So, finally its time, to remove your old wallpaper that is covering your walls since a long time. The job of removing wallpaper could be a little tough, involving sweat and mess. Here are the things required and directions for removing wallpaper.

Things Required

• Wallpaper Stripping Solvent / Vinegar (5% white) / Fabric Softener
• Bucket
• Paint Roller or Sponges
• Drop Cloths
• Scraping Tool (without a blade)

Directions

• First of all, cover the entire floor with drop cloths to save your expensive carpets. It would be better to shift the furniture of the room to be stripped to some other place so as to avoid any damage.
• Shut off the main electricity connection because current might pass through switches. After it, take out covers from outlets and switch plates. And keep all covers, plates and their screws in a safe place.
• Fill the bucket with hot water and take water as hot, as you can bear. Add stripping solution to the water as per the instructions given on the bottle. If you are using vinegar, the solution should ideally comprise 20% of vinegar. It is usually suggested because it is effective, cheaper and not so toxic. Other cheap alternative could be Fabric Softener (no matter what is the water temperature) and it could be 25 to 50% of the solution.
• Avoid scoring the wallpaper since it makes the process only difficult. Some wallpapers are water-resistant and in such cases, one is recommended to use sand paper to prick the surface of the wallpaper so that it can soak the solution.
• Now, immerse the paint roller or sponge in the solution and paint the solution onto the wallpaper. Carry out the process in the enough area that you can strip in time of 15 minutes.
• As and when you start stripping, you’ll get a better idea of the area you can strip at a time and how thick the solution should be to work well. Allow the solution soak into the wallpaper and then repeat the earlier step. Keep a watch on time and don’t let the solution to get dry.
• Start peeling the wallpaper and try to peel bigger pieces otherwise it will take much time. Keep a big trash can nearby to facilitate you. You can employ a paint spatula or other scraping tools to peel every bit of wallpaper.
• In case, the solution gets too cold to work effectively, dump it out. Be careful and don’t dump this solution into a sink or tub because it can block the drains or make them go slower. Instead dump it down the toilet. Make a new solution following the same step.
• Repeat the steps until no bit of wallpaper is left in the room. In case multiple layers of wallpaper are covering the wall, then take off one layer at a time.
• Still if there is glue left, apply more solution to clean the walls. Avoid making walls excessively wet the walls and allow the walls to dry.
• Replace the covers, switch plates and turn on the electricity connection. Clean all the mess and find yourself in your wall paperless room.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 7:26 am and is filed under Home Decorating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.