Removing wallpaper is a simple, but sometimes time-consuming DIY home staging project. Wallpaper is generally an incredible liability for home sellers. You might love your taste in wallpaper, but I can virtually guarantee you that prospective buyers will hate the wallpaper and therefore they will hate your home. Enough said.
Take it down, and that includes those horrific little wallpaper borders. Some designers will disagree with this recommendation, but trust me, statistically, wallpaper is one of the most prevalent buyer complaints on prospective properties.
This guide will get you removing all the liabilities created by wallpaper in your home, with easy to follow directions.
Removing Wallpaper Instructions
There are many products and approaches used for wallpaper removal and most work acceptably well. The main thing to consider, no matter which product or method you use, is that there are 2 steps to removing wallpaper by hand:
First, wet the surface to allow separation of the paper front from the adhesive backing. Wetter is always better here. Peel off the paper by hand. Next, scrape the adhesive backing off the wall.
If you follow these 2 basic steps, you will be successful, although how fast you achieve your goals can vary depending on technique utilized, energy used, breaks taken and determination of will. Wallpaper removal can be a very arduous process to be sure.
Wallpaper Removal Tools and Techniques
Professional steamers work well for removing paper from the walls, but can be cumbersome and sometimes costly to rent. I found that simply filling a spray bottle with a vinegar-and-water solution works very well to wet the surface and start dissolving the glue backing. I like to score the wallpaper first with a scraper, so the solution can really sink in.
Saturate the surface and allow the wet mess to sit for a few minutes. Then, simply peel off the front coating and scrape the backing off the wall. Keep spraying to maintain the moisture on the scraping area and prevent damage to the wall surface.
Follow this process throughout and you will do fine, but be prepared to devote some time to this project, as it can be slow going for stubborn wallpaper or the multiple layers of paper often found in older homes.
Removing Wallpaper Opinions
Do not get insulted by this article, but your wallpaper is probably one of the biggest aesthetic liabilities in your home. Most buyers hate wallpaper. I have seen so many lovely rooms completely ruined and cheapened by those terrible upper wall borders with some repetitive flower graphic. Take these down and class up the room with some crown molding instead.
Wallpaper in the bathroom is also a common problem and should be removed and replaced with a nice updated paint color, if not tile.
I have managed to get seemingly impossible-to-sell homes sold, in as little as a week, by simply advising the seller that they must take done their wallpaper. So, they did it themselves for zero cost and then painted for a small investment. The home sold, the buyer was happy and the seller was rich and ecstatic.