Homemade wallpaper remover?

Wallpaper removal was the next-best option after our first morning of renos came to a crashing halt. For absolutely no reason, we started in the dining room and its bright orange swirly stuff. The wallpaper was in perfect condition after 35 years, and we didn’t expect it to go without a fight.

Store-bought removal options: A) buy a liquid wallpaper removing agent or B) buy/beg/borrow/steal a wallpaper steamer. Straight list of cons:

• Liquid wallpaper remover stuff has chemicals – and I’d rather not.
• Buying/renting = spend money – and I’d rather not
• Borrowing = waiting until its owners were back from vacation – and I honestly don’t know how to wait

And the homemade alternative?

When faced with any problem in life I turn (in this order) to: gin, baking soda, vinegar. While the first is always a good idea, it was barely noon. Unladylike. Vinegar, though, …interesting. Paolo needed little invitation to fire up his other girlfriend –  iPhone 3G.

Homemade wallpaper remover?

Fabric softener was recommended – but we only had Woolite. Did we want frothy, soapy walls? Not really. Our next best recipe for homemade wallpaper remover…

• Hot water + straight vinegar, pumped from a giant spray bottle.
• Ratio varies, depending on my mood. Anywhere from 5:1 to 10:1.

The wallpaper is vinyl-coated – so – sprayed as we might – the cocktail ran straight off the walls and into the carpet. There are tools for this – scouring pads, etc. – but cheapness and laziness meant no one was headed to Home Depot. Instead, we managed to find an edge and rip the top layer of vinyl coating from the paper backing. Who’s to say whether this created more problems? It didn’t matter – it was better than packing.

Scrape, scrape, scrape and slowly square inches of pasty paper gave way to bright yellow drywall beneath.

Like a good closet clean-out you soon regret starting, this ugly baby will get yards uglier before its makeover takes shape. Today I was just happy to undertake this token christening, its ceremonial kick-off. It was a welcome tedium with instant results. We made a mess!!!

Our homemade wallpaper remover’s left a nice, thick stench of vinegar in the air… the official scent of tomorrow: moving day.

[Update: August 2011] A year’s worth of trial & error with homemade wallpaper remover

We’ve now removed enough wallpaper to blanket Connecticut… using nothing but our homemade remover. It works, people. Don’t use the chemical stuff. And if it worked on our 1970s vinyl stuff, it’ll work on yours. We’ve used it to battle regular wallpaper, vinyl and mylar-scary-wallpaper… even grasscloth – the vinegar recipe works on it all.

Here’s the key: (you’re dreading it, aren’t you?) Patience. If you’ve got a shiny surface on the paper (e.g. a vinyl coating like our ’70s stuff), try to rip that off first. Then spray on the hot vinegar solution, and wait about 2 or 3 minutes. It does far better after a wait, when the vinegar’s worked on the glue a little bit. Also you’ll find through trial & error that it works to get it damp but not too wet.

Good luck! And when you’re sick of wallpaper removal & hate your life – come back & visit. Subscribe now for post-DIY recovery. (You provide the gin, I’ll provide the warped worldview).