Easiest Way to Get Wallpaper Paste Off

It’s always best to remove old wallpaper and paste before painting a wall. This way you’ll have an even, sleek surface to paint on. After removing your wallpaper you should clean off all wallpaper paste residue; if you don’t, chances are the paint you apply later will flake off in places. Sometimes wallpaper paste and residue can be more difficult to remove than the wallpaper itself.

Drop clothes
Screwdriver
Painters tape
Bucket
Sponge or towel
Mud knife (5 in.)
Putty knife
Grill scraper
Garden pump sprayer
Liquid dish detergent and water (or commercial wallpaper paste remover)
Stepladder

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare the room before you remove the wallpaper paste. Turn off the electricity to the room by flipping the switch in your circuit breaker box to the off position. Take all electrical outlet and switch covers off the walls by unscrewing the screws holding them on the wall. Put painters tape over the holes containing the outlets and switches. Move all the furniture to the center of the room, and cover your floors and furnishings with drop cloths to protect them.
- 2
  Pour 2 tablespoons of dishwashing detergent in a pump sprayer filled with warm water. Pump up the sprayer to pressurize it according to the manufacturer’s directions. Apply a light spray of the water and detergent to the wall with the pump sprayer; spray from the top of the wall down.
- 3
  Let the solution soak into the wallpaper paste for about five minutes. If the wallpaper glue hasn’t softened, spray the wall again and wait another five minutes. Repeat this process until the glue is soft.
- 4
  Scrub the wall with the grill cleaner to remove the glue. When you are finished, wipe down the wall with a sponge or towel.

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Wallpaper