Removing wallpaper for the first time with limited DIY skills - am I going to *uck this up?!

[Gettingonabitnow]

Hi

We’ve bought a house and every room is covered in god awful wallpaper which I want off. I’ve bought a steamer and a scraper. I just want to crack on however a helpful inlaw 🙄 said I shouldn’t as I’ll mess it up and it will end up needing skimming.

Surely if I take it steady and carefully I’ll be ok??

Any tips gratefully received.
Thanks x

We have just finished on our house, it's an awful job. We did end up having to get our bedrooms replastered as the wallpaper was covering up a multitude of sins. But we didn't damage the wall by removing if if you see what I mean.

By the way, we found steaming to be useless. We had more success with a bucket of soapy water!

Depends on what the plaster underneath is like. It might come off however careful you are.

If you thoroughly soak the wallpaper with warm water and leave it a bit, most papers should lift off without needing to scrape. Woodchip I think is I harder work. (If you've got kids, let them loose with a bucket of warm water and big soft brushes - they'll love it. Put lots of old towels down first.)

Sometimes you find a lining paper under the top layer. If you 're planning to re-paper, if you can avoid pulling off the lining paper too, that will make the job easier. Try a corner first to see what's under there.

Thanks. No am planning to paint once it has gone. I don’t feel afraid of doing it, but from all I’ve read it does seem like a tricky thing to do.

Taking off the wallpaper shouldn't be tricky. That can actually be quite fun if you don't mind a mess. It's what's underneath that could be a problem, and you won't know that until you do it.

Steamers are very good. Hold them onto the wall for about 20 - 30 seconds and the paper should lift off. Whilst your scraping that bit, hold the steam on the next bit of the wall.

The scratching tool helps too - it allows the steam to penetrate the paper.

Thanks. I actually can’t wait!

It's one of those jobs that starts of really satisfying and ends up bloody torture.

We had one room in ours that had many many layers of wallpaper - it was like going back through the decades!

It's possible that the wallpaper was put up to hide walls that need some work anyway. You're unlikely to cause damage that can't be fixed with a bit of polyfilla just by stripping the wallpaper.

I've just started doing this in one of my rooms -it's easy! Just spraying each layer with water and letting it soak and it is just lifting off. Not sure how it could go wrong unless plaster is already damaged underneath.

Stripping is not difficult but it is time consuming and messy !
A steamer will make things easier providing it's not vinyl coated paper ( that tends to be used in bathrooms and kitchens )
I have been decorating off and all for the past year or so. I found that putting a plastic dust sheet down and taping it to the skirting board saves o s lot of cleaning after. ( buy frog tape , it is expensive but well worth it and can be reused if your carfull . ) If you don't get all the stripping done in 1 day don't bother taking the dust sheet up nobody's going to care that it's there overnight .
A scrapper with a flexable blade will be a huge help.
Buy a quick drying filler for things like nail holes and fine sand paper to smooth it off once its dry.
To be honest I would be very surprised if you don't need some plastering doing after. Unless it's a new is house .
If plaster starts coming off while you sre taking wallpaper off there is absolutely nothing you can do about it just go with it, wait until you got all the paper off and then you can assess just how much plastering will need redoing
.
And finally it's likely to take you twice as long if you think it will. but it is very satisfying to do. , the joy you get off pulling a big piece of paper off the wall is is amazing

I tried using a steamer but in the end I just used a sponge and bucket of water. Soaked it a few times, then it peeled off easily.
Don't listen to people saying you can't do something, you won't know unless you try.

I love stripping wallpaper when it comes off in big strips. Not a fun job though if it only comes off in tiny bits. Wood chip is awful (particularly if you spend two weeks taking it off and then realise it need replastering and plasterer says he’d have been able to plaster over it!). But give it a go and hope it’s the good stuff!

How old is the house? If it’s before 30s you are likely to have lathe & plaster internal walls, & if Victorian/older the plaster may have had it’s day

Speaking from experience (stripping & replastering 2 houses) : definitely try the soaking method first, to avoid steaming if you can: because ‘overcooking’ with the steamer is what often damages the plaster

To soak : use warm water with a drop of washing up liquid, soak the room, then go around a second time (ie the paper will have soaked for 30 min/an hour by time you go for second round). A really good scraper will make a huge difference

you might find the walls are papered for a reason!

Having said that, the walls in DD's room are pretty pants, but using flat matt white has really minimised the millions of flaws, and it is a victorian house, so I think walls are over 110 years old at least so they are holding up well enough.

As a pp said, keep the steam on one area for as short a time as possible to "soak" it and then scrape gently, no gouging. Don't hold the steam over one area too long or it can loosen plaster. I tend to start at the top because depending on your steamer some can be drippy, so as the excess drips it's pre soaking the lower down stuff!

If the walls do need skimming then the papers going to have to come off anyhoo, so you might as well do it, you may get away with it and be able to paint or repaper.

Taking it off is ok, but you might find that you can’t paint it easily if the plaster is damaged. You might have to put lining paper up - it’s really not that bad, but it’s going to add a bit of time.

You aren't likely yo damage the plaster.
Depending on how old the house is, you might find that the plaster isn't in great condition when you get down to it.

These are all true:
It's one of those jobs that starts of really satisfying and ends up bloody torture.
Stripping is not difficult but it is time consuming and messy !
and especially this
I love stripping wallpaper when it comes off in big strips. Not a fun job though if it only comes off in tiny bits. Wood chip is awful

It’s more a case of wether the plaster has already blown under the paper that is the deciding factor in re-skimming. Although I have heard that the heat from steaming can make this more likely.

We have used a mix of steam and soapy water to strip ours and the plaster underneath has been generally ok. Though we have also spent a lot of time filling /sanding and re-sealing the walls with pva before first painting on a layer of thick “problem walls” 3 in 1 base coat.

We really can’t be arsed getting a plasterer in though

Start in the room with the worst paper - ie if it’s already peeling off and you couldn’t paint over it, or shiny/textured paper that it would be hard to paint over nicely. Try getting that off, plan to do that room then re-evaluate.

Thanks, this is really helpful!!! The house was only built in 2007.

There's a chap on You Tube who does all sorts of advice about how to do DIY stuff.
Have a look for "Dad, How do I....."

Also what do you do about sockets - tape over them?

The only risk with a steamer is blowing the plaster behind it. But generally you have to hold the steamer on the same spot for like 2-3minutes and you'll hear a loud pop meaning you've blown the plaster.

If the house was only built in 2017 the plaster behind should be ok.

I'd try the water and sponge method first and scrape, and then for really stubborn parts use the steamer.

You'll be fine OP , you have totally got this!!

I got some cling film and cello taped over the lights etc

We paid DS to do lots of wallpaper stripping when he was about 16, he found it quite easy using the steam stripper, DH showed him what to do as he hadn't done it before. It does get a bit hot and steamy though

It's an easy job usually. The only time it's not is if it's woodchip that's been painted over a lot or if it's plasterboard. With plasterboard you have to be a bit careful you don't steam for too long. If you find the steamer conks out at boiling point, it can be that your water is too hard.

You f you find it harder to get off because multiple layers etc then try either a spray bottle with water and vinegar solution, or if there are paint layers then try Solvite wallpaper stripper spay
Steamer works ok if you are lucky to have non embossed single layer. I wasn’t that lucky- 3 layers and painted over some of them. I ditched the steamer and used water/vinegar and then solvite eventually.
Good luck