I have got to strip the wallpaper in my hall, stairs, landing etc.

In the last I have stripped loads of walls and have always used a steam stripper thing. But this time I need to avoid damaging the plaster. I’ve not done any stripping in years. Maybe there’s a new way to do this….

I’ve looked online and nowadays people seem to be using Polycell wallpaper stripper ( Polycell Wallpaper Stripper 500ml PLCWS500S
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B000TAY0XY).

What’s this stuff like ? Anyone used it ?

Ta

We stripped my friends house last year and I didn’t notice the steamers doing any damage. A lot of it was to be replastered anyway but the majority was fine.

tbh, if a steam stripper’s going to damage plaster it’s going to need replacing anyway as it’s only the wallpaper holding it up.

I have got to strip the wallpaper in my hall, stairs, landing etc.

Says who ?

Leave it, get down the pub, it friday ffs !

Use a wallpaper stripper.

As wwaswas says, if a bit of steam does damage it may be a good think to get any bad plaster off and bond those sections. It will only cause problems later down the line if you don’t sort any problem patches.

Wet it.
If all water runs straight to floor then try peeling surface off.
If surface won’t peel off then use “paper tiger” or similar device to score surface.
Then. …wet it.
If it doesn’t come off then wet it again, and again, and again until it does.

Whilst you’re doing this I would recommend warming the steamer up for when you lose patience.
The additives are a waste of time. ….30 years experience (someone kill me……. please)

Sorry for any typos, dun on fone.

the problem with steam strippers is that people hold them on one area for too long, that’s why the plaster blows. Best thing to do is carrying on using steam, but before you apply it, give the the area a slight knock with your nuckles or the end of the scraper. If it sounds hollow, then don’t use the steamer on it, if it sounds OK then use it. You can avoid re-plastering with a steamer as long as you are careful. If you fond that the plaster is hollow everywhere, then you are i’m afriad left with no option but to pull it off, or paper over what is already there*.

*bodge job.

tobyho – Member
I’ve not done any stripping in years.

things gone a bit south?

don’t be afraid to get it wet

Steamer gets my vote, but pull off as much of the old stuff by hand to save excessive steaming, esp if there are multipe layers of paper.

If you can get any painted / vynil layers off then just a case of soaking the backing paper and being patient for this to work its way thru.

Get a £10 steam stripper from B&Q (they do the same job as anything more expensive), & just get on with it, as above if the plaster comes off, it’s knackered anyways. IMHO, you get far too bored before you can hold a steamer on the same section of wall long enough for the steamer to do damage to the (good) plaster.

If the paper that’s up is the “instant backing paper” kind that peels off in two layers you may want to spray on some tap water and get at the top layer with just the wee scraper tool. Then you have a layer of backing paper already up and ready to go.

tbh, if a steam stripper’s going to damage plaster it’s going to need replacing anyway as it’s only the wallpaper holding it up.

+1

And patching plaster isn’t as hard as I imagined, felt scary pulling off 1m3 sized bit’s of bad plaster, but patching them up again was fairly easy, just slap loads on, leave to dry, and attack with an electric sander for 5min untill smooth. House hasn’t fallen down.

Patching plaster for any bad bits but use a wet plasterers trowel( about a tenner) to tidy it up otherwise sanding will cause you to have dust for months
Steam stripper 25 quid earlex hobbies does a good job

I have a house built in 1838 and the plaster is shocking in a lot of places. Sometimes it needs a screw and a big washer to stop some bits falling away. We’ve just stripped loads of paper using a B&Q steamer with no drama at all.

B and q got black and decker steamers for £25 at the moment. Well they do at the Bidston one.

Steamers are good. Propper razor scrapers are better.

I used a steamer in the front room , messy business with wet paper sticking to everything.

I wet the hall with a sponge and used the razor scraper and it came off in much bigger less wet chunks much less of a pain.

I’d say it depends on the paper T_R, you’d not get woodchip <shudders> off like that. Also I found it too easy to score or dig into the plaster with a razor scrapper, though that maybe my hamfisted-ness

Razor shouldbe paralel to it

Woodchip you say ……id go at it with a sledge hammer and reboard the wall . Easier than stripping woodchip. Woodchips the bain of my life – along with artex.

Spent a summer stripping and making good cheap rental flats of my dads.

Aye me too, wish i could say they were great memories 😉
Back in the day, I’d just shut myself into the rooms & turn it into a sauna. You can get a hedgehog (?) roller tool, to pierce stuff that’s been painted (& so sealed, difficult to even steam)

Yeah days to forget. Learned alot though, lots of ways in how not to do stuff

Woodchip urgghhh

My first house had Woodchip on the stairs and landing and some barsturd had glossed it 😯
Took a while I tell you

Nephew was just down for two days, spent 1.5 of those doing his father’s box room… woodchip with lots & lots (50 years worth?) of layer of paint on top. Fair play to him for sticking with it, but it took him ages! 😈
He was unimpressed by my brother’s hedgehog perforator, and reckons on of these Orbital Scorers are the way ahead.

Score it well.
Sponge it well.
Get a soaking wet peice of cloth, about 2′ square, & smooth it out onto the wall & leave it.
The paper soon gets wet.
Those heavy duty long handled scrapers with the replaceable blade work well.