Wallpaper removal goes one of two ways. On a wall that was properly primed with wallpaper primer before the paper went up, it comes off in long, satisfying strips. On unprimed drywall, common in older Tri-Cities homes where wallpaper was hung straight onto new construction decades ago, the paper has effectively become part of the wall surface, and forcing it usually pulls the drywall's own paper coating off along with it.
Testing a corner first
Before touching the whole wall, a small test tells you which of the two situations you are actually dealing with.
- Choose an inconspicuous corner, near an outlet cover or behind furniture, to test before starting on the whole wall.
- Lift a corner of the paper and pull slowly at a low angle, close to parallel with the wall rather than straight out.
- Check what is left behind. A clean, painted or primed surface means the whole wall will likely behave the same way.
- If the drywall's paper coating tears away with it, exposing soft grey material underneath, treat the entire wall as the harder case from the start rather than discovering it strip by strip.
Scoring and steaming
For the harder case, breaking the paper's surface first is what lets steam or solution actually reach the adhesive underneath.
- Run a wallpaper scoring tool, a small handheld gadget with tiny wheels, over the paper to perforate the surface without cutting through to the wall.
- Work in sections you can finish before the solution dries, rather than scoring the whole wall at once.
- Apply steam, or a fabric softener and warm water solution generously with a sponge or spray bottle, and let it sit for several minutes to soak through the scored surface.
- Lift the paper at a low angle with a wide putty knife once it has softened, working slowly rather than scraping straight into the wall.
- Reapply steam or solution to any section that resists rather than forcing it.
When the drywall paper comes with it
On the harder unprimed case, accept early that some surface damage is likely and plan for a skim coat of joint compound over the whole wall afterward, rather than fighting to preserve a perfect drywall surface underneath decades-old paper. Working slowly and steaming thoroughly still reduces how much comes away in the process, but a full skim coat is often the more efficient answer once several patches have already opened up, since patching dozens of small tears individually usually takes longer in total than one thin coat spread over the entire wall.
After the paper is off
The wall still needs preparing properly before paint goes anywhere near it.
- Wash the wall with a mix of water and a little dish soap, or a dedicated adhesive remover, to clear any leftover glue residue.
- Rinse with clean water on a separate cloth so soap film does not stay behind.
- Let the wall dry fully, which usually takes longer than it looks like it should.
- Prime with a proper wall primer before painting, especially over any bare drywall paper exposed during removal, since raw paper absorbs paint unevenly and shows through as blotching without it.
For a wall that turns out to need a full skim coat, our painting and drywall repair service in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge can finish it smooth and ready for paint in far less time than stripping it patch by patch.