How to Remove Wallpaper With Downy
If you've moved into a house that's sporting some vintage 1980s floral wallpaper, or if your child has outgrown his nursery wallpaper, it's time to redecorate. Thankfully, removing wallpaper can be easy, and it takes just a few items you have lying around the house. The secret is using Downy or another liquid fabric softener. Liquid fabric softener has the ability to melt wallpaper adhesive, making the strenuous task of pulling old wallpaper off the walls less difficult and a lot less time-consuming. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Hot water
- Downy or other liquid fabric softener (fragrance-free)
- Large spray bottle
- Wallpaper scorer or razor blade
- Scraping tool
- Plastic or drop cloths
Instructions
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1
Move furniture out of the room or to the center of the room to allow yourself room to work.
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2
Protect flooring from water and fabric softener over-spray by spreading plastic or drop cloths around the perimeter of the room, next to the walls.
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3
Score wallpaper with a wallpaper scoring tool or razor blade. Score within the borders of a sheet of wallpaper to make removal easier, and take care not to shred the paper, so that removal goes faster.
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4
Mix 1/3 cup Downy fabric softener with 2/3 cup of hot water in a large spray bottle, and shake well.
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5
Spray the Downy/water solution on the walls. Saturate the wallpaper. Allow the solution to set on the walls for at least 15 minutes to soften wallpaper adhesive.
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Remove wallpaper by starting at the bottom of the wall, pulling up. If the Downy/water solution has not thoroughly saturated the paper, pull off the top layer, and then apply the solution again to the bottom layer.
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7
Use a scraper tool to remove stubborn pieces of paper, working slowly on small sections at a time, taking care not to gouge the walls.
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Tips & Warnings
If you run out of fabric softener while removing wallpaper, 1 cup of vinegar mixed with water will also soften wallpaper adhesive.
Don't leave out the scoring step, especially if your wallpaper is vinyl; the fabric softener/water solution cannot penetrate vinyl wallpaper, and will have difficulty penetrating any heavy wallpaper or wallpaper applied over a backing paper.
If wallpaper adhesive remains on the wall after the paper is removed, it can be softened and removed with the fabric softener/water solution or the vinegar/water solution.
Be sure to wash walls thoroughly before repainting or re-wallpapering to remove any fabric softener residue left behind, which may prevent paint or wallpaper from adhering to the surface.
