Q: I’d like to color my kitchen, however I’ve to take away the wallpaper first. How do I do it? —Kenneth Chin, Trumbull, Conn.
Wealthy O’Neil, portray contractor and proprietor, Masterwork Portray & Restoration, replies: Eradicating previous wallpaper is a simple challenge for most owners and properly well worth the hassle. You simply can not get a decent-looking floor should you go away the paper in place and put paint or new wallpaper over it.
If you happen to’re fortunate sufficient to have “strippable” wallpaper, all it’s important to do is seize a nook and peel off entire sheets. But when the paper sticks stubbornly to the wall, you’ll must dampen the floor with a concentrated, enzyme-based wallpaper remover that breaks down the adhesive holding it to the wall. With a correct soaking, wallpaper will come off in giant swaths, not bits and items, and earlier than you recognize it the entire room might be a clean slate able to be coated with the end of your selection. Learn on for O’Neil’s step-by-step information to simple wallpaper elimination.
Proven: This Previous Home assistant editor, Sal Vaglica strips wallpaper utilizing a putty knife.
Step 1
Prep the Partitions
Shut off the room’s energy on the circuit breaker. Take away all receptacle and swap plates on the wall, and canopy the openings with 2-inch painter’s tape. Tape a plastic sheet to the highest fringe of the baseboards to guard the trim and flooring. Roll a scoring software over the paper in overlapping circles, making tiny cuts for the adhesive remover to penetrate. Goal for 10 perforations per sq. inch.
Step 2
Dampen the Wall
Following the instructions on the bottle, combine a wallpaper-removing focus, equivalent to Dif, with an applicable quantity of scorching water. You’ll want about 2 gallons of answer to cowl 500 sq. toes of wall. Pour the answer right into a pump sprayer, and spray the wall from the underside up utilizing the ‘medium mist’ setting. Work across the room 3 times. The paper ought to bubble in about 5 minutes.
Step 3
Peel Again the Wallpaper
If working with a steel putty knife, use sandpaper to boring the sharp corners in order that it received’t gouge. Work the knife behind the paper’s prime edge the place two panels meet, and peel the panel down the wall. If paper sticks to the wall, soak it once more earlier than scraping. Place the stripped items in a rubbish can so that you simply received’t slip on them.
Step 4
Scrape Off the Glue
Adhesive residue prevents new wallpaper from adhering and telegraphs by way of paint. Eliminate it by spraying a 3-foot part of wall with extra remover answer and scraping the residue off with a putty knife or huge drywall-taping knife.
Step 5
Wash the Wall
Instantly after scraping off the residue, wash the part clear with heat water and a sponge mop. Proceed this fashion across the room till all of the partitions have been scraped and washed from prime to backside.
Step 6
Check for Hint Adhesive
You possibly can test for residual wallpaper adhesive by spraying the wall with a mixture of 1 quart water and 1 ounce povidone-iodone, which can flip any adhesive residue purple. Use denatured alcohol or sand calmly to take away these spots. Let the partitions dry for twenty-four hours, then seal them with an oil-based primer.
