How to Remove Wallpaper Easily
Learn how to remove wallpaper easily without using a scorer or other paper scraping tools. There are wallpaper removal tips that help you break down the plaster keeping paper on your walls, which make it a lot easier to strip your house walls and start over. Downey or a similar fabric softener is one such substance.
Wallpaper Removal Tips
The following are some wallpaper removal tips that are simple and easy to follow.
Wallpaper Removal Tools
Below is a short list of materials you’ll need to get rid of your wallpaper without trouble. You’ll notice there are no scorers listed.
- Downey Fabric Softener
- Warm Water
- Sponge
- Bucket or Two
Removing Wallpaper Easily
Start by filling one of your buckets with approximately 2 gallons of lukewarm water. Next, add somewhere between one-fourth and one-half of a cup of Downey to the water. Mix the two.
Apply the Downey to Your Walls
Dip a sponge in the Downey bucket, then use the sponge to moisten your walls with the Downey. Make sure every inch of your walls that you want to strip are covered.
You might want to apply a second time, if you don’t think the fabric softener and water covers the walls well enough. If this gives you trouble or you’re afraid it’s going to get too messy, consider using a sprayer. Use your old Windex bottle and rinse well before using.
In either case, apply fabric softener to your walls.
Let Soften Stand on Wallpaper 20 Minutes
How to Remove Wallpaper Easily
Let the Downey and water mixture stand for roughly fifteen to twenty minutes. This should be all you need to soften up your wallpaper for easy stripping.
Strip the Wallpaper off Your Walls
Gently now, peel off the loosened wall paper away from your walls. There should be no trouble getting rid of the wallpaper, because the fabric softener should have seeped into the wallpaper and loosened its adhesive qualities. Continue until the entire wall is stripped.
Wash Your Stripped Walls
You likely are going to have Downey fabric softener on your walls, so take a clean bucket of warm water and apply it to the walls, in order to clean away the fabric softener. If you use the same sponge that you used to apply the fabric softener in the first place, wash and wring out the sponge well, to remove all fabric softener.
More Wallpaper Removal Tips
If you don’t have any Downey fabric softener handy, consider using car windshield washer fluid. Spray it onto your wallpaper in liberal amounts, then spray it a second time, to make sure you get full coverage of the wallpaper.
For those who like the storebought products specifically designed for a job, consider the DIF Concentrate Liquid Wallpaper Stripper by Zinsser. DIF wallpaper stripper is a patented enzyme formula that removes paste, when mixed with water. You can find DIF at any Home Depot, Lowes or other household and hardware stores.
A word of warning about DIF, though. If your ceilings are painted with flat paint, if you get the DIF on the paint, your paint job will be discolored.
Vinegar also works, though it won’t absorb through plastic wallpaper. You’ll need to peel off the top layer of plastic, then spray vinegar on the tough-to-peel plaster below.
In my experience, Downey works as good or better than any of the options above. These are other options to consider, if you don’t believe me, though.
Easily Removing Paper from Walls
Now you know how to remove wallpaper easily from your walls. If you use the right loosening agent, you should never have to use scraping tools and scorers to remove wallpaper.