Skip to main content

Prepare Work Area and Steamer

0:49
6:06
162.8K views

At 0:49 in

How to remove wallpaper. Tips removing wallpaper with a steamer.

What happens here

Begin by laying down your drop cloth to protect the floor, ensuring it is positioned right up against the baseboards to absorb any steam or water runoff. Next, use a screwdriver to carefully remove all wall plates and switch plates. Once the work area is prepped, prepare your electric wallpaper steamer. Unscrew the black cap on top of the steamer unit. Using a small container, like a Tupperware container or pitcher, fill the steamer reservoir with plain water up to the designated "Full" mark visible through the indicator. Once filled, securely screw the cap back on and plug the steamer into a standard 110-volt outlet. Allow approximately 15 minutes for the steamer to heat up and start producing steam.

Goal: Set up the workspace for wallpaper removal and activate the steamer.

Tools and materials

  • Drop Cloth UnspecifiedProtecting the floor
  • Screwdriver UnspecifiedRemoving wall plates and switch plates
  • Tupperware Container/Pitcher UnspecifiedMeasuring and pouring water into the steamer
  • Water N/ACreating steam

What they say

Hide

And in this task, you're going to actually need a ladder, some form of ladder, either 6ft or 3ft ladder. You're going to need a drop cloth. And you're going to need a trash bag to put the trash in. And a couple different types of putty knives. We use a 2-in putty knife and a 4-in putty knife to remove the wallpaper. We also use a screwdriver to actually get off the wall plates and switch plates. Use an Xacto knife to cut any type of wallpaper that's behind baseboards or trim that you can't get the steamer behind to actually remove it. During the process of removing the wallpaper, typically most wallpaper is going to have two two layers of wallpaper. You're going to have a vinyl layer. You can see on the video here, there's a dark layer and then underneath that is the paper layer that's actually has the glue adhesive onto the wall. And you use the steamer in a process. Heat up the wallpaper, pull the vinyl layer off, and then you're going to begin taking off the glued layer. You want to keep the drop cloth up against your baseboards at all times, so the steam and water that's running down will actually be absorbed into the drop cloth and not the carpet. You got to be patient. You just hold the steamer in one area and it's going to actually steam, soften up the glue, soften up the paper. You begin scraping that area and then move your steamer over. Removing wallpaper is um a long task. Takes patience. Doesn't come off fast. Doesn't come off easy. Typical 10 by 12 walls take approximately 2 hours. This has been about an hour and 45 minutes on this wall here. When you're using a potty knife, you want to make sure the paper is nice and soft. Use the putty knife when you put it up against the wall. Make sure it's flat so it doesn't gouge the walls. If you make too many gouges and marks, you're going to have to retexture the walls. About 50% of the walls that you remove wallpaper from, you're going to have to retexture the walls. That's pretty common. See, she's holding the rough paper removal tool with one hand, taking the paper off with putty knife with the other hand. She'll switch it back and forth. Use both hands. That way you're one hand doesn't get tired doing all the work picking the paper off. You can see the dark layer is the vinyl layer. The lighter layer is the paper layer that has the glue on it. If you patiently remove the wallpaper, the wall should look nice and clean just like this. the steamer. Once you load the steamer wrap with water, it'll…

Auto-generated from the video audio.