If you are planning to paint your walls and need to remove wallpapers first, you are expected to do a time consuming, dull and messy job. If you want to avoid frustration, you really need to know what you are doing to prevent damaging your walls. Unfortunately, there is no product which will help you to remove wallpaper glue easily, so here, we will give you some tips to do the job quicker and easier, finishing with walls that are clean, smooth and ready for repainting or new wallpaper.
First things first - make sure that your furniture, floors and all the woodwork is protected as there will be a lot of water mixed with glue running down the walls. Also, the electricity to the room should be turned off. Instead of the main room lighting fixtures, you can use work lamps on extension leads to light your area of work.
To start with wallpaper removal and get rid of the top layer of paper, do not use any water. To tear it off, find the edge where the paper starts (usually near the ceiling) and pull it back with moderate pressure. If you are lucky, this will pull down the whole sheet of paper; however, it is more likely that it will start coming off in smaller pieces.
Using a sponge or spry pump, apply hot water to smaller sections of the wallpaper backing to make it softer. Avoid applying it to larger areas, as the backing can dry out before you start wallpaper removal in that particular area. You need to be careful when doing this, as this step can easily damage the walls.
Plaster walls can withstand hot water without any problem. However, drywalls are not water resistant and longer contact with water can ruin its surface. 15 minutes is sufficient for the backing to soften enough to be removed without difficulties. For this step of the process, you can also use a wallpaper steamer that you can rent from any hardware store and that is highly effective. However, if you are not experienced, using them can be pretty tough.
As plastic scrapers and spatulas are too thick to get underneath the glue, to remove the softened backing, use a putty knife of metal spatula, but try not to be too harsh as this can scratch your walls. You will definitely find some remaining paste. Spray it with gel stripper and after 20 minutes, you will be able to scrap it off completely. Wash the wall with water, using a sponge, until the surface is entirely smooth.
It takes about 6 hours for wallpaper removal in an average room and a lot of your patience. And, if you do not have those, to save yourself the trouble, hire a company to for professional wallpaper removal in Canberra for you.