SHOULD I REMOVE MY WALLPAPER BEFORE SELLING?
Removing Wallpaper When Selling a Home
There are certain tasks that are always worth doing when you are selling a home. Mowing the lawn, for instance, just makes sense. It is too easy, and makes the home look so much better, that it is foolish to not do it if you want to attract buyers. Knowing how to remove wallpaper is another such task. Most buyers today are not going to appreciate wallpaper – it is old-fashioned and tends to date the home.
Wallpaper is an obvious thing to get rid of if you have the opportunity. Fortunately, removing wallpaper does not have to be terribly difficult. With a little time and the right technique, you will have the wallpaper off the walls and can move on with your sale.
Sellers ask me all the time if they should remove the wallpaper when selling their home. My answer 99% of the time is yes! In fact on many occasions when they don’t ask, I need to tell them to remove it. Unfortunately in most circumstances wallpaper dates a property. It is highly personalized and makes it difficult for many buyers to picture a home as they would want to see it.
So when sellers say “I will give the buyer a credit and they can just take the wallpaper down themselves” they are missing the whole point. Wallpaper makes your home harder to sell. You will end up getting far less money for your home when leaving the wallpaper. If you are ambitious and want to learn how to remove wallpaper keep reading.
Do You Really Need To Remove The Wallpaper?
Only if you want to get the best price for the home!
While there is a possibility that you can find a buyer who just so happens to love the look of the wallpaper, the odds of that happening are slim. You and your real estate agent are trying to pull in as many qualified buyers as possible, but only a few of those buyers will actually make an offer. Wallpaper is not a popular design choice right now with most people, so leaving it up risks driving off someone who will pay you good money for your home. It is all about making your home more appealing to buyers.
If you are still on the fence, ask your Realtor. What does he or she think about getting rid of the wallpaper? Chances are your Realtor will be all for eliminating the wallpaper, painting with some nice neutral colors and moving the home as quickly – and for as much money – as possible.
Getting Started Removing Wallpaper
How to remove wallpaper when selling a home……..
Before you begin the actual removal process, you will need to take care of a few things. These include:
Identifying What Type Of Wall You Have
You want to know what type of walls your home has to safely remove the wallpaper. Homes over 50 years old are usually built with plaster walls – walls made of wood lathes covered in coats of plaster. A plaster wall will sound dull when you knock on it, and is much harder (difficult to put push pins in, for instance) than drywall.
If your home is less than 50 years old, the chances increase that it could be built with drywall. Drywall is a lightweight material that consists of a chalky center and a thin cardboard cover on both sides. Drywall will sound hollow and will be much easier to penetrate with pins or nails.
Plaster walls are durable, while the cardboard on drywall can be damaged fairly easily. Be gentle if you are removing wallpaper from drywall.
Identify Your Wallpaper
There are several different kinds of wallpaper, each requiring a different method for removal. Standard wallpaper can be sprayed with hot water and/or stripping solutions, while other types may require different tactics.Keep reading to see some of the best tips for removing wallpaper by identifying the type you have.
Strip-able Wallpaper
There is strip-able wallpaper (consider yourself lucky if you have this) which can simply be pulled off the wall by hand. It requires no water or chemicals to remove. You can check if you have strip-able wallpaper by pulling at a corner of the wallpaper. If it comes away easy and doesn’t leave anything behind, great! Only newer wallpaper will be strip-able by hand, so if you have older wallpaper, don’t get your hopes up.
Peel-able Wallpaper
With peel-able wallpaper, you can peel off the top vinyl coat of the paper by hand, and then use the regular water removal method to take care of the paper that is left behind.
Washable Wallpaper
Washable wallpaper was designed to clean up easily when it got dirty, which means it has a plastic film on the surface to repel dirt and grime. The problem with washable wallpaper is that the plastic film will prevent water from penetrating to the paper for removal. If you have washable wallpaper you will need to puncture the plastic film before applying water. Be careful not to cut too deeply, especially if you have drywall.
Prep For Removal
Remove everything from the walls you are working on and remove all the furniture you are able. If you can’t move some furniture, cover it to protect it. Tape drop cloths to the baseboards to catch any materials that come off. You can place towels underneath the drop cloth to create a trough if you like. Gather all your tools together, including hot water, whatever applicator you are going to use, and your scraping tool.
Removing The Wallpaper
There are several different ways to remove wallpaper, depending on what type of paper you have and what difficulties you run into.
Removing Wallpaper With Water
You have a few options for removing wallpaper with water. You can buy a liquid stripper concentrate from the hardware store, which helps peel the paper off, or you can try hot water alone – which can often work. Some people also like to apply fabric softener as an alternative to the stripper concentrate.
Hot water will help soften the glue holding on the paper. You can rent a machine for steam removal if the wallpaper is really giving you trouble, but many people are successful just using a pump sprayer filled with boiling water. If you don’t have a sprayer and don’t want to rent a steamer, you can also apply the hot water with a large brush.
Once you have applied the water and/or the other products, you need to let everything soak in for a few minutes. Once the paper is thoroughly soaked, you can begin scraping off the wallpaper. Newer wallpaper will come away fairly easily, while older wallpaper may take some real elbow grease to fully remove.
If you are having trouble getting the paper to become saturated, you can score the wallpaper before spraying to allow the water to penetrate better. Avoid doing this from the beginning, though, because often you will not need to score to get the paper off. Scoring is a lot of extra work, so avoid doing it unless necessary.
Do You Need A Steamer?
If you are having serious trouble getting the paper to come off, there is no shame in renting a steamer. It will probably make the job go a lot more quickly. Remember, if you are going the steamer route, make sure you have a friend with you to strip while you steam. It is a two person job.
Are you the type that likes to watch a video? Check out this excellent visual guide on removing wallpaper via John Ripper at Youtube.
Prepping The Walls For Paint
Once you have removed all the wallpaper in your home make sure you get your walls prepped for paint. This will make the end result look a heck of a lot nicer and please your future buyer in the process.
Final Thoughts
Leaving wallpaper behind when selling a home is often times a very big mistake. Local real estate agents in your market can give you a better handle of just how much money you may be leaving on the table by not removing the wallpaper. There have been very few homes I have seen that did not benefit from stripping and removing the wallpaper.
Keep in mind that once the wallpaper is removed picking the right wall color is critical. The best advice is to stay with a very neutral tone. As much as it may seem boring to you, an off white is usually best. Remember you are not doing this to accommodate what you like but what the masses want. Selling a home for the most money means making it appeal to the largest percentage of buyers.
Hopefully this guide on how to remove wallpaper from your home has been helpful!
