How to Remove a Wallpaper Yourself (DIY) & Save Money

Not sure about you, but I am someone who easily gets bored with the interior of my home after every few months.

I am always moving the furniture around and changing the color theme and basic decor of my home every now and then.  A splash of color on the wall, some new cushions, and a change of lighting can completely revamp the room.

However, it can be difficult if you have wallpaper on your walls. Removing wallpaper can be a tedious and difficult job and more than often you will feel too lazy to do anything about that one wall that has wallpaper.

Wallpaper can give an instant uplift to the room, however, the design tends to go out of fashion pretty quickly. If you are like me, you will be looking for the best ways to remove old wallpaper every few months without paying exorbitant prices to the professional wall paper removing companies.

It might sound scary to remove your wallpaper by yourself but with the right steps you can easily pull it off.

This article has everything that you need to know, in case you are planning to remove the wallpaper. If you are in search of the easiest way to remove the wall appearance without doing permanent damage to your walls, keep reading the article.

With the help from this article, you can save big bucks and do a professional-level job at home yourself.

Tools and Materials Required to Remove Wallpaper (DIY)

Just like any other job, the first thing you need to focus on is getting your hands on the right tools. If you are well equipped with the correct tools then removing the wallpaper will be a piece of cake.

But before you roll up your sleeves and get to work, you need to figure out what time of wall paper it is and get the tools accordingly.

The basic things which you will need:

1. Old Towels – to protect the floor.
2. Gloves – to protect your nails and hands.
3. Water- to soak the wallpaper
4. Soap _ to create a soapy solution to spray the wallpaper with.

How to Remove a Peelable Wallpaper

These wallpapers are pretty easy to remove. All you need to do is remove the top part which will peel of like a sticker and you will only be left with the glue part at the back. Do not worry, you need some simple tools to remove that.

Sandpaper: to scrub and scrape the wall.

Liquid Stripper Concentrate: it will soften the glue and helps remove the wallpaper

Brush: you will need it to apply the liquid stripper.

How to Remove a Strippable Wallpaper at Home

This is probably the easiest wallpaper to remove. Thankful to the people who came up with this type of wallpaper as it is completely free of hassle. All you need is a sturdy ladder and a sharp knife-type object.

You will need the ladder to reach the top of the wallpaper. Use the knife to loosen the corn of the wallpaper and pull it down. It won’t cause any damage to the wall and doesn’t require scraping.

How to Take off Washable Wallpaper

This is most probably the toughest type of wallpaper which might give you nightmares. But worry not, as long as you follow the right steps, you will be able to remove the wallpaper easily and not damage your wall. The material required for this is:

Scoring tool: the trick is to break the smooth surface so that water can enter the base of the wallpaper and loosen the glue. With this tool, you can make holes in the wallpapers.

Spray bottle: spray water to every possible area which you can reach on the wall till the wallpaper is soaking with water. The more densely it is soaked, the easier it will be to remove the wallpaper.

Knife: once the wallpaper has loosened, use the knife to scrape all the residue.

How to Get Rid of Wallpaper With a Steamer

Maybe you might come across a wallpaper that is typically stubborn and none of the above-mentioned techniques would work.

Worry not!

There is still another way to easily remove that wallpaper. All you need is a steamer. The moisture from the steamer is strong enough to lose any glue which is holding the wallpaper to the wall.

Things you will require are:

Electric steamer – to steam the wall and loosen the glue

Knife – to scrape and remove wallpaper

Goggles – to protect your eyes from steam

Gloves – to keep your hands safe

Soapy Water – to clean up the residue from the walls

Add water to the steamer and wait for it to warm up nicely. Meanwhile, make sure that you are following the safety rules as hot steamy water can tend to be dangerous. Wear your safety goggles and gloves to minimize any fear of getting hurt.

Hold the steamer close to the wall so that the steam can penetrate inside. If you feel that the wallpaper is too thick then use a scoring tool to make holes in the paper.

Keep scraping the small parts of wallpaper that you have steamed. Use warm soapy water to clean the residue of paper or glue from the walls. Give it a final scraping session to make the wall nice and smooth.

These are a few pointers and tips which can help you change or remove the wallpaper from any wall easily.

However, once you remove it there are certain things which you need to keep in mind.

Firstly, thoroughly clean the wall with soapy water and scrub any residue. Sand it lightly using sandpaper to smooth down the surface. In case you find any holes or uneven surfaces, either fill them using a drywall mix and sand it down once it has dried,  to make the wall smooth.

Apply a good quality latex primer and use a fresh coat of paint.

That’s it! You are good to go for the next experiment with the wall, whether you want to paint it or put on a new wallpaper.