How to quickly and easily remove old wallpaper from the walls?

When carrying out repairs, the main step is to prepare the surface for applying a new coating. Before you begin to finish the walls, you must completely remove the old layer of wallpaper. This procedure has its own characteristics. It often requires some effort. It is worth considering in more detail how to quickly and easily remove old wallpaper from the walls.

Traditional ways

Water is often used to remove old wallpaper. This is the simplest method of cleaning the surface at home.

It is necessary to prepare the room before putting water on the walls of the room:

  • It is necessary to turn off the electricity on the apartment electrical panel.
  • All sockets and switches in the room need to stick with masking tape.
  • Furniture, floors, doors and windows should preferably be covered with plastic wrap to avoid contamination of surfaces.
  • Old cover should be wetted with hot water. For better effect, you can add dishwashing gel to the water.
  • After the initial application of the solution to the surface, you must wait fifteen minutes, then repeat the procedure.
  • After repeated treatment with a soap solution, the coating should start to swell. Having hooked the bottom of the swollen wallpaper with a metal spatula, you can begin to carefully tear off the canvas.

It is not always possible to remove the old coating with solid canvases. The remaining pieces can be cleaned with sandpaper. If the wallpaper covering is rather old, already flies away from the concrete walls, then it can be easily and quickly removed without using water.

Enough with your hands or with a spatula to capture the retreated edge of the wallpaper, and then remove the canvas from the wall.

Instruments

The process of removing the old wallpaper coating can be very time consuming. Before starting the main works, it is necessary to prepare all the necessary documents in advance.

The following tools may be needed to remove the old wall covering:

  • Metal trowel.With this tool, it is convenient to hook layers of wallpaper for later removal.
  • Paint scraper
  • Needle roller. It is used to violate the integrity of the wallpaper, which improves the moisture permeability of the material.
  • Wallpaper "tiger". It is used for the same purposes as the needle roller.
  • Household steam generator
  • The sprayer will facilitate the process of applying the soap solution to the surface.
  • Foam sponge or soft cloth.
  • Bucket.
  • Polyethylene film.
  • Masking tape.
  • Iron. Wallpaper coating is not necessary to moisten with water. Cleaning with steam is no less effective way: just leaning a damp cloth against the old layer of wallpaper, iron the area with an iron.
  • Metal brush.
  • Sandpaper.
  • Knife.

If it is necessary to tear off the covering from the ceiling, then a stepladder should be prepared. Do not forget about your own protection from dirt and dust. Prepare gloves, headgear and goggles in advance.

Special formulations

Manufacturers of adhesive mixtures produce special tools for removing wallpaper from the walls and ceiling. Such mixtures are able to penetrate deep into the structure of the wallpaper material.They allow you to easily peel off the old layer. A method of making a solution is always specified by the manufacturer on the package. To a special tool to act more efficiently, you can mix it with a glue mixture for wallpaper. The surface is treated with the resulting composition.

After the walls are completely dry, you can remove the old coating, without making special efforts for this.

The order of work

When removing the old coating, you need to consider that dust and putty will fly off from the walls along with pieces of wallpaper. Before starting work, care should be taken to protect against dust and dirt. Protect various surfaces and furniture from contamination by using polyethylene. Do not forget about personal protective equipment: a bandage on his head, gloves, construction glasses.

Electricity in the apartment at the time of the work should be turned off.

Further order of work depends on the method that you chose to remove the old layer of wallpaper.

The following general steps in the process of removing an old coating can be distinguished:

  • The old layer of wallpaper must be properly prepared.In the case of two-layer wallpaper, you must first tear off the top layer. Then the coating is moistened with water, a special composition, it is treated with steam - you need to choose one thing. Do not immediately soak the entire surface. Just start with a small section of the wall.
  • After treatment with special agents or water, you need to wait some time to get the moisture absorbed better into the coating. When the wallpaper is swollen, you can begin to rip them off the wall.
  • With the help of a metal spatula or a knife, you must pry off the edge of the wallpaper lagging behind the wall and pull it. It is better to do it below, starting from the floor.
  • With a good pretreatment of the surface, the wallpaper should be removed with one-piece cloths, however, often small fragments of wallpaper cover remain on the wall. They can be re-moistened or cleaned with sandpaper.

Features by type of canvas basis

In the modern market of finishing materials there is a wide range of wallpaper coatings. Wallpapers are made from a variety of materials. Some subtleties of the process of removing canvases from walls and ceilings will depend on the specific type of wallpaper.

Flizelinovye

Non-woven wallpaper made of cellulose fiber and special additives. Flizelin has a strong fabric-like structure. Such material is resistant to moisture and tears. The top coat is easy to remove. It is enough to take up the edge of the wallpaper, and then tear the canvas from the bottom layer. For the remaining basis, you can glue the new wallpaper.

Peel off waterproof non-woven wallpaper completely completely uneasy. First, the top layer is removed, after which it is necessary to remove the base. The easiest method is to soak the surface with warm soapy water, then remove the bottom layer with a spatula. Washable models on non-woven base can be removed with a steam generator. High-temperature steam softens the glue, after which you can easily remove the coating from the wall with whole canvases.

Paper

Old paper wallpaper covering removed from the wall is not so easy. This material is very easy to tear, so you can not remove the wallpaper with solid canvases. On the paper surface, you can pre-cut. The surface should be moistened with water. It is also possible to prepare a special solution.To prepare a soaking solution, it is sufficient to dilute vinegar or dishwashing gel in warm water. Within twenty minutes the wallpaper should begin to swell. After that, you can begin to remove the paper pieces from the wall.

In case the wallpaper canvases were glued with a mixture of PVA, you will have to resort to a more radical method of cleaning the surface. The covering needs to be removed by means of a drill with a nozzle in the form of a brush from metal. The most effective means for removing paper wallpaper are specialized blends, and steam treatment can also be used. Painted paper wallpaper can be cleaned with a steam generator. You must first try to at least partially remove the top layer of paint.

To give the coating moisture-proof properties of paper wallpaper is often varnished. If varnish was used, the wall cleaning procedure requires more time and effort. To remove such wallpaper, you must first clean the top layer with emery paper. After removing the lacquer coating, you can soak the surface in the usual way, then remove the wallpaper with a spatula.

Vinyl

Vinyl wallpaper is a two-layer material. The bottom layer is made of paper or non-woven fabric. The upper vinyl layer is made of PVC. It has a high level of moisture resistance. To remove such a coating using the standard method of soaking the surface, you need to put a lot of effort. To facilitate moisture access to the lower layer of wallpaper, it is necessary to break the integrity of the vinyl coating with the wallpaper "tiger". Then you need to moisten the wallpaper material well with warm water, remove the coating with a metal spatula.

PVC wallpaper is well removed after surface treatment with steam. This method will require a steam generator or iron. The adhesive layer will soften under the influence of steam, which will allow without much effort to remove the wallpaper from the wall. In more difficult cases, when the vinyl coating is difficult to remove, you should use special store tools for removing the wallpaper. Such a tool must be mixed with adhesive composition for wallpaper, applied to the walls, stand for three hours. Wallpapers will be easy to remove whole canvases.

Liquid

Liquid wallpaper is quite easy to remove from the surface.It is necessary to clean the coating gradually, breaking the entire surface into small sections. A small area is well moistened with water or a special agent. The liquid should be well absorbed into the structure of the liquid wallpaper. It’s enough to wait about ten minutes.

After a layer of liquid wallpaper razmok, it can be easily cleaned with a spatula made of metal, paint scraper. To remove this type of coating you can also use a building dryer.

With this tool, it is necessary to warm the wallpaper surface well, after which the layer of wallpaper can be easily cleaned with a spatula.

Self adhesive

Self-adhesive wallpaper is a PVC film coated with a layer of dry glue on the reverse side. Most types of self-adhesive coatings are easily removed from the surface without the use of any special methods and means. If the film fails to simply peel off from the surface, then you can wet the coating with hot water. The adhesive composition under the wallpaper should soften after a few minutes, after which the film can be removed with a spatula. The most effective tool for removing self-adhesive wallpaper is a building dryer.Under the influence of hot air coating softens, will begin to lag behind the wall.

Dismantle from drywall

The difficulty of removing the old layer of wallpaper from drywall is that such a material absorbs moisture well. This leads to deformation of the surface. The outer layer of drywall is glued to each other layers of paper. This layer must be kept safe during the removal of wallpaper. A simple way to soak the wallpaper with soapy water in this case will not work. You must use special tools that affect wallpaper glue.

To clean the wallpaper from the drywall surface, you can use an iron with a steam function. This procedure takes a lot of time, but allows you to clean off the old coating without damaging the drywall. If you are faced with the task of removing non-woven wallpaper from drywall, this procedure will not be difficult. The top non-woven layer can be easily torn off the wall.

For convenience, you can break the integrity of the coating with a needle roller, and then begin to peel the walls. The remains of the upper layer can be cleaned with a spatula.The bottom layer of wallpaper remains on drywall. It is not necessary to delete it.

General recommendations

Before pasting the walls with new wallpaper, not everyone is of the opinion that the old wallpaper covering should be removed.

However, sticking material to the old layer can result in serious problems:

  • Wallpapers pasted on the old layer may eventually move away from the walls.
  • When the adhesive mixture is applied to the old and new coatings, both layers are soaked. Subsequently, through the new wallpaper can tread pattern of the old layer.
  • Under the old wallpaper coating on the wall may be fungal formations. It is necessary to completely clean the walls, if possible prime them before applying a new finishing layer.

The process of removing the old wallpaper should be approached with all the responsibility so as not to spoil the walls.

When removing the old wallpaper covering, you must consider the following nuances:

  • If a reinforcing mesh was used to reinforce the concrete wall, then the process of removing the wallpaper should be approached with all care. The mounting grid must not be damaged during surface cleaning.
  • Often for sealing gaps on the surface using serpyanka tape.In the process of removing the wallpaper, such strengthening is not necessary to remove.
  • Internal and external corners can be strengthened with the help of an angle-forming non-woven tape, as well as metal corners. We need to take care of the safety of such fasteners.
  • It is not necessary to handle the entire surface with a soap solution. Cleaning one site, you can proceed to the next.

How to quickly and easily remove the old wallpaper from the walls, see the video below.

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Information provided for reference purposes. For construction issues, always consult a specialist.

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