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Article ID: 5684
Title: How to Remove Wallpaper
By: Carina MacDonald

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How to Remove Wallpaper

Paint & Wallpaper-32

In a perfect world, removing wallpaper would consist of wetting the walls, peeling off sheets of damp wallpaper, giving the walls a quick rinse and instantly having them ready to be painted. Reality is usually spending hours grimly clawing little shreds of soaked, gummy paper off the walls inch by inch and ending up with pockmarked and gouged walls. Youu'll find the task of removing wallpaper a lot by following some professional tips.

If it is truly that difficult, you may have to paint over the wallpaper. You can't predict how paper will come off a wall until you get into the project. Most commonly, it is a three-stage process.

Removing the Top Layer
The top layer of paper peels off quite easily and sometimes you don’t even need to wet the wall. If it is a vinyl or slick-type paper, wetting it won't penetrate the surface to loosen the glue and backing underneath.
Make sure you have placed protection on the floor to avoid messes. If the paper peels in large pieces, lay those along the bease of the wall too. They will catch much of the damp paper and glue sludge as you continue to get your walls clean.

Using a paper tiger or a knife to score the paper will be useful if you need to wet the top layer to remove it, but usually you don't need to. Using anything to score the paper will result in slight drywall damage which will need to be sanded before you can paint. Don't add more work unless you need to.