The unit is made up of a steam plate, a hose and a tank of water. Ensure you have a safe surface on which to set the steamer between passes a piece of OSB or plywood, for example. The unit should never be left unattended when on.
The steamer should be moved after no more than 10 seconds as it can damage even a plastered wall if held on one spot for too long. Just use pure tap water, nothing else in the machine or you will wreck it in an afternoon. Work up rather than down with the rising steam. Use some wallpaper stripper followed by some grit sandpaper when the wall is dry to work on the surface, giving it a final pass with a higher grit gentler to rub it completely smooth.
Tip: Before painting your walls, have your primer tinted to as close to the top coat as possible. It could save you a third coat in a difficult colour. Our Covid-free newsletter brings together some of the best bits from irishexaminer. A lunchtime summary of content highlights on the Irish Examiner website. Delivered at 1pm each day.
The how-to guide to stripping wallpaper Having recently revamped some bedroom walls, Kya deLongchamps peels away the layers on the most dreaded of all DIY jobs — stripping wallpaper. Judge urges siblings in battle over 'modest' estate to seek a compromise.
More in this section. Interiors: How to spruce up an old sofa and give it a makeover. Read on to find out what you need to do to strip your wall coverings without damaging your walls. Begin by removing items from the walls and moving furniture to the center of the room, or out of the room if possible. Cover floors and remaining furniture with drop cloths to protect them from getting wet.
Note: You can always come back later and add wallpaper to your outlet covers so they blend into the walls—or pick a fun contrasting print so they stand out. This step requires removing the wall plates and cutting a piece of wallpaper about half an inch bigger on all sides, gluing the paper on with Mod Podge , carefully trimming the edges and adding openings for plugs with a razor knife, and then reattaching the plates to the wall. Drywall can be damaged if it gets too wet, so be careful not to over soak it.
Use a putty knife to loosen a corner of the paper and try to peel it off. If it comes right off, then you have strippable wallpaper. You lucky thing, you! This may be the easiest way to remove wallpaper. Use your putty knife to lift the corner of the paper. Use your hands to peel the paper from the wall, pulling as close to the wall as you can to avoid tearing the paper.
You have two options to choose from when it comes to removing wallpaper from walls. Your choice depends on how easy the existing wallpaper is to remove and how much there is in terms of the size of the room as well as the number of layers of paper to remove.
The two options are:. A stripping solution is a chemical liquid that can be applied to walls to help remove wallpaper.
Solutions are available as a ready-to-use mixture, while some may need diluting with water. It can come in a bottle or as a spray for easy application. Chemical solutions help to dissolve the adhesive and actively release the wallpaper, doing more of the hard work for you. Solutions are ideal for one or two layers of wallpaper in one room, or if you're removing the wallpaper from a small area, like a feature wall.
It saves time and some untested detergents may not give the same results, or they could be harmful or damaging to the walls. A steam stripper consists of a tank with a hose connected to a steam plate. The tank is filled with water, which is heated until it boils. Hot steam comes out of the steam plate, which is held against the wall. The steam penetrates through the perforated wallpaper to the old adhesive underneath, moistening it enough to loosen the paper from the wall.
Electric steam strippers are perfect for large areas of wallpaper and are recommended to remove stubborn wallpaper, including woodchip. They make stripping wallpaper much easier and faster. Remove a small section of the wallpaper from a corner first with a stripping knife. This will help you find out how many layers of wallpaper there are to remove. Try peeling the paper away to see if it can easily be removed without tearing. Some wallpapers are designed to easily release when they are pulled away from the wall dry.
Even if only the top layer of the wallpaper is removed, it will save you some work and you will only need to remove the backing sheet and the adhesive. When you have decided on the best method for your project, the next step is to prepare your room ready for the wallpaper removal. Clear the room as much as possible. Anything that has to stay should be moved into the centre of the room and covered with dust sheets.
Take everything off the walls, including vents. Mask the openings with masking tape and plastic sheeting a section of plastic bag or polythene dust sheet is ideal for this.
Turn off the electricity for the room, in case of water or steam getting into electrical sockets or switches. If you have any light switches on the wall, you might need to loosen or remove the faceplates to allow you to remove any paper that is stuck behind them the faceplates might clip off or are fixed with retaining screws which you can loosen with a screwdriver. Check the correct circuit has been isolated and is dead. On a main power circuit, use a socket tester to confirm the power is off.
On a lighting circuit use a voltage meter or voltage tester to confirm. The tape will keep scraps of fallen wallpaper from coming into contact with your baseboards, saving the molding from damage and you from having to unstick the paper all over again. Test just how tightly adhered your wallpaper is by soaking a corner of one panel with some hot water from a hand or pump sprayer.
After 10 minutes, peel back the moistened wallpaper. You have strippable wallpaper. All you need to do is spray each panel thoroughly with hot water and give it time to absorb. After a few minutes, peel the panel off. Work on one panel at a time until all are down, then skip to Step 6. If, however, the wallpaper remains stuck after you spray on the water and wait 10 minutes, you may be dealing with a vinyl wall covering that resists water absorption.
Proceed to the next step for the key to tackling your obstinate wallpaper.
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