Wallpaper
Wallpaper paste, prep and removal planning
The paper is the visible part of a wallpaper job. The primer under it, the right paste, and the hours of removal before it decide whether it goes up smoothly and comes down again in one piece.
Three jobs before the first drop
A wallpaper job starts well before the first drop goes up. Old paper usually has to come off, the wall has to be repaired and primed, and the paste has to suit the paper. Each step has a quantity and a time, and each is easy to underestimate. This guide covers them in order: removal, prep and primer, then paste.
Removing old wallpaper
How long removal takes depends almost entirely on what is on the wall:
| Paper | How it comes off | Our rate for one person |
|---|---|---|
| Strippable | Peels off dry in whole sheets | about 150 sq ft an hour |
| Peelable vinyl | Face peels off, paper backing stays and must be soaked off | about 80 sq ft an hour |
| Traditional paper | Scored, soaked with removal solution or steamed, scraped | about 50 sq ft an hour |
| Painted over | Paint seals the paper; heavy scoring, long soaking or steaming | about 25 sq ft an hour |
Each extra layer adds about 60% to the stripping time in our estimate. The rates are site estimates for one person working steadily; the first wall is always the slowest. Test a corner first: try peeling a dry corner, and if it comes away cleanly, the paper is strippable.
350 sq ft of papered wall, one person
- Strippable paper: 4 h 13 min, a day
- Traditional paper, scored and soaked: 8 h 53 min, about 2 days at 6 hours a day
- Traditional paper, two layers: 13 h 5 min
- Painted-over paper: 15 h 53 min, about 3 days
- Supplies and rentals: about $60
- Hired out, at about $1.50 per square foot: about $525
These include light wall repair and an hour of setup and cleanup. From the wallpaper removal calculator.
Published cost surveys put professional removal at roughly $1 to $2 per square foot, more for several layers or painted-over paper. In homes built before 1978, old paint over or under wallpaper may contain lead; disturbing it calls for lead-safe practices.
Washing off the paste
After the paper comes off, old paste stays on the wall as a slippery or crusty film. Wash it off with warm water and a sponge, or a removal solution, until the wall no longer feels tacky. Paste left behind can stop primer from sticking and can show through new paint as cracks or blisters if you are painting rather than re-papering.
Repairs
Removal gouges drywall paper and lifts plaster. Fill gouges and dents, sand them flush, and seal any torn drywall paper with a primer made for the purpose before filling, or the water in the filler will blister it. The removal calculator includes light, medium and heavy repair levels.
Primer: the step that makes wallpaper removable
A wallpaper primer, sometimes called a sizing primer, does three jobs: it seals the wall so it does not absorb the paste, it gives the paper “slip” so you can slide each drop into place to match the pattern, and it makes the next removal far easier, because the paper and paste come away from the primer rather than tearing the drywall face.
Primer for eight double rolls
Eight US double rolls is about 451 sq ft of paper. At 350 sq ft per gallon with a 5% allowance, the primer comes to 1.35 gallons, a gallon and two quarts. From the wallpaper paste calculator, which bases the primer on the paper area as a slightly generous allowance.
New drywall needs a primer before wallpaper for the same reason it needs one before paint: the paper face and the joint compound absorb differently. The primer guide covers primers in general, and the primer calculator works out quantities for other surfaces.
Choosing the paste
| Paste | Typical coverage | For |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-mixed clear or clay paste, in tubs | about 250 sq ft per gallon | Most papers and vinyls; clay paste for heavier papers |
| Powder paste, mixed with water | about 285 sq ft per packet | Light and medium papers; economical |
| Paste-the-wall adhesive | about 300 sq ft per gallon | Non-woven papers designed to be hung dry on a pasted wall |
| Pre-pasted paper | Water or a thin activator | Papers with dry paste already on the back |
These are typical label figures; the paste’s own label is the authority. Heavy papers, such as thick vinyls, grasscloth, textured papers and murals, take more paste: we reduce coverage by a quarter for them.
Paste for eight double rolls, 451 sq ft of paper
- Ready-mixed paste at 250 sq ft per gallon: 1.8 gallons, buy 2 gallons
- Powder paste at 285 sq ft per packet: 2 packets
- Paste-the-wall at 300 sq ft per gallon: 1.5 gallons
- Ready-mixed paste on a heavy paper: 2.41 gallons
From the wallpaper paste calculator.
The paper’s label usually says which paste to use, and for non-woven papers whether to paste the wall or the paper. Follow it: the wrong paste is the most common cause of seams lifting.
Tools and the hanging itself
Hanging wallpaper needs few tools, but good ones: a long straightedge and a sharp snap-off knife with plenty of fresh blades, a smoothing brush or plastic smoother, a seam roller, a sponge and a bucket of clean water, a level or laser for the first drop, and a pasting table if you paste the paper. Blunt blades tear wet paper, so change them often.
Start the first drop next to a door or in an inconspicuous corner, plumbed with a level rather than following the corner, because corners are rarely straight. Paste, “book” the paper (fold the pasted faces together) for the time the label gives so it can relax and expand, then hang, smooth from the centre outwards, and trim at the ceiling and baseboard. Wipe paste off the face and the woodwork at once with a damp sponge; dried paste leaves shiny marks on the paper.
The whole job, costed
The paste, primer and tools are a small share of a wallpaper job, but they add up: about $70 for paste and primer and $40 for tools on a typical bedroom, against $720 for eight double rolls of a $45 paper. The wallpaper cost calculator puts it together, $830 for the room done yourself, and the wallpaper roll calculator counts the rolls; wallpaper roll maths explains the drops and repeats behind the count.
Hiring a paperhanger
Paperhangers usually price per single roll hung, roughly $25 to $50 in published surveys, more for murals, grasscloth and difficult walls. Ask whether removal, repairs and primer are included, or quoted separately; a low hanging price with removal and prep extra can end up higher than an all-in quote. How to read a painting quote lists the questions, and they apply to wallpaper just as well.
Common mistakes
- Papering over old paper. It can bubble and lift, and doubles the next removal.
- Skipping the wallpaper primer. The paper is hard to slide into place and impossible to remove later without damage.
- Leaving old paste on the wall. Primer and paint do not stick to it.
- Using light paste on heavy paper. Seams lift; use a heavy-duty or clay paste.
- Soaking drywall too long during removal. The paper face of the drywall lifts with the wallpaper.
- Underestimating painted-over paper. It takes about twice as long to strip as ordinary paper.