Removing old wallpaper - do you have any advice?
By Porcospino
@Porcospino (31366)
Denmark
January 24, 2011 12:57pm CST
My husband and I recently bought a house, and we have started painting the rooms and removing the old wallpaper. The house was built in 1920, and in the living room there are several layers of old wallpaper. Some of the really old wallpaper is very hard to remove. We use a putty knife, and the first layers of wallpaper are relatively easy to remove, but the oldest ones seem to stick to the walls no matter how we try. We have tried to find some information on the internet and that helped us with the newest layers, but the oldest layers are still a challenge. Have you ever tried to remove very old wallpaper, do you have any tips or advice?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@Gameslayer007 (862)
• United States
25 Jan 11
I worked in painting and drywall.
There is a chemical that you mix with water and you can soak the wall you are trying to remove the wallpaper from. With old wallpaper you may have to let it soak and soak. Under no circumstances do you want to take it off in small pieces because the "knife" you use will start to pull small pieces of the wall off with it and you will have to use drywall mud to resmooth the wall. If you can't remove it you can "kills" it and use a very small amount of drywall mud on the seems to give it a smooth flat appearance. Then it will be fine to paint. As a professional I can honestly tell you that many people leave the wallpaper up and treat it and paint over it. Really really old wallpaper wasn't intended to come off.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
25 Jan 11
Thank you very much for your advice 
It is very useful for us, as my husband and I haven't tried to remove old wallpaper before. In the past I have always left the old wallpaper on the walls and painted over it, and that hasn't been a problem. In this case they didn't place the wallpapers properly from the start, and the different owners kept on adding new wallpaper anyway and now the walls look pretty ugly, so we had to do something about it.
It is very useful for us, as my husband and I haven't tried to remove old wallpaper before. In the past I have always left the old wallpaper on the walls and painted over it, and that hasn't been a problem. In this case they didn't place the wallpapers properly from the start, and the different owners kept on adding new wallpaper anyway and now the walls look pretty ugly, so we had to do something about it.@Gameslayer007 (862)
• United States
25 Jan 11
No problem.
Most, nearly 65% of the work I did was fixing a mistake a homeowner created so I know it can be tricky.
Good luck!
1 person likes this
@chixovici (30)
• Romania
25 Jan 11
what wallpaper is??
the really old wallpapers was textiles one, not only a canvas with painted paper glued on it...
newest types of wallpapers are simply paper, 2,3 or 4 layers, pressed with a small layer of glue.
i personally, will first try to remove with sand machine, if that not works well, i will try to soak and use knife.
as the last resort i will rent a hot air / hot water / hot steam machine.
but i'm a guy "with two right hands", and i like to work manually, if your husband is opposite, for him it will be a work from hell.
if you can rent a team with specialised tools at a lowest rate, go with them, else...
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@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
26 Jan 11
The old wallpaper in our home is made of paper, but the oldest layers were still very hard to remove. The oldest layers have been there for about 90 years (the time when the house was built) It was fun to see the old designs when they appeared one by one, they are very different from the wallpaper that you can buy today. I like old houses that have a history
My husband is like you, he is very good at manual work and he likes it. I am very happy about that. He has no experience with wallpaper, but he is able to do many other things on his own
My husband is like you, he is very good at manual work and he likes it. I am very happy about that. He has no experience with wallpaper, but he is able to do many other things on his own 
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
25 Jan 11
That is exactly what we have decided to do. My husband called them today and tomorrow we are going to pick up the steamer. Fortuneately we were able to rent a steamer for 24 hours and that was much cheaper than buying one. My husband is going to use it tomorrow, and we hope that will solve the problem so that we can move on. There are still plenty of things that we need to fix before we can move in.
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
25 Jan 11
Hi there Porcospino,
I once helped my grandmother do this in her old home. I know that steam works to loosen it. If I remember correctly, I had a spray bottle that I filled with hot water and kept spraying as I removed it. I think the steam would work even better though.
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@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
26 Jan 11
We decided to use steam, and it worked really well. It took a while to remove all the wallpaper from the wall, but it worked and that is the most important thing. At first we were trying to remove the wallpaper without steam or water and that was not a good idea, it took ages and we were only able to remove very small pieces of paper. When we rented a steamer it became a lot easier to remove the wallpaper.
@petersum (4522)
• United States
24 Jan 11
Yes, the glues were much better in the past, weren't they? If it really is that tough, you'll either have to steam it off - you can probably rent a steam cleaner - or perhaps a soak in hot water may help. If all else fails, then you'll have to grind it off with a power sander tool.
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@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
24 Jan 11
Thanks for the advice. We will try a steam cleaner first I think. I hope that will help us remove the old wallpaper, but my husband does have a powder sander tool so that could be another option if the other method doesn't work. Neither of us have tried it before, but we have to remove it. The previous owners all placed their own wallpaper on the walls without removing the old wallpaper, and now the walls have become pretty ugly, so we have to do something about it.
@lacieice (2060)
• United States
24 Jan 11
Steam it. We rented a steam machine...it had a large flat metal pan with a handle on the back that you held up to the wall, and steam comes out. it losens the paper and you can then use your putty knife to remove it.
Alternatively, search the internet for how to remove wallpaper.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
24 Jan 11
Thanks for the advice. I will show it to my husband. Maybe we can also rent a steam machine I must admit it is harder than I expected. I have moved several times, but the other times I have painted the walls without removing the wallpaper. This time we have to remove it, because the wall is not a pretty sight, and we have to start from scratch.
I must admit it is harder than I expected. I have moved several times, but the other times I have painted the walls without removing the wallpaper. This time we have to remove it, because the wall is not a pretty sight, and we have to start from scratch.