Woodchip Wallpaper Removal

doohan

Hi Folks,

Anyone know the quickest and easiest way to remove woodchip wallpaper. I have a 2nd hand house I just bought and it has woodchip on the hall, stairs and landing and in 2 of the 3 bedroonms. I have half of what is going to be my bedroom done and will struggle on with that but the h, s & l there is no way I'm doing that. I'll just paint the spare bedroom and leave it on the walls.

Keeping it really isn't an option as the previous owners made a pigs ear of it and those lovely borders that are everywhere is older houses.

Anyways any ideas welcome. Oh and something that isn't going to damage the walls if at all possible.

Cheers
Aaron

Oh and at present I'm using sugar soap and a steamer....slowly slowly catchy monkey!!!

Lex Luthor

my SIL had the same problem and she had to get a professional in to strip the walls & re-plaster....took about a week but the results were great.

wyndham

strip the walls & re-plaster

Might not be a bad idea. There is nothing worse than trying to remove woodchip and even if you manage to get it off, there is no guarantee that the walls will be in suitable condition for painting.Woodchip was used a lot where the walls were in poor condition as it is very strong stuuf.

smash

I need to get it done too... we must live in the same estate or something.... hall stairs and landing, 2 bedrooms and floral boarders everywhere - I hate it!!! it'll be expensive though.

Alun

... and watch out for those border thingies too. They're often glued on with special super-strength border glue which can be a PITA to get off without taking half the wall away with it too.

hughm

Have never tried woodchip removal. Am in the process of removing standard walpaper from h, s & L using Black & Decker wallpaper stripper.

Is it very different from ordinary paper removal?

patrickolee

Went through the same process. Only advice I can give is the steamer is the best option. Don't bother with the chemical agents, which are supposed to break down the paste. They work quite slowly, and you can't use the steamer and the chemical agents, or you might poison yourself. Slowly slowly, you'll get there.... and I as everyone used to say to me... 'it'll be worth it in the end'. And it is.

The Hill Billy

patrickolee wrote:

the steamer is the best option

What patrickolee said. Also, be sure to score the wallpaper first with the edge of a scraper so that the steam can penetrate & undo the paste easier. Don't score too deeply or you may damage the plaster.

hughm

Need to be careful no to go nuts when scoring. From my unpleasant but extensive wall paper removal experience (currently doing 1 hr per night this week) it is very hard to get all the paper (front visible part + paper liner behind) to come off in one go, certainly with older paper.

If you score and tear the paper too much it is nearly impossibly to get a good 'run' going... where you take a width of paper and pull from the bottom and the whole piece comes away in 1 piece. If you have attacked the paper it will keep breaking up and you will need your scraper far more. this is messy, slow and tends to end up damaging the wall.

For me what is working is a 2 phase approach. Peel off the outer layer of paper without steam to leave the paper backing behine. Then steam each sheet of paper very well and without damaging or ripping it and get a run going.


PS I have hired steam strippers in the past for maybe €50 a weekend. This time Instead i bought a Black & Decker one in B&Q for €40 and it is every bit as good and allows me to take my time as it's not on the clock.

Good luck. i feel your pain

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor wrote:

my SIL had the same problem and she had to get a professional in to strip the walls & re-plaster....took about a week but the results were great.

just spoke with her and she didn't get it re-plastered but relined, whatever that mean....I suppose lining paper, but to be honest you wouldn't know the difference. Seemed a bit expensive what she paid...cost her €5k to do a full 3 bed semi, except for bathroom....about 7-8 days in total. One guy.