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Wallpaper Removal

Mawazo Marketing • Mar 14, 2019

Old wallpaper removal - To remove or not to remove?

Remove or not to remove?

Do you have a room (or an entire home) covered in out of date wallpaper? Have you every tried to remove old wallpaper before? If you have, you may understand it is a lot of work, and makes a lot of mess. If you have the time, patience and tools required you can get the job done yourself. However, there are many homes in the Ancaster, Burlington and Oakville area that were built in the 80s and 90s that still stand with the fashionable wall coverings of those eras. It may be time to rip down and repaint. What is involved in old wallpaper removal? There are a few stages involved in removing old wallpaper, I will go over those next, but first you must decide if you can, and want to do this on your own, or if you should call a professional. Keep reading and I will give you some information and details to help make that decision. In many instances over the years we have been in business, we find estates or properties being handed down or sold from their original owners to a family member or buyer. These large homes may be 60% covered in wallpaper, and the thought of removing this on your own can be quite intimidating. This is when you call a professional. Homes that have a large amount of wallpaper require a great deal of setup, prep and cleanup in order to properly remove old wall coverings. Don’t overwhelm yourself with such a task and give Quasar a call!


What is involved in removing old wallpaper?

First and foremost, there is the setup. The room(s) need to have all of the furniture either moved out of them or positioned in the center of the room, all decorations, fixtures and wall hangings need to be removed, and plastic needs to be placed over the floor similar to a membrane in order to protect the floor or carpet. Removing the wallpaper itself can either go very smoothly or become a terrible nightmare. If the wallpaper you are removing is quite old, it will most likely come off in 2 stages. You will remove the first layer of paper (the image/design side) with relative ease. Once you have removed the first layer, it is time to cleanup and prepare to get wet. We typically lay down new plastic on the floor at this point, sealing it along the wall (approx. 2” up) essentially creating a membrane in order to keep the floor from getting soaked. Once you have everything setup and ready to get wet, its time to soak the walls down with a TSP solution or similar in order to remove the adhesive backing layer of paper. This can also go either way in terms of ease. We’ve stripped plenty of rooms over the years and some paper removes easier than others. It all depends on the adhesive and paper that was used. We typically break out our Titan440 sprayer for this stage of the work and run the TSP solution through our sprayer, soaking the adhesive layer and allowing it to scrape off with ease. The wetter it gets, the easier it removes. After all of the sticky, messy adhesive layer is removed, we will spray the walls again with a change of water and TSP. After this stage we give the space a good cleaning, and let the room(s) dry and air out for 12-24 hrs.

Quasar plastered wall after wallpaper removal

The next stage is assessing the condition of walls underneath the old wallpaper. In many instances the walls will require some plaster work in order to correct any deficiencies or damage. We strongly encourage 2-3 skim coats of plaster on all surfaces at this stage. After plastering and sanding, it’s important to seal the surfaces with the proper primer. We also strongly encourage the use of an oil-based primer for this step in the process. It will seal and block in any potential stains or flashing that can occur from old wallpaper adhesive. This is a mistake many people make that can result in a poor finished product. Always prime old wallpaper with oil.


After you have primed and sanded the surfaces, it is time to start thinking of colours for your top coatings. For help choosing a colour please contact us about a colour consultation.

Quasar plastered wall in kitchen after wallpaper removal
Kitchen demolition site
Does your home have a lot of old wallpaper?

If you’re home has many rooms that are covered in old wallpaper, and you’re sick of looking at it every day. Give us a call, we would love to have a discussion about what’s involved in getting it removed and repainted. We help our clients understand the process and action required to complete small or large paint jobs. For a free quote please call Brian Smith at (289) 204-8514 or e-mail brian@quasarpaintinggroup.com


We look forward to working with you!

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