If you want to refresh your living space but don’t want to paint directly on wallpaper, there is no other solution than to peel off this wall covering. Nothing could be easier if you follow one or the other of the procedures detailed here. At work !
Precautions to be taken before taking off the tapestry
We start by preparing the room. Before starting the construction site, it is essential to:
- Cover the furniture with large sheets or take the furniture out of the room,
- Lay a plastic sheet on the ground,
- Cut the electricity,
- Dismantle the socket covers, switches and sockets, wall lights as well as the chandelier if you have to take off the wallpaper from the ceiling,
- Put dominoes and tape (insulating tape) after disconnecting the electrical wires.
Finally, open the window to ventilate the room.
Peel off wallpaper with a mixture based on warm water
By using simple products that we all have in our cupboards, we can prepare an effective solution that will allow us to dilute the glue and so make it easier to remove the wallpaper. These products are:
- The soda ash : place two good tablespoons of soda crystals in a bucket filled with hot water and mix.
- The White vinegar : mix 50% white vinegar and 50% hot water.
- The white vinegar and baking soda : add a large glass of white vinegar and three tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda) to 10 liters of hot water. Mix well before use.
Whichever solution is chosen, the method of use is the same, namely:
- Put on rubber gloves,
- Immerse a large sponge in the mixture obtained and pass it over the wallpaper tosoak. The solution can also be sprayed onto the upholstery using a canister with vaporizer.
- Mark a pause time of 5 to 10 minutes so that the product acts.
- Equip yourself with a spatula or a squeegee to take off the strips.
To overcome stubborn wallpaper residue, just soak it again but this time with a homemade solution made up of 30% very hot water and 70% white vinegar. Leave to act for ten minutes and remove the remains of tapestry with a spatula.
The special case of vinyl paper
Some wallpapers are very thick because they are waterproof. This is the case with vinyl, which is mainly installed in damp rooms such as the kitchen or the bathroom. This type of wallpaper can be removed with either of the solutions described above, but before soaking the vinyl upholsteryit is imperative make it permeable. For this, we can scratch with :
- Either coarse sandpaper,
- Or a brush with metal bristles.
The vinyl paper is generously scratched so that the mixture with which it will then be soaked can penetrate to the layer of glue. Leave to act for about fifteen minutes before passing the spatula to remove each strip, one after the other.
Steam off wallpaper
If you do not wish to resort to these solutions, there remains the possibility of steam off your wallpaper. To do this, you can:
- Pass the steam cleaner on the wallpapered walls,
- Rent a stripper or borrow one from his neighbour.
Stripping a room steam works well. However, this means working with the window wide open because you have to prevent the ambient air from being saturated with moisture in order to limit the risk of embrittlement of the plaster covering the walls. However, steam is an effective solution that requires less energy from the operator…
Finally, as soon as all the upholstery in the room is peeled off, it is necessary to inspect the condition of the backing. All asperity must be removed so that the walls are perfectly smooth, and the holes must be filled in if there are any. The walls can then be either repapped or painted and the end result will be impeccable. And if you really don’t feel the courage to take off the wallpaper yourself, or you don’t have the time, it is possible to entrust the task to a professional.