Wallpaper Removal

Wallpaper Stripping
This page covers the guidelines for wallpaper stripping. The materials and techniques discussed, work on most types of wallpaper. Certain wallpapers require specialized techniques and may require professional assistance.

Wallpaper stripping technique:
Start by stripping the outer face off of the wallpaper, sometimes this is a vinyl coating and other times, it is just a dense layer of paper.  This should leave only the backing material and glue.  Prepare a wallpaper stripping solution consisting of water and a little dishwashing detergent.  Wallpaper stripping solution should be sponged on the backing material and allowed to soak (re-wetting as necessary) for at least 10 minutes.  A cheap garden-type sprayer will tremendously speed up the soaking process.  Attempt to remove the backing material with a wallpaper scraping tool or alternately any flat bladed tool such as a wide putty knife.  If this fails, re-wet the backing and allow to soak longer.  The more you soak, the easier the job.  If the above stripping solution is not working well enough, you may also try a solution of 2 parts water to 1 part white vinegar and use the same technique.  This stripping solution is only effective against wallpaper installed using wheat or starch based wallpaper adhesives.  If the adhesive is unknown, use one of the below listed strippers.

If you have really stubborn wallpaper, obtain some Safe and Simple online, or Dif from your local home improvement store, and follow the bottle's directions to remove the remaining backing material. If you plan on painting the area you just stripped, you must ensure that all the glue behind the backing is removed. To tell if there is still glue remaining, wet the wall and feel it. Any slimy areas mean there is glue left over. To remove any remaining glue, mix 2 tablespoons of liquid fabric softener into a gallon of water and scrub. You must also carefully rinse the entire wall surface so there are no traces of paste or wallpaper stripper remaining behind, before you paint.
If your vinyl/dense paper facing does not want to peel off the backing, you may try to dry peel it off the wall which may or may not cause wall damage.  You can also obtain a paper scoring tool, such as the Paper Tiger, to score the paper and perform the above steps for removal.  Paper scoring tools can damage the drywall underneath the wallpaper, but are gentler on plaster walls.  Ensure you read the directions on the package for complete instructions, but a good rule of thumb is to let the tool do the work.  Additional lateral pressure will cause undo damage to the wall surface.  An alternate method is to use a razor to score a series of Xs into the wallpaper surface.  This requires a careful touch as to not damage the underlying wall surface.  In some cases, the scoring and soaking steps will promote or enhance the stripping of the facing material, so after this step, attempt to remove the facing material again.  If still no success, you will have to perform repetitive score, soak, and strip steps to remove your wallpaper.

Holiday & Seasonal Decals, Stickers, and Wall Murals

What to look out for?

The most important factors are:
1.    Are they removable? You do not want to be scraping Rudolph off the wall after Christmas.
2.    Will they damage walls?  There is nothing more annoying than taking something off the wall and then   having to repaint the room,
3.    Are they reusable? Out of the package they will usually be on a liner.  When you take them down after the holidays re-apply them to their original liners for usage again next year.
4.   Are they safe for kids. They should be tested against the highest safety standards, and completely non-toxic. Completely safe for children to play or decorate with.


Perfect for holidays, parties, college dorms, apartments, or anywhere else a quick change may be needed!

One of the largest manufacturers of removable & reusable wallpaper products is York Wallcoverings.  York makes these products in the U.S.A.


Wall decals is the general term that applies to virtually all peel and stick wall decor. Some people refer to wall decals as wall stickers, wall graphics, wall art, or even wall tattoos.

Decor for kids rooms and nurseries, including popular designs like animals, jungle, flowers, cars, trucks, and fire engines     College sports team logos and mascots     Seasonal designs to bring holiday cheer into your home.

Wall borders Peel & stick borders are a great way to add a new design element to any room. Sometimes called wallpaper borders (even though these are vinyl, not paper!), they are sold in long strips, and are typically applied along the top of a wall where it meets the ceiling.

Are RoomMates reusable?

Yes! RoomMates can be reused over and over again, no matter how many times they’re applied to a surface. Unlike other wall decals, you don’t have to worry about getting things perfect the first time you put one of our products on the wall. If you make a mistake, just peel the decal away and place it in the correct spot. There’s no residue to clean from the walls, you won’t damage your paint, and you never have to worry about throwing away your used decals.

RoomMates can even be used for temporary decorating: spruce up your space with our seasonal wall stickers, then just take them down and re-apply them to their original liners for usage again next year. Perfect for holidays, parties, college dorms, apartments, or anywhere else a quick change may be needed!
Are RoomMates just for walls?

RoomMates work on any smooth, dry and clean surface: walls, of course, but also mirrors, refrigerators, laptop covers, tiles, glass, lockers, furniture, accessories, or even automotive surfaces.

Are RoomMates safe for kids?

Absolutely. Our products are tested against the highest safety standards, and are completely non-toxic. Our wall stickers are completely safe for children to play or decorate with.

What Are RoomMates? From York Wallcoverings

What Are RoomMates?

Some people call them wall stickers, others wall decals, some wall appliques. But we call them RoomMates—fast, easy, fun, non-committal decorating!
RoomMates are removable, repositionable, and reusable wall decals, peel and stick borders, murals, laptop skins, and more. They are the perfect cure for blank, boring walls, and can be used to decorate nearly any smooth surface you can think of. They’re easy to use: just peel and stick! With a wide variety of designs, we offer simple, worry-free decorating for kids, teens, and adults alike.

What types of products does RoomMates make?

Our line of peel and stick designs includes a variety of great-looking, easy-to-use home decor products:
Wall decals is the general term that applies to virtually all peel and stick wall decor. Some people refer to wall decals as wall stickers, wall graphics, wall art, or even wall tattoos.
RoomMates peel & stick wall decals are available in hundreds of designs suitable for many tastes, and for decorating every room in the house:

Are RoomMates reusable?

Yes! RoomMates can be reused over and over again, no matter how many times they’re applied to a surface. Unlike other wall decals, you don’t have to worry about getting things perfect the first time you put one of our products on the wall. If you make a mistake, just peel the decal away and place it in the correct spot. There’s no residue to clean from the walls, you won’t damage your paint, and you never have to worry about throwing away your used decals.
RoomMates can even be used for temporary decorating: spruce up your space with our seasonal wall stickers, then just take them down and re-apply them to their original liners for usage again next year. Perfect for holidays, parties, college dorms, apartments, or anywhere else a quick change may be needed!

 

Are RoomMates just for walls?

Use your imagination! RoomMates work on any smooth, dry and clean surface: walls, of course, but also mirrors, refrigerators, laptop covers, tiles, glass, lockers, furniture, accessories, or even automotive surfaces.

 

Are RoomMates safe for kids?

Absolutely. Our products are tested against the highest safety standards, and are completely non-toxic. Our wall stickers are completely safe for children to play or decorate with.

 

Where are RoomMates made?

RoomMates are proudly made in the United States of America.

History of Wallpaper

Barbara Krasner-Khait looks at the development of wallcoverings.

"Of paper there are divers sorts, finer and coarser, as also brown and blue paper, with divers designs that are printed for the hanging of rooms; truly they are very pretty, and make houses of the more ordinary people look neat." - John Houghton, Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade (1669)

During the US Civil War in 1863, J.M Swords tore wallpaper from the walls of his own home on which to print his Daily Citizen newspaper and get news to his fellow Confederate citizens.

THE TRADITION OF wall decoration dates back to Egyptian and Roman wall painting. Centuries later, and particularly in cooler climates, people used fabric to cover walls and windows to keep drafts out. In the homes of the well-to-do, these fabrics were elaborate, resplendent tapestries, which also adorned the walls of European palaces and castles. They were not only practical, but decorative.

A Cheap Substitute

Wallpaper began as a cheap substitute for tapestry and paneling. Some historians believe that the use of wallpaper dates back to the 1400s. The first wallpapers were decorations for wood panels, introduced into England by Flemish craftsmen. The papers were small squares with images printed by wood blocks, which were then colored in by hand. As the desire increased to find a less expensive alternative to the wall-hangings of the rich, printers produced simple yet decorative paper panels.

In the 1500s, the wealthy continued to cover their walls but now they did so with brocades, velvets and even embossed leather. The earliest known wallpaper in England dates back to 1509 - an Italian-inspired woodcut pomegranate design printed on the back of a proclamation issued by Henry VIII. Discovered in 1911 at Christ's College in Cambridge, the paper is attributed to Hugo Goes, a York printer. In general, wallpaper of this period depicted floral designs and murals. Wallpaper's popularity increased in Elizabethan England. Throughout Europe, a fascination began with these fine papers that offered protection against dampness and an improved ability to handle fireplace smoke.

But wallpaper wasn't purely a Western invention. The Chinese began to produce it in the early 1600s, showered with painted birds, flowers and landscapes on rice paper formed in rectangular sheets.

A Period Of Innovation

The 1600s introduced a period of French innovation leading to wide acceptance of wallpaper. Writer Savary des Bruslons noted "a dominotier makes a type of tapestry on paper . . . which is used by the poorer classes in Paris to cover the walls of their huts or their shops." Such dominotiers gained the reputation of experts in emulating fabric on paper.

Papers of this period fell into two classes, irrespective of whether they were produced in England or France: simple and complicated. The simple typically depicted a geometric pattern repeat, printed from a single wood block. The complicated consisted of more complex designs, including shields, vases or flowers and were created from several blocks. Either way, designs were first printed in black onto the paper. Using a kind of stencil, color was applied. The less expensive papers were printed less carefully from worn blocks and sold at rural fairs. The more costly papers were produced from carefully carved, new wooden blocks and were printed and colored carefully as well.

The 1600s also marked the debut of flock paper. Flock is the small shearing of wool left over from the manufacture of cloth. The process involved painting the background color onto paper or canvas, printing or stenciling the design onto it with a slow-drying adhesive, and scattering the flock over the adhesive, producing a velvet-like pile over the chosen design. The practice began about 1600 but enjoyed its heyday from 1715-45 when exceptional quality paper of this type was imported from France into England.

Though called wallpaper, the paper was not attached directly to the wall during this period. Instead, it was pasted onto linen and the linen was then attached to the walls with copper tacks. Sometimes the linen was attached to wooden battens, which were then attached to the walls.

From the 1680s, wallpaper offered an economical alternative to tapestries and leather hangings. Individual sheets were joined together in groups of 12 or more to form a roll, enabling faster printing and complex designs. New production techniques also meant that hanging paper required more skill.

The Zuber wallpaper company took advantage of US nationalism and republished its "Views of North America" wallpaper as "The War of American Independence". Slight adjustments were made to the prints so they would appear to depict scenes such as the Bost Tea Party.

Color My World

By the beginning of the 1700s, simple black and white papers had virtually disappeared in Europe. Colored papers were in vogue, especially imported paper from China.

In France, wallpapers evolved from the end papers used in bookbinding. The first ones were printed in small squares in marbleized patterns. Eventually, the squares were glued together into a long sheet and rolled up for convenience. Wallpaper became a royal affair. In 1778, Louis XVI issued a decree that required the length of a wallpaper roll be about 34 feet.

Patterns imitated scenic tapestries, brocatelles and patterned velvets. Americans often imported these papers. For instance, the wallpaper in the Duncan House in Haverhill, MA was designed by Carle Vernet and printed in Paris about 1814. Made of separate panels, it shows a single scene of a hunt.

The French continued to innovate and invented a machine to print paper in 1785. Wallpaper design began to attract artists and not just woodblock printers. Chinese paper continued its popularity and its style of hand-painted birds, trees, pagodas and sometimes Chinese figures in landscapes became known as chinoiserie. The paper found its way into manor houses, palaces and chateaux. It was usually applied in panels and was sometimes edged with gilt. European painters copied the Chinese designs, but the French-produced papers were the most sought after.

At first, wallpaper appeared in minor rooms while fabric continued to be used in the major ones. Use of wallpaper became so widespread that it inspired the introduction of a tax in England by 1712 on paper that was "painted, printed or stained to serve as hangings".

Most papers of this time imitated textiles and their manufacturers boasted that they could emulate damask, velvet and needlework. One major designer of this period was John Baptist Jackson, born in 1700, and a pupil of the engraver Kirkhall. In 1725 he went to Paris and came into contact with paper stainer Jean Michel Papillon before he went on to Italy and became interested in Italian Renaissance design. In 1746, he returned to England, determined to revive English wallpaper printing, which had taken a beating from the French.

Dawn of the Designer

The French had taken over the industry. They paid their designers well and French nobility paid special commissions for custom papers. One manufacturer deserves special mention, Jean-Baptiste Réveillon, who became a "Manufacture Royale". For some years before the French Revolution, his factory in Paris produced the finest and most beautiful papers for the French aristocracy. It was attacked by the angry mob in 1789 and Réveillon fled to England. The factory reopened with the help of others who found favor with the Revolutionaries by printing patriotic papers in red, white and blue. Réveillon took his inspiration from painted decoration on wooden paneling, doors and shutters - a style originated by Raphael in the Vatican. His designs featured long vertical and graceful designs of urns, flowers, swans, birds and beasts block-printed in dozens of different colors, and flowing upward from a central motif. His papers were to be hung as panels, separated by borders and plain wallpaper sections. He also introduced papers that used strong colors - reds, ochres, terracottas, greens and azure blues - in addition to the traditional black. Classical motifs, medallions and dancing figures filled the panel area. Réveillon papers became a popular export to the US during the 1700s and can still be seen in New England homes.

A Taxing Situation

Meanwhile, back in England, wallpapers were being colored by hand on the wall to outwit the tax man. The industry continued to grow in spite of the taxes and grew strong enough that by 1773, Parliament lifted the ban on imported papers, though customs duties still applied. Taxation continued into the next century and generated a significant amount of revenue. By 1806, falsification of wallpaper stamps was added to the list of offenses punishable by death. To deal with the tax, English manufacturers sought to increase sales by catering to the mass market. They simplified their designs. This allowed the French to maintain their firm grip on the finer, more complicated designs.

Dramatic Design

The use of wallpaper borders is almost as old as wallpaper itself. Borders, originally used to hide the tacks used to hold the wallpaper in position, assumed their own importance by the late 1700s, because they could visually alter a room's proportions. Border designs featured florals and architectural friezes. Many of these were printed to look like a cornice and hung at a junction of the wall and ceiling to add importance and grandeur to the room. Often, they were used to outline doors and windows or architectural details within the room such as a fireplace.

By the beginning of the 1800s, dividing the wall into three parts - the dado, filler and frieze - became fashionable. Borders differentiated each section, which bore distinctive yet interrelated patterns. This style is often seen in Victorian homes.

Stripes - reminiscent of a military campaign with their military colors - became popular in Napoleonic France and in England, not only on the walls but extending to the ceilings as well. The practice spread throughout Europe. Panoramic landscapes were also popular in France. Never before had designs been attempted on such a large scale. To cover the walls of a large room without repeating a scene, 20 to 30 lengths were printed, with each length about 10 feet high and 20 inches wide (300cm by 50cm). Massive amounts of time and energy, not to mention risk, were required to print such scenes, using thousands of hand-carved blocks and hundreds of colors. For the most part, the Zuber company in Rixheim and Dufour in Mâcon and Paris produced them. In 1852, Zuber took advantage of a nationalist wave in the US and republished a previous paper, "Views of North America", as "The War of American Independence". He substituted foreground figures so the Boston Harbor became the Boston Tea Party. Peaceful scenes became battlefields.

Landscapes were not common in England as they did not accommodate the ancestral portraits the British preferred as wall decoration.

For most of wallpaper's history, it has been created by hand using carved blocks. A printing machine was first adapted for wallpaper in 1839.

The British Revolution

It was now Britain's turn to innovate. The repeal of wallpaper taxation in 1836 encouraged designers in England to produce very complex designs that became popular in the Victorian era. And a breakthrough in production, credited to a calico printing firm, Potters of Darwen in Lancashire, England, adapted a printing machine for wallpaper, patented in 1839. Wallpaper was now applied directly to plaster. As production increased, prices dropped, and more and more people were able to buy it for their homes. Wallpaper suitable for a child's nursery appeared. In the Victorian era, front halls boasted bright colors that often included wallpaper. By the late 1800s, British designers like William Morris and Owen Jones, author of The Grammar of Ornament (1856), began to react against the excesses of the mid-century. They wanted to restore good taste and re-establish quality workmanship. Morris, for example, insisted on the purest colors and techniques and his influence is evident in the hundreds of mass-produced papers manufactured from the 1880s until the end of the century.

By the 1920s, futurist and cubist designs arrived on the market making both modern and traditional patterns available. Elite society reverted to using fabric like silk and paint finishes, considering paper inferior. Practical innovations continued such as vinyl wallpaper's appearance in 1947 and pre-pasted papers in the 1950s.

Removing Wallpaper

Wallpaper removal is the most asked question at a wallpaper store.  If your dealing with old wallpaper that is vinyl or has a vinyl coating here is a link to an excellent video on youtube that will give you step by step instructions for removing wallpaper. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNuzSSzCRU&feature=related

If you have textile or grasscloth wallpaper you do not need to score the paper.  Just use hot water and a remover.  When you spay the water on wait at least 15 minutes before attempting to remove.  Sometimes you may have to spray and wait a second time.

Why hire a professional wallpaper hanger.

Even a simple wallpapering job can easily become a disaster without the knowledge of a professional wallpaper hanger. There are many details that need to be taken into consideration and questions answered before the wallpapering can begin:

Wallpaper hanging checklist

What is currently covering the walls?
Will it need to be removed, or can it be covered over?
What is beneath the covering?
What is the temperature and humidity level of the room?
Are the corners, doors, and windows level?
What is the pattern repeat of the chosen paper?
Does the paper require paste, and if so, how much and what kind?
A professional wallpaper hanger will know the answer to all of these questions and many more, and will guarantee your satisfaction of a job well done.

Hanging Wallpaper

Want to learn how to hang wallpaper?  Forget all the books and articles it's time to go to youtube.com.  There are many videos that will show you step by step instructions.  I have always found it a lot easier to learn something new by watching someone else do it.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGGc3YoFaws&feature=fvsr