Before you begin bear in mind that wallpaper removal is often labor intensive and can bring about severe damage to your walls if it is not done correctly. Most removal damage is due to the lack of a wallpaper primer before the walls were wallpapered, resulting from the glue being absorbed into the wallboard. The top layers of wallboard (paper) will try to come back off with your wallpaper backing. If this happens in large areas, call a professional.

You will find many differing kinds of wallpaper on the market today. Some are dry stripable, solid vinyl and fabric backed papers can generally be removed by basically pulling them from your wall with no wetting.

Most residential wallpapers are of the " vinyl coated "type. Vinyl coated papers are by far the commonest used in residential homes. The vinyl face of those papers is usually "dry stripable" meaning that the face will separate and leave only the paper backing on the wall. Start by removing as much of the vinyl face as possible. Find a loose corner, you may need a putty knife or scraper for getting you started.

After all of the vinyl face is removed, the paper backing also needs to be removed. The paper backing will need a wet removal. Fill a five gallon bucket to about half full with warm water, add about a cap full of fabric softener. Shut down the electrical power for the room. Apply this solution to the wall using a paint roller or garden sprayer, a sponge may be used in corners. Wet a four or five foot part of the wall and make sure the wall section remains saturated with the solution for about ten minutes. Remove the wet backing with a four or six inch putty knife or scraper.

After all of the backing is removed, finish cleaning the walls using a hand sponge and fresh solution of fabric softener and warm water. Permit the walls to dry out and apply a wallpaper primer should you want to re- wallpaper the walls. If you plan to paint, apply an acrylic primer/sealer to the walls before painting.

Please Note:

One of the most important things not to forget when using a solution to strip your wallpaper off is, Don't spray or saturate electrical outlets or switches with your solution, turn off the electrical supply to the room before wetting the walls. You donot want to cause any damage to your electrics. This is an incredibly costly mistake to make. Damaged electrical wiring is expensive to put right. This can be messy work so ensure that you do place rolled towels or bed sheets along at the base of the walls prior wetting them in order to catch the solution runoff.