How to Strip Wallpaper

Shut off the room's power at the circuit breaker. Remove all receptacle and switch plates on the wall, and cover the openings with 2-inch painter's tape. Tape a plastic sheet to the top edge of the baseboards to protect the trim and floor. Roll a scoring tool over the paper in overlapping circles, making tiny cuts for the adhesive remover to penetrate. Aim for 10 perforations per square inch.

Following the directions on the bottle, mix a wallpaper-removing concentrate, such as Dif, with an appropriate amount of hot water. You'll need about 2 gallons of solution to cover 500 square feet of wall. Pour the solution into a pump sprayer, and spray the wall from the bottom up using the 'medium mist' setting. Work around the room three times. The paper should bubble in about 5 minutes.

If working with a metal putty knife, use sandpaper to dull the sharp corners so that it won't gouge. Work the knife behind the paper's top edge where two panels meet, and peel the panel down the wall. If paper sticks to the wall, soak it again before scraping. Place the stripped pieces in a garbage can so that you won't slip on them.

Adhesive residue prevents new wallpaper from adhering and telegraphs through paint. Get rid of it by spraying a 3-foot section of wall with more remover solution and scraping the residue off with a putty knife or wide drywall-taping knife.

Immediately after scraping off the residue, wash the section clean with warm water and a sponge mop. Continue this way around the room until all the walls have been scraped and washed from top to bottom.

You can check for residual wallpaper adhesive by spraying the wall with a mix of 1 quart water and 1 ounce povidone-iodone, which will turn any adhesive residue purple. Use denatured alcohol or sand lightly to remove those spots. Let the walls dry for 24 hours, then seal them with an oil-based primer.