How to Strip Wallpaper the Easy Way
Before You Start: Do This Test First
Before you pull out a single tool, test a small area at the bottom of the wall on a seam near a corner. Try to peel the wallpaper upward with your fingers. If it peels off cleanly in large sections, you’re in luck — it’s likely a fabric-backed vinyl covering, and all you’ll have left to do after removal is wash the paste off the wall.
If it tears into tiny pieces, don’t worry. That just means it’s a paper-backed covering bonded more tightly to the wall. Follow the steps below and it will come off.
What You’ll Need
- Hot water
- Laundry detergent (about one cup per gallon of water)
- Garden sprayer or an empty Windex bottle
- Painter’s plastic sheeting
- Old towels or drop cloths
- 3-inch or 6-inch putty knife
- Green scrubby pad
- Bucket of clean warm water
- Sponge or rags
- A positive attitude
Step 1: Prep the Room
Lay painter’s plastic on the floor along the full length of the walls you’re stripping. Strip wallpaper is wet work — water runs down the wall and pools fast. The plastic protects your floor and makes cleanup much easier. Lay old towels or drop cloths on top of the plastic near the base of the wall to absorb runoff as you work.
Move furniture away from the walls and turn off any electrical outlets on the walls you’re wetting. Water and outlet covers don’t mix.
Step 2: Mix Your Solution
Fill your garden sprayer with hot water — the hotter the better, as heat breaks down the adhesive much faster than cold water. Add about one cup of laundry detergent per gallon of water. Give it a gentle shake to mix. This is your wallpaper remover.
This solution is simple, inexpensive, and works on most wallpaper adhesives. Skip the commercial stripping products unless you’ve tried this first and it isn’t working.
Step 3: Spray and Wait
Start at the top of one full sheet and mist it evenly from top to bottom. Work one sheet at a time. Once the sheet is misted, keep it wet and let it soak for 5 to 8 minutes. Don’t rush this step — the solution needs time to penetrate and soften the adhesive behind the paper.
If the sheet starts to dry out before the time is up, mist it again. Patience here will save you a lot of frustration at the putty knife.
Step 4: Remove the Wallpaper
Start at the bottom of the wet sheet. Slide your putty knife gently under the edge and begin to push upward as the paper releases from the wall. Work slowly and try to keep the sheet from tearing. The goal is to pull it up toward the ceiling in as large a section as possible.
If the paper is fighting you, it needs more time or more solution. Spray it again, wait another two to three minutes, and try again. Forcing a dry sheet will tear it into small pieces and make the job much harder.
Step 5: Remove the Adhesive
This step is non-negotiable. Once all the wallpaper is off, the wall is coated in paste residue. If you paint over paste without removing it, the paint will crack like a spider web as it dries — and you’ll have a much bigger problem.
Empty your sprayer and refill it with 100% hot water, no detergent. Start where you began removing the first sheet. Mist the wall lightly and let it sit for about two minutes. Then take your green scrubby and work in small circles to loosen the paste from the surface. Follow that by wiping the wall clean with a wet sponge, wringing the paste residue into your bucket.
Change your water every two to three sheets. Once your bucket looks like paste soup, you’re not cleaning the wall anymore — you’re spreading paste back onto it.
Step 6: Let the Walls Dry
Give the walls at least 24 hours to dry completely before priming or painting. Rushing this leads to bubbling and adhesion problems down the line. Run a fan or open windows to speed things up if needed.
Once dry, inspect the walls for any damaged drywall paper, gouges, or soft spots. Address those before priming — prepping and priming your walls the right way makes all the difference in the finished result.
Need a Professional?
Bernau Designs handles wallpaper removal throughout Troy, Birmingham, and the greater Detroit area. If you’d rather leave it to someone who does this every day, contact us for a free estimate or call 248-924-8944.
Barry Bernau is the owner of Bernau Designs, a professional wallpaper installation and removal company serving Oakland County, Macomb County, and the greater Detroit area since 1990.
