How to Get Border Off a Wall

Known for their pattern and design variety, wallpaper borders add texture to rooms and complement painted or wallpapered walls. Wallpaper borders can also cover unsightly blemishes on walls. Homeowners usually hang wallpaper borders below molding or halfway down walls for aesthetic appeal. Although durable, wallpaper borders become faded, curled or outdated over time. Sometimes a border does not match new home décor or homeowners simply do not like it. Whatever the situation, removal of wallpaper borders is sometimes necessary to improve a home's interior appearance.

Plastic sheeting
Clean pump sprayer
5 oz. wallpaper stripper
3-inch wall scraper
Cleaning sponge

Instructions

- 1
  Remove any objects from the walls and room. Cover the whole floor, and any furniture you could not remove, with plastic sheeting for protection.
- 2
  Fill a clean pump sprayer with 1 gallon of hot water and 5 oz. of wallpaper stripper. Mix the solution and diffuse it onto the wallpaper border. Completely saturate the wallpaper border.
- 3
  Peel off the wet wallpaper border starting at a curled edge. Use a 3-inch wall scraper to detach stubborn sections of the border. Strip off as much border as possible.
- 4
  Spray the wallpaper stripper solution onto any remaining wallpaper backing and paste residue.
- 5
  Scrape the softened backing and paste residue from the wall using the wall scraper.
- 6
  Scrub any lingering adhesive off the walls with a cleaning sponge and warm water. Let the walls thoroughly air-dry for 48 hours, prior to repainting or installing wallpaper.

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