Quick and Affordable Ways to Strip Wallpaper

Wallpaper is an essential component of the interior design of any house. It can be argued that the wallpaper is the basis for the color scheme for the rest of the room that wallpaper surrounds. Depending on the color and the design of the wallpaper, it can work wonders on creating deceptive proportions in a room. Or it can make a room look much more inviting and warm than it really is. On the flipside of that, ugly wallpaper can really bring down the aesthetics of a room. And let’s be honest, we’ve all seen examples of such. But whereas applying wallpaper to a room is viewed by many as a fun, potentially playful activity, stripping down wallpaper is anything but. It’s understandably viewed as a ghastly chore. So that terrible wallpaper remains, acting as a extravagant stain, because taking it down is just so hard. Yes, it can be, if you make it so. The fact is though that it can be relatively easy.

Before doing anything, tear down as much of the wallpaper as you can using your bare hands. This will be much easier if you work from the top down. The top layer will typically be fairly easy to separate from the wall. The bottom layer, however, is the one that is actually glued to the wall, so it can be something of a struggle. You should have tarp or some sort of protective material covering as much of the room and furniture as possible as well, because stripping wallpaper can prove to be slovenly.

After you and your hands have stripped away as much as you can, it’s now time to obtain a little assistance. Grab the liquid fabric softener from your laundry room. Pour about five ounces of it into a sixteen ounce spray bottle, and fill the rest with hot water. Shake this mixture well, and then proceed to spray it all over the remaining wallpaper. After you have done this, take a ten minute break; the mixture needs some time to soak in. When your waiting period is over, check to see if the wallpaper and glue have softened. When it has, scrape the wallpaper off using a nylon scraper. This method will not only work to remove your wallpaper, it will also leave a fresh scent behind in the room.

You can use pretty much this exact same method by using dishwashing liquid, as opposed to fabric softener, as well. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you use dishwashing liquid, it must contain degreaser. Dishwashing liquid will be most effective for wallpaper that is acting particularly stubborn, especially if it’s Dawn. For this mix, use the same sixteen ounce spray bottle, but use a ratio of one ounce dishwashing liquid to fifteen ounces of hot water. At this point, you can repeat the aforementioned process, step by step.

There are commercial products on the market, designed specifically for the purpose of stripping wallpaper. Most of the products are effective, I’m not saying otherwise. What I will say, however, is that these products can be terribly expensive, especially if you have a lot of wallpaper to strip. By using the methods I’ve just laid out, not only can you remove your wallpaper in swift fashion, you can do it by using household materials you already have lying around. Why would you want to go the other route?