is only one wood chip wallpaper room and its the smallest at just over 3mx3m. The rest are textured but nowhere near as bad.