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DIY | DIY
decorating | Removing wallpaper
Whilst removing wall paper can be a
difficult time consuming job it can be made far easier.
There are tools which you can buy which can help you, mainly a steam
wall paper stripper, a spiked roller to penetrate several layers of
paint and a good quality scraper. This method involves applying steam
to the paper which in turn dissolves the wall paper paste behind,
making it possible to remove the wall paper, I do not like this method
as it uses lots of electricity and generates a lot of steam which
makes the job uncomfortable due to the heat!
In this picture above I had no choice but to use the steam stripper,
this was very uncomfortable but there was several layers of painted
paper attached to the ceiling!
Hold the steamer in one spot until the paper is saturated then move
it sideways and scrape that area whilst you steam the next area to
be scraped.
Care must be taken when removing the wall paper as if you hold the
scraper at the incorrect angle you could damage the plaster behind,
making more work for yourself! Invariably some of the plaster will
be removed from the wall along with the paper but if the damage is
not too great you can simply patch repair the wall as opposed to doing
a full re-skim!
My favorite method of removing wall paper is to make a mixture of
warm water, a detergent such as washing up liquid and something to
thicken the mixture (wall paper adhesive is ideal).
Mix the warm water, washing up liquid and wall paper paste, do not
mix too much wall paper paste as it will make the liquid too thick
and it will not soak in as good.
Before starting It is a good idea to remove the carpets of cover the
floor completely with a waterproof membrane and some dust sheets!
Wearing waterproof gloves apply the mixture to the wall paper starting
at the top of the wall and let it run down, Do this on all the walls
where the paper is to be removed and leave it to soak in for at least
20 minutes, try and remove some of the paper with a scraper, if it
does not scrape off easily repeat the soaking process until the wall
paper can be removed easily.
Courtesy of Ultimatehandyman.co.uk
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