The Best Way to Remove Wallpaper (Without the Tears)

There’s something deeply satisfying about stripping decades of dated wallpaper and revealing clean plaster beneath. There’s also something deeply unsatisfying about spending three days achieving it because you did it wrong. So what is the best way to remove wallpaper? It depends on the wallpaper type — and identifying yours first is the difference between a two-hour job and a weekend of misery. Here’s how the pros do it.

Step one: identify your wallpaper type

Peel back a corner and look:

• Peelable / strippable wallpaper: The top layer pulls away cleanly in full sheets, leaving a thin backing. Modern wallpapers (post-2000) are usually strippable. If yours does this — congratulations, you’re done in an hour.
• Standard paper wallpaper: Tears in small pieces, backing sticks to the wall. The most common type in older homes. Needs soaking.
• Vinyl-coated wallpaper: Has a plastic-feeling face that repels water. You must score or peel the vinyl layer off first — soaking through vinyl is impossible.
• Woodchip: The textured stuff beloved of 1970s landlords. Tough, stubborn, and often hiding a multitude of sins. Needs serious soaking or steaming.
• Multiple layers: The classic British renovation discovery — 1980s over 1970s over 1960s. Each layer needs treating separately. Budget extra time and patience.

What is the best way to remove wallpaper? Method by method

Method 1: Dry stripping (try this first — 30 minutes)

For modern strippable wallpaper: get a filling knife under a bottom corner and pull slowly upward at a low angle, keeping the paper close to the wall. Slow and steady removes bigger pieces; yanking fast tears it. If the whole lot comes off cleanly, you’re done — wash the walls with sugar soap and you’re ready to paint.

Method 2: Soaking (the workhorse method)

For standard paper wallpaper that won’t dry-strip:

1. Score the surface with a wallpaper scorer tool (£5–£8 — a spiky roller that perforates the paper without damaging plaster). Essential for painted-over or vinyl-coated papers.
2. Mix your soaking solution: Hot water with a squirt of washing-up liquid, or a dedicated wallpaper stripper solution (£5–£8 per bottle — worth it, they contain wetting agents that penetrate better than plain water). Some swear by a 50/50 water and fabric softener mix; it works, but the perfume lingers.
3. Apply generously with a sponge, spray bottle or pasting brush. Soak a 2–3 square metre section at a time — don’t soak the whole room, it’ll dry before you get to it.
4. Wait 10–15 minutes. This is the step impatient people skip. The water needs time to dissolve the paste.
5. Scrape off with a wide filling knife or wallpaper scraper, working from the bottom up. The paper should come away in satisfying sheets. Re-soak stubborn patches.

Method 3: Steam stripper (for the stubborn stuff)

A steam stripper (£30–£50 to buy, £15–£25/day to hire) is the nuclear option for woodchip, multiple layers, or painted-over wallpaper. Hold the steam plate against the wall for 10–15 seconds per section, then scrape immediately while it’s hot and soft. It powers through what soaking can’t.

Warnings: Steam can damage old plaster — keep the plate moving and don’t over-steam one spot. It also creates a lot of moisture, so ventilate well. And wear gloves — steam burns are nasty. If your walls are old lime plaster (pre-1920s houses), go easy; aggressive steaming can blow the plaster.

Dealing with the aftermath

Getting the paper off is only half the job. What you find underneath determines the next steps:

• Paste residue: Wash walls thoroughly with sugar soap and warm water. Any paste left behind will show through paint as shiny patches and can cause new wallpaper to bubble. Run your hand over the dried wall — if it feels slimy or tacky, wash again.
• Damaged plaster: Small gouges and tears are normal — fill with fine surface filler, sand smooth when dry. If the scraper has taken chunks out of the plaster, you may need a skim of fresh plaster before painting.
• Old paint underneath: Sometimes wallpaper was put up to hide bad paint. If the paint is sound, you can paint over it; if it’s flaking, scrape it back.
• Stains: Water stains, nicotine, old adhesive marks — seal with a stain-blocking primer (Zinsser BIN or similar) before painting, or they’ll bleed through.

What NOT to do

• Don’t paint over wallpaper (unless it’s firmly adhered lining paper in perfect condition — even then, it’s a compromise). Paint seals the edges and makes future removal ten times harder. Future-you will curse present-you.
• Don’t use excessive water on plasterboard walls. Plasterboard’s paper face disintegrates when soaked. Use minimal moisture and work fast on stud walls.
• Don’t score too aggressively. The scorer should perforate the paper, not gouge the plaster. Light pressure, multiple passes.
• Don’t skip the electrics check. Turn off power to the room if you’re soaking near sockets and switches. Water and electrics — you know the drill.

How long does it take (honestly)?

• Modern strippable, one room: 1–2 hours. Genuinely.
• Standard paper, one room: Half a day with soaking.
• Woodchip or multiple layers, one room: A full day, possibly two with a steamer.
• Whole house of 1970s woodchip: Clear your weekend. And possibly the following weekend.

After stripping: the step everyone skips

Bare walls aren’t paint-ready walls. Once the paper’s off, wash every wall with warm water and a sugar-soap solution to remove paste residue — paint applied over old paste bubbles and peels within months. Let the walls dry fully (24 hours minimum), then fill, sand, and spot-prime any repairs. If the plaster underneath is powdery or damaged, a coat of stabilising primer before painting saves you from flaking paint later. It’s dull work, but the difference between paint that lasts a decade and paint that fails in a year is almost entirely in this preparation.

The practical takeaway

Identify the wallpaper type first, try dry stripping, then move to scoring + soaking, and bring out the steam stripper only for the truly stubborn stuff. Score before soaking, soak in sections, wait the full 15 minutes, and always wash off paste residue before painting. It’s unglamorous work, but there’s no better feeling than clean, bare walls ready for a fresh start — whether that’s paint (in which case check emulsion vs satin) or a wallpaper you’ll actually love this time. And if you’d rather not DIY it, a TrustMark-registered decorator will strip and prepare a room properly for a few hundred pounds.