How to strip wallpaper

Inspired by a helpful YouTube guide. This walkthrough is based on the Wickes tutorial "How to Remove Wallpaper", which covers the full process clearly, including the often-overlooked importance of stripping back to plaster before painting or re-papering. The tip on soaking in stages rather than saturating the whole wall at once is well worth noting.

1. Prepare the room

Move furniture to the centre of the room or out altogether. Lay dust sheets over everything — wallpaper stripping involves a lot of water and wet paper scraps, and they end up everywhere. Switch off any plug sockets and light switches on the walls you are working on, or tape over them and keep water well away from the electrics.

Have a bin bag to hand for the wet paper as it comes off. Trying to pick it off the floor later is a miserable job.

2. Identify the wallpaper type

Run a corner of a scraper under a seam in an inconspicuous spot. If the paper peels away cleanly without tearing, you may have dry-strippable wallpaper — you can peel it off in sheets without water at all. Lucky you.

Most wallpaper is not like that. Standard paste-backed paper needs soaking. Vinyl or washable paper has a top layer that needs removing first before the backing will soak up water. And some older houses have multiple layers, which adds time at every stage.

3. Score the wallpaper

A scorer tool — a small plastic device with serrated wheels — makes small perforations in the surface that let water through. Run it over the wall in overlapping circles. Do not press too hard on plasterboard walls; you want to score the paper, not the plaster beneath.

To be fair, on solid plaster walls you can be a bit more confident with it. The goal is just to let the water penetrate past any vinyl coating or painted-over surface.

4. Soak thoroughly

Mix warm water with a small amount of washing-up liquid or a wallpaper stripper solution. Use a large sponge or a garden sprayer to soak a manageable section of wall — say, a metre or two wide. The water needs time to work through and soften the paste behind the paper.

Wait two or three minutes before trying to scrape. If you are too quick, the paper will tear. Go back and soak again if needed. The paper should feel damp and soft, not just wet on the surface.

5. Remove the top layer

Work a broad scraper behind the paper at a seam and push it along at a shallow angle. Long, steady strokes work better than jabbing motions. Let the tool do the work — if you are forcing it hard, the paper is not wet enough yet.

Peel away what comes freely and set it aside. Do not try to rush through stubborn patches. Re-soak, wait, then try again.

6. Deal with the backing paper

Most traditional wallpaper has a separate backing layer that stays stuck to the wall after the face paper comes off. This needs to come off too — painting or papering over damp backing leads to bubbling and peeling later.

Soak the backing the same way, but it often comes off more easily since the adhesive is now closer to the surface. Keep working in sections and take your time. That said, if the backing seems to be holding the plaster together, stop and get advice before removing it.

7. Clean and fill the wall

Once all the paper is off, wash the wall down with clean warm water to remove any paste residue. Paste left on the wall can stop paint from adhering properly. Allow the wall to dry fully before you do anything else — at least 24 hours, more if the room is cold or poorly ventilated.

Once dry, fill any holes, gouges, or loose plaster, sand back smooth when set, and apply a mist coat of diluted emulsion before the finish coats. The wall is now ready for painting or new wallpaper.

When to call a handyman

Call Richard if the walls are genuinely old — lime plaster, lath-and-plaster, or anything that feels soft and crumbly. Those need different treatment. Also worth calling if there are multiple layers of old paper, if removing the paper takes chunks of plaster with it, or if the room is large and you just want it done properly without the mess and faff.