Let’s face it… if you buy a house with out of date wallpaper, chances are, that’ll be the first thing you want off of the walls. Before you apply paint, tile or a different wall-covering, you may have a little work to do. if you are lucky you will only have wallpaper in a couple of places, bedroom or bathroom; if in the kitchen it can be a bit cumbersome working around appliances. Removing old wallpaper is not that difficult, especially if you follow these simple instructions.
Identify your wall type:
- Plaster: it’s found mostly in homes that are more than 50 years old. In plaster walls, wood lath is nailed to the wood-framed walls and covered with two or three coats of plaster. These walls are more solid and sound dull if you knock on them.
- Drywall: It’s been used in homes for the past 50 years or so. Drywall is a sheet of chalk-like substance covered with a lightweight cardboard. These sheets are nailed over wood-framed walls and have a hollow sound when you knock on them. Drywall is more delicate than plaster, so you will need to be sure to not damage the cardboard facing when using a wallpaper scraping tool.