How to remove old wallpaper from the ceiling. How to remove wallpaper from the ceiling

All ceiling repair work must be done first, before the walls and floor are repaired. Installation of windows and doors is carried out both before and after the repair of the ceiling, at the discretion.
In order to avoid excessive dirt, it is necessary to cover all furniture (if any), lamps on the ceiling with polyethylene or other covering material.

Also cover the floor with a covering material, then, after repair, the working flooring must be carefully collected from the floor and thrown away along with the dirt. We should not forget about covering the surfaces of door blocks and window openings from splashes, since then they are poorly washed.

The temperature in the room during work should not be lower than +5 C.
Be sure to follow safety precautions. All electrical wiring in the repaired room (room) must be de-energized to avoid short circuits and accidents. Wear protective goggles. Put on a headdress, if possible, work with gloves. Use only serviceable tool, strictly for its intended purpose.
To remove old wallpaper from the ceiling, the following tools and materials are used:

• steel spatula
• long pile roller
• water or a solution of a special wallpaper remover
• ladder ladder

There is a special solution as an alternative to water, when applied, the removal of old wallpaper is greatly simplified. If you use special solutions, first carefully read the instructions for its use and precautions when working with them.

Old wallpaper must be removed without residue. If the old wallpaper is two-layer or dry-removable without residue, then this will not require much effort. Just pry them off with a spatula and carefully remove them from the ceiling. If not, then the old wallpaper should be wetted with water or a special solution. Wait a few minutes for the wallpaper to get wet. After getting wet, old wallpaper is much easier to scrape off the surface with the same spatula. Sometimes it is difficult to remove even wet wallpaper, this is due to the fact that water does not soak all layers of old wallpaper. In this case, it is necessary to break the top layer of wallpaper, scrape it with a sharp object, make notches, and give water access to the lower layers.

After removing the wallpaper, it is necessary to check the strength of the plaster, if any (tap the plastered areas). With insufficient strength, the plaster is removed from the ceiling surface.

Before applying a leveling layer (plaster, putty), the ceiling must be treated with reinforcing primers. To apply the primer, use a paint roller and a brush. The primer is applied evenly over the entire surface with a roller, in hard-to-reach places - with a brush. On highly absorbent substrates, the primer is applied several times.

After removing old wallpaper and priming the ceiling, carefully remove debris from the floor or remove covering material in a place with dirt.
Our advice: It is best to use warm water to wet the wallpaper.

Tsugunov Anton Valerievich

Reading time: 4 minutes

Wallpaper is a wonderful finishing material that allows you to quickly change the appearance of the apartment beyond recognition. But many of those who are faced with the need to remove the old finish, find this process a real challenge. What to do if you really want to update the interior, but the wallpaper does not want to separate from the ceiling or walls? Let's look at all the ways to remove obsolete finishes, and also find out how to tear off old wallpaper if it is "tightly glued" to the wall.

If the wallpaper has been glued recently, then there should be no problems with removing them at home, since modern starch-based adhesives are designed for subsequent easy removal of the finishing material.

Tools and materials

The choice of tool depends on the type of old finish that needs to be removed. Here is the most complete set of tools and devices that will help you quickly peel off obsolete and lost wallpaper:

• knives, spatulas, scrapers;
• "wallpaper tiger" or roller with nails;
• steam generator;
• wide roller with an extension handle (for the ceiling);
• hard brush;
• spray;

• special liquid for removing wallpaper;
• drill or grinder with a brush head;
• old bedspreads, film or packing cardboard to protect furniture and floors;
• gloves and headgear;
• Scotch;
• old rag or sponge;
• container with warm water.

You are unlikely to need a full arsenal, but most of the auxiliary tools will not hurt to stock up.

Before you remove the old wallpaper, do not forget to remove everything unnecessary from the room, remove the curtains, remove the carpets, and also seal the sockets and switches with tape to prevent moisture from entering them.

Ways to remove wallpaper

There are several standard ways to remove wallpaper material.

When the wall is being prepared for pasting not ordinary paper wallpaper, but vinyl, non-woven, or washable wallpaper will be used, it must be cleaned of the old coating especially carefully.

Method number 1: use water

The process of removing old finishes from walls or ceilings without extra effort is not complete without a faithful assistant - warm water, and consists in wetting the walls to soften the adhesive layer. The work can be done with a sponge, cloth, roller or spray gun.

Tip: add detergent to the water - this will increase the effectiveness of the soak.

Most often, after soaking the glue, thick paper material is very easily and quickly removed from the walls. Work is best done starting from the corners or from the bottom up. To do this, with the edge of a spatula or other working tool, you need to pick up the corner of the wallpaper sheet and pull it towards you, while lifting it up.

Instead of water, you can use wallpaper remover, the principle of which is to destroy the structure of the glue. It is sold in hardware stores in a concentrated form and diluted in the proportions indicated on the label.

Method number 2: water + mechanical action

How to remove wallpaper from the walls if they do not absorb moisture well or are not capable of it at all, for example, washable, non-woven, vinyl? In this situation, it is required to make cuts or holes throughout the pasted area. This can be done with a sharp corner of a spatula, a knife, a roller with carnations protruding from it, or a “wallpaper tiger” - a specially designed device for scratching wallpaper.

After vinyl or other durable wallpaper is cut or perforated, warm water will again be required, which must be moistened with a pasted wall and wait 15-20 minutes. Then the same steps are performed as in method No. 1, aimed directly at removing the coating from the wall.

Method number 3: hot steam

You can make glue and paper swell with a steam generator, a steam mop, and even an iron with a steam function. After exposure to steam, most coatings can be removed from walls and ceilings quickly and easily with a wide trowel or scraper.

Removing non-woven wallpaper

Non-woven wallpaper is very durable and has a waterproof coating, so we will remove them using method No. 2, violating the integrity of their surface with any of the above tools and wetting the wall with plenty of water. Quickly enough (after 15 minutes), the glue should swell, allowing you to separate the canvases from the wall or ceiling.

When removal is difficult, it is better to use a steam generator.

For vinyl wallpaper on a durable non-woven base, only the top layer can be separated, and the bottom layer can be left on the wall, sticking new canvases directly onto it.

Removing washable material

Since washable wallpapers do not get wet, you will need a roller with nails, a “wallpaper tiger”, a knife or a spatula to scratch the material to remove them. In this case, the glue will soak longer, you will need to moisten the wall several times.

Radical removal method

If you need to tear off material that is glued very tightly from the walls or ceiling, for example, preserved from Soviet times, you may encounter serious difficulties. Previously, when repairing, wood glue, bustilat, PVA were used, which are able to stick wallpaper to the wall for centuries and are completely resistant to conventional soaking.

A drill with a brush attachment will help, with which the coating is simply mechanically removed from the wall. This method has a drawback: a stiff brush will remove not only wallpaper from the walls, but also a layer of putty, and possibly pieces of plaster.

How to remove wallpaper from drywall

If the walls or ceiling sheathed with plasterboard were not treated with a special primer before gluing, any wallpaper, non-woven, washable, vinyl and paper, will adhere incredibly firmly to it. In addition, the top layer of drywall can be easily damaged, and it is also not friendly with water. To remove the coating from this material can be used.

Finishing work on the ceiling often involves the use of wallpaper. However, like any other finishing material, wallpaper is also not eternal and has its own limited lifespan. After it, the wallpaper begins to lose its decorative and technical characteristics. Over time, ultraviolet light spoils the appearance of the wallpaper, and therefore it becomes necessary to dismantle them.

Removal Tools

Tools for removing old wallpaper from the ceiling are the simplest. To do this, you will need a metal spatula, a long-haired roller, ordinary water or specialized wallpaper removers, and a ladder. Finishing masters, of course, recommend using special tools when removing wallpaper. Unlike water, they allow you to do this job more efficiently and quickly.

Important steps for removal

It is very important to completely remove the old wallpaper without leaving even small particles. This will greatly facilitate the further finishing of the ceiling. If the wallpaper has a two-layer coating or can be easily removed when dry, then all that is required is just to pry off the upper edge of the wallpaper with a spatula and mechanically remove it from the ceiling. If the wallpaper is firmly attached to the surface, then with a roller they must first be soaked with a solution for removing wallpaper. After that, you need to let the wallpaper soak properly, and only then, prying them with a spatula, scrape off from the base.
Sometimes it also happens that even wet wallpaper is difficult to influence tools. This is due to the fact that the liquid solution does not impregnate the wallpaper to the ground. In this case, it is recommended to make notches with a knife over the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ceiling, then re-impregnate the wallpaper with a solution and repeat the dismantling procedure.

Date: 04.02.2017

Describe the manual and mechanized methods of removing wallpaper from the ceiling, the process of preparing the surface for further work.

Even the best repairs eventually need a cosmetic update or replacement of old materials. It can be like: wall, ceiling or floor decoration. Perhaps the most difficult and time-consuming process is the removal of wallpaper from the ceiling. Before you start preparing the application of new materials: wallpaper or paint, you need to clean the material already on it. In our case, this is wallpaper. There are two main types of wall cleaning from wallpaper:

Mechanical

It can be both dry, wet, and chemical - using different chemicals.

Mechanized

In this process, various mechanized devices are used to easily remove any wallpaper.

Let's take a look at both options in turn. And at the same time also all the subtleties of these types of cleaning wallpaper from the ceiling.

It is also divided into three methods:

• dry
• wet
• chemical.

The dry method is not much different in principle from the wet or chemical method. The only difference is that in the wet method you will need to wet the wallpaper, while in the chemical method you will need to add wallpaper remover to the water.

dry method

If the wallpaper is very old and has begun to sag and swell over time, then this method is perfect for you. You just need to pry a piece of wallpaper with a spatula and pull it towards you. And for this you just need:

• putty knife;
• ladder, table or chair.

wet method

For this you will additionally need:

• roller (on a long or short handle), brush or spray gun (can be replaced with a regular spray bottle);
• preferably two spatulas, of different widths;
• hot water or hot soapy water;
• hot water container.

To start work, you will need to moisten the wallpaper on the ceiling very well and abundantly with hot water, using the tool of your choice, over all surfaces. If the apartment is hot enough, the water will dry out very quickly, and they will not have time to soak enough. Therefore, it is possible that after a short period of time you will need to repeat this procedure. When you see that the wallpaper is sufficiently impregnated or swollen, you can proceed to the very process of removing the wallpaper. Pick up a small piece of wallpaper with a spatula and pull it towards you. In the process of removing wallpaper, you may need additional impregnation. Therefore, until the end of work, do not take the container with hot water and periodically repeat the wetting process and as it dries. If the moisture impregnates the wallpaper poorly, make small notches on their surface. This must be done very carefully so as not to damage the surface under them.

chemical method

It differs from the wet method only by adding chemicals to the water. The process of removing wallpaper from the ceiling is identical to the wet method. You need to dilute the chemical liquid you bought for these purposes according to the instructions on the package.

Mechanized

This is the process of cleaning wallpaper with the help of additional devices such as:

• Steam Mop;
• steamer.

All of them are domestic steam generators. This method is very similar to the wet method. The only difference is that the vapors penetrate deeper into the base of the wallpaper through the entire ball of their coating. The wallpaper gets wet and swells, and then you can safely work with a spatula.

After the wallpaper has been removed from the ceiling, clean it thoroughly and if the ceiling is not made of drywall, then it is also advisable to wash it. Next, you need to evaluate the surface of the ceiling and, based on this, decide what work will be done at the next stage. If the surface is damaged, it must be puttied. It is not necessary to putty the entire ceiling, it is enough to coat only the damaged areas with it.

Your question:

How to remove old wallpaper from the ceiling?

Master's response:

If you decide to change the ceiling covering, then before starting work it is necessary to clean it from old wallpaper.

Before removing the old coating, the ceiling is soaked with hot water with a sponge, after which the wallpaper can be easily removed with an ordinary spatula. If the ceiling is sufficiently even and does not require additional alignment, then the new wallpaper can be glued on top of the old layer, provided, of course, that the materials do not have too contrasting colors that can appear on the new finish.

The described method is the most economical and common. However, if you want to perform high-quality repairs, it is recommended to use new technologies and special tools that will not only clean the surface with high quality, but also greatly facilitate your work. At the same time, it is necessary to divide all the work into certain stages, each of which requires a separate careful approach.

Separately, it is necessary to highlight the preparation of the ceiling, which has already been thoroughly puttied, painted or wallpapered several times. In this situation, it is necessary to clean the ceiling to the very foundation, i.e. to masonry or concrete slab. Otherwise, the old finish may start to crack, which will damage the new wallpaper. A special puncher with a spatula or a card brush with a cutting machine will help facilitate this hard work. You can also use a drill with a special nozzle, which is especially convenient for removing old wallpaper.

After removing old wallpaper, it is necessary to clean the ceiling of dust with an industrial vacuum cleaner.

All work must be carried out in overalls that will protect your hands, eyes and respiratory organs from dirt, dust and other particles of the old coating that will fly from the ceiling during cleaning work.

also old wallpaper can be removed chemically or thermally. But in this case, there is a risk of skin damage or poisoning, so if you resort to this option, then be sure to follow all safety measures.

You can start finishing the ceiling with a new coating immediately after the wallpaper is completely removed, provided that the ceiling is even, the surface is dry and clean. Otherwise, it is first necessary to repair all cracks and level the surface.