So you have moved into a new place and the first thing on your “to do” list is getting rid of that dingy old wallpaper. At first glance you say to yourself…”this is going to be no problem,” but then you start to remember all the horror stories you have heard from family and friends regarding wallpaper removal. You start to panic. You don’t want to make a bad situation worse. What do you do? Well fear not, even though removing old wallpaper can be a tricky process, if you follow these few tips and tricks you should have no problem removing that old wallpaper.

Paint Scraper and Water

An easy way to remove that old wallpaper is to take a paint scraper and make giant X’s on the paper. When this is done and you see that you have a nice slice going take a bottle of warm water and spray it all over the old wallpaper. You really want to soak it good! Let it sit for a little while. Once you see that the paper is soaked and has absorbed the water you then take the paint scraper and proceed to scrape the old wallpaper off.

Fabric Softener

This is a little known trick that may actually work better than other well-known techniques. Dilute some fabric softener by mixing it with some warm water in a spray bottle – half and half should do fine. Shake up the contents of the bottle and proceed to spray it all over the old wallpaper. The fabric softener acts as a dis-solvent and is usually able to dissolve most of the wallpaper glue that holds the paper up. You may even be able to pull the paper down without a scraper.

Rent a Steamer

You can rent a steamer that will allow you to steam the room where the old wallpaper is located. Steamers are available to rent in several sizes so you should have no trouble finding the size that fits your need. Simply set the steamer up, steam the room for a period of time, then go back and remove the wallpaper. The steam will help loosen the glue up and should allow you to peel away the wallpaper with a little effort.

Elbow Grease

Old-fashioned elbow grease will always do the trick. Though it may take you longer doing it this way, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you conquered that old wallpaper and you did not need any chemicals or tricks to do it.

Wallpaper removal does not have to be a hard and tedious process. Simply follow these steps and you will be well on your way to creating a new room.