OK I have a hidden agenda posting this right now. Was checking the sites logs and had a hit from Google for “how to strip woodchip” and another for “removal of woodchip wallpaper”, so checked the SERPs in Google and this site is number 1 and 10ish for the two SERPs 
By posting this post about woodchip wallpaper we should keep those SERPs long term (that’s the theory anyway).
I guess the poor people searching for a way to strip woodchip wallpaper didn’t find the site too helpful, so I’m hoping a combination of our hard earned knowledge and maybe someone kind enough to comment on how to do it without replastering will step up (hint, hint )
The house we are renovating has a fair amount of woodchip wallpaper, it’s a 4 storey house (with high ceilings) so it has at least the equivalent of a 3 bedroom house worth of woodchip wall paper to remove!
We started the job completely unprepared in what we are calling the Blue Room (it has a lot of blue paint, so the blue room). The plan was for the wife and kids to strip the wallpaper, but they caught me off guard and visited the house a few days earlier than I’d estimated. So I hadn’t bought any tools for wallpaper removal, I had some trowel like scrapers somewhere, but couldn’t find them (still not found them now).
So I popped around to Jewson’s in Skegness and bought some quite expensive (£10 each!) wallpaper scrapers. In hindsight they are the sort of scrapers that are better suited to filling small nail holes in walls than wall paper stripping, but these are the sort of scrapers I recall my Mum using for wallpaper removal years ago so assumed they are right for the job (they aren’t!!). Also bought a couple of sponges (that haven’t been used yet) and we had a garden water sprayer at the house already.
We started by scratching the wallpaper with wire brushes, Jewsons didn’t have the proper wallpaper scorers so we improvised. We then sprayed and rolled (used an old paint roller with water instead of paint) water onto the scratched paper.
As it happens the room we started in has the hardest woodchip wallpaper to remove in the house (typical or what!!!), but one wall had standard flat wallpaper and after scratching and wetting it came off quite easily. The woodchip though had been painted with vinyl silk paint, so wasn’t absorbing much water.
We all took a crack at those walls (two adults and three kids), but progress was REALLY SLOW. By the time we left we’d not finished one woodchip wall!
The following day we visited B&Q in Grimsby which has a much better range of products than Jewson’s in Skegness. We bought a couple more of the scrapers, though this time not expensive, a proper wallpaper scorer and some sharp wallpaper scrapers with 6″ blades. We also bought a wallpaper steamer, but it didn’t work at all (no heat, so must have been broken so got a refund).
The sharp wallpaper scrapers are no comparison to the blunt ones we first tried, the sharp ones (costs less than £5 each from B&Q) which is basically a T shaped tool with the top being a 6″ sharp blade (that’s replaceable, with new blades costing just over £1 each) and the shaft of the T a long handle.
With little elbow grease you can strip almost any textured wallpaper to the backing paper, (it’s not so good on flat wallpaper though) so the face of the woodchip is easily removed leaving just bits of flatish (woodchip free) paper backing stuck to the wall. In some areas it all came off, but where it was stuck down well, had we tried to remove it we’d have damaged the plaster.
So far we’ve removed around 80% of the woodchip facing and around 30% of the backing. This was without the use of water or a steamer. We are in two minds what to do next, we could use water/steam since the paint free wallpaper backing will easily absorb water now and so shouldn’t be too difficult to remove.
However since the house is over one hundred years old the plaster finish has seen better days, so unless we plan to re skim a lot of the walls the finish will be low quality. We are considering leaving the paper backing as it is (tidy it a little of course) and add thick lining paper over it which we can paint. I’ve never used lining paper before, so not sure how forgiving it is?
If that doesn’t work if we want a good finish I’ll have to re skim the walls (I’ve never plastered before either, but really want to learn).
If anyone has any thoughts on this please comment.
Another alternative is to plasterboard over most of the walls. Plasterboard isn’t very expensive and we’d get a smooth finish. I know it means repositioning light sockets and the skirting boards (considering replacing those anyway) so more work, but I want this to be a quality job (plan to live there).
Update: We took a crack at removing the remaining backing from the woodchip wallpaper left over by those sharp scraper using the wet and scrape technique. We had an entire room (living room) with high ceilings to do and it took about 5 hours for the two of us!! Basic proceedure was wet the walls a few times and scrape with the sharp scrapers. It was far from easy work and as I’m the tallest (Cameron is short for a 14 year old, so couldn’t do a high ceiling wall) I had to do all the high parts. By the end of the day my shoulders where burning!!
76 responses to How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Hi,
I remember having this stuff in my bedroom when I was a kid, totally addictive once you start picking….but that came off so easily, probably because I shouldn’t have been picking it. Now have moved into a large three bed house and the stuff is on every wall and every ceiling, and the ceilings are really high. Previous owner did some removal in the hall and the walls are now a mess, also when I used a steamer to get rid of what was left the entire plaster ceiling came down on my head. Am definitely going to invest in a T scraper, and if I can get the evil stuff of without water then I will try, steamers and wet wallpaper make sooooooooo much mess. I hate this stuff, I think it is ugly and pointless and although it is probably holding up the house I would rather live in a big pile of rubble. Also that polyfilla wall cover up stuff that they use on the telly (the neighbours are hell’s angels or summat) is way harder to put on than it looks, also they tool they sell with it, to apply it to the walls is actually too big to fit into the tub, so you have to empty it all out onto something else first….which is just mind boggling. Good Luck guys and ‘down with the dreaded chip’
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Oh my gosh am scared stiff of strippin woodchip now!!! am moving house n thhe ‘new’ house has a hallway and stirway covered in woodchip!!! cant stand the stuff now reading all these comments i just dont no wat to do!!!!
i think u should relly get some wallpaper
I have woodchip wallpaper in the house I’ve purchased recently and it comes in 2 effects: Painted and non-painted. In my experience, the painted effect (where someone has taken a brush or roller to the paper) was easier to peel than the non painted version. The painted version comes on in large chunks with a proper wall paper stripper (I’m using the 4″ version) as it’s held together with the paint. However the non-painted version is more difficult and comes off in tiny pieces. I’ve tried steaming the non-painted version but you have to wait there for ages. I’ve heard that washing up liquid should help so I’ll give that a go tonight.
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
I am looking to buy a house that is a great credit crunch buy but is mostly covered in woodchip (dark turquoise on the stairs walls and ceiling (what posessed them to do that!) Looks like its been on for years – wonder whats underneath it?
After reading the comments I’m considering trying to detexture it by belt sanding the stuff. Anyone tried that?
A big well done to you all for your woodchip removing achievements – sounds like saintly dedication and determination. I’ll join the ban woodchip campaign.
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
thank you for submitting this post – tried various ways of getting rid of that nasty painted over woodchip – stripping does not work properly and takes forever – I tried that polycill smooth over – went every where but the wall – now going to try the 1700 grade lining paper – as posted above – and will let you know…….
Tried sanding – not great – (but smooth wall – wallpaper still on wall!!
OMG – apply smooth over polycell (i did it VERY badly !!) – wait till dried (2 hours) then find a corner and peel – whole lots comes off in big pieces – no water – no scoring – no steam (most important little effort!) !!! 10 mins to do whole wall !!! no trace of wood chip hooray !!! – ( some one sugessted applying walpaper paste – i think there may be an element of truth to that !!! – and perhaps cheaper!)
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
nb – doing the above also meant that any thing you put on top of wood chip 1) does not go on well 2) will come off eventually – 3) bubbles up (no matter how long the paper has been on there
better to remove it forever and start from scratch -
K Craig is right, the woodchip ceiling was stripped in less than an hour. He does not have anything to do with this company, except that he was a client. The comment was not an advert for the company, but a factual report on what happened, and what the company does. There were two operators on that job. Please note that wallpaper on ceilings is usually well pasted, otherwise the paper would fall and/or sag due to gravity. So there was no question of it being an ‘easy job’.
Note to editor: if still not convinced, you can email me and we will arrange for a demo for you.
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Anyone know if the company that removes woodchip, as mentioned in earlier posts, is genuine and if so where are they?????
Oh God, t his all sounds like too much hard work for me. And my flat even has woodchip papered ceilings! And it’s not my flat! I’m just renting. Sigh.
Who the hell invented woodchip. Seriously. Viewed A Perfect 3 STORY house today. WOODCHIP FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. – no chance.
will take me years to get off. maybe at least 30 layers of paint?
Would Rather pull all the walls down!!!
everyone i have spoken to would rather build a house from scratch rather than scrape a whole house full of woodchip! put me off a little.
i complety agree with the who invented wood chip post and do you know what makes it worse!?! they still sell the bloody stuff, its still in the shops which means people still buy it!! why!!
i have loads in the hows i bought, to make it worse they have papered some of it straight on to wood and and plaster board (unskimmed!!)
nightmare! will try the T bar scraper tho!
Right..basically i live with my mum and her room..the living room and my room have woodchip wallpaper. I agree with every single one of you..woodchip is a challenge to take off and i dare’nt even try as i will get too agitated and will end up leaving it to look like a right old mess. Basically I want to redecorate my room from top to bottom and really have a strong desire to get rid of the woodchip. Do you guys recommend I should leave it and wait till i move out? (which will be in a few months!) And also I know this is not relevant to the topic we are discussing, but does anyone know how to flatten an artexed ceiling as it has been crappily artexed and looks like icicles hanging down with sharp points?
Your help is much appreciated
Dora (Not the explorer) xxx
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
hi take it from someone like me who has battled this stuff for years best tool is to paer off the paint and woodchips with the T shaped scraper the razor blade will strip it with ease no need for water at this stage this has advantage if u have polythene down as u can just sweep the chips up which save u dragging them through the house before stripping the backing paper wallas as u know will req soaking with water warm with some washing up liquid is good
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
as for the artex use the same scraper to scrape down the ceiling if ur brave and want to have a go use watered down pva roller the ceiling with that wait till its tackey they either skimm coat with plaster or use that smoothover stuff which wont leave a good job the ceiling will req alot of sanding if u use smoothover
hi guys i agree with u a;ll its stupid stuff to even use i have it all over my house whice was there wen i first move in and im currently stripping it at the minuet but as i go up my stairs it go high up so im gunna have trouble gettin to it there its easy to take off when its been painted over qa few times bcoz it juast snaps of the wall when ur peeling it i think they shud personally banned the stuff
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
We are renovating a house at the moment which has both woodchip and artex…eeeek!! We have discovered that the woodchip has been put straight onto plasterboard walls that were never painted or sized beforehand. This has been horrendous to try to remove. The large kitchen was covered in woodchip and we had such problems trying to get it off the plasterboard that the builder just replasterboarded the walls. Don’t want to do that everywhere else though. So, how do I get woodchip (well painted) off plasterboard walls. Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks
Fi
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Im stripping my cieling of woodchip wallpaper!! and its driving me MAD!! ive heard the best way to do it is to use laundry conditioner and water at a ratio of 1:1 . i haven’t tried it yet but ill let you know how i get on. ive already tried boiling water, a wallpaper stripper(steam) and tried doing it dry. wish me luck
Dora, when my ceilings were left with icicles hanging because of the way the Artex was used I climbed up and used the back (wood part) of a broom head to scrape off the icicles. It was much easier to paint after that.
Just a quick warning… several textured wall coverings (including some Artex and wood chip papers) used to contain asbestos. Generally you should be OK if it was applied after about 1985, and in any case it was usually white asbestos, as opposed to the really unpleasant brown or blue stuff, but it’s still worth taking precautions, including using a respirator (available from most DIY shops) rather than just a cheap dust mask.
Filling the room with steam will usually remove that nasty woodchip stuff… after about half an hour it often just falls off.
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
its a nightmare ive just spent four days scraping off woodchip paper with warm soapy water its coming off in tiny pieces in those four day ive managed to scrape two walls at this rate it will take a week to do the room thank god they dont seem to sell woodchip any more it should have been banned years ago. well wish me luck im sure going to need it.
We have/had woodchip paper in a number of rooms in our house. I’ve recently stripped my parents bedroom (which was quite big in size). The paper had been on the walls for a long long time (from what I can gather, the longer it’s on the harder it is to remove) and one day we just decided we’d had enough. My dad started with one sheet and quickly lost patience and gave up. So the next day I decided to have a go. I put a film on, used our 15 year old (and the rest) black and decker wallpaper steamer and within about 6 hours I’d done half the room. From then on I didn’t have as much time to do it and neither did my father but had I persevered I’m sure it would have taken no more than 2-3 days (given the size of the room). We used an ordinary scraper (which was probably a good 10 years old too) but our next project-the living room which is a little bigger than the bedroom; we intend on trying out the t-scraper because it seems to have had a lot of success stories (watch this woodchip space!!). My Dad scored the walls (criss-crossed) which he found easier but I just took it strip at a time because every now and again I got huge chunks off. I’m not claiming it’s easy by any stretch of the imagination but a good steamer, a half decent scraper and a bit of determination should get you woodchip free.
The only real negative was that our steamer was ancient and therefore heavy but I soon got used to that.
All the best and I’ll leave an update on how the living room goes!
Bethan
P.S. The steamer did need a good 10 seconds on the paper for it to work and in the mean time I’d scrape off the already steamed bits and watch the film!
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
I am just about to start the removal of 1930 bungalow full to the brim of the wallpaper known as ‘W’ won’t even give it a full name because I know this is going to be a very expensive excercise probably taking of the plaster and killing another hoover – will try scoring the walls then wetting and use a T scraper – will let you all know the outcome
hi
ahhh the old woodchip !! i have just spent 3 hrs a night after finishing work for 6 days getting the stuff off my new sons bedroom ceilling .. wow what a job, whoever invented this stuff needs a good shoeing !. the ceilling is a lowered one and has a plaster board with skim. however the nasty w chip has been glued ..oh yes glued up there !!. i have used a steamer to get the white face of the beast off. then steamed off the ikkle chippys and backing paper. i hope the guy that invented this stuff rots in hell as i have another 4 rooms to do ! grrrrrr
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Am currently striping last bit of wood chip from house. This stuff is evil. Anyhow the best method i have found is water and lots of it. The chances are that the wall underneath will need plastering as that is why woodchip is used, to cover any imperfections in the wall. I’m replastering so am not worried about scoring the wall. Score the paper as much as possible and use lots of water, a strong scraper and a strong arm!
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
I have read through these posts and decided to follow the advice from David and others. The Hamilton 6″ scraper from B&Q is absolutely spot on. Well worth the £8ish including a pack of spare blades. Did 2 rooms this afternoon, ok so they weren’t large but still
Money well spent and saved although I do now have a small blister on palm of hand but a very small price to pay!
Brilliant tool!!
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
score it we a stanley knife and use a plastic scraper so you dont damage the walls. give it time to soak in and this works. or chisel it off … you,ll need to re skim the walls
First weekend in the ‘new house’ and the first challenge was the woodchip. Thanks to my husband’s friend we’ve got a steamer and that worked well as long you’re patient. I did by myself almost the entire living room in one day. Basically just leave the steamer for a good seconds and start pulling the corner… it should come off easily and no mess. If that doesn’t happen just leave the steamer for longer and slowly scrap underneath. It’s not quick as we wish, but still the best time/work I know. Hope it helps. Amanda =)
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Read through all the comments, chuckling away, why was this horrible stuff EVER sold ! I have a 2 bed bungalow, covered in woodchip, (top to bottom!) and have just successfully stripped my living room….
I hired a steamer for £10, I scored every bit of paper going with a stanley knife and put on a good film, had a glass of wine handy and got to work! Its a slow process to begin with, but keep all doors closed, windows shut and the more steam in the room the better. By the time I had done one wall, it was already coming off the ceiling and was sooooo much easier! I found my walls were absolutely sound when the paper was removed (think Im quite lucky though) but I sanded down the walls after.
Just got the rest of the house to do now! Its a hell of a job, but a very rewarding one! Good luck guys! x
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Once spent a week of my life stripping a hall wall of woodchip that had been gloss painted…yes with one of those blunt tools really designed for leveling polyfiller. God bless polyfiller have lived in many a house held up by the stuff. Five houses later thankfully I have learnt that getting skilled trades people in (pay them for the job not a day rate) is worth the amount of life it buys you and saves relationships. On the occassions I have had them do the stripping of woodchip and other papers, they fill the room with steam (using the steamer for stripping walls) obviously closing windows and doors. They leave it for as long as it takes for the paper to start coming off the walls, 30 mins to an hour and then move in with the sharp blades T scrappers and job done. The them fill spend time filling and sanding the walls before lining. Seriously folks this is the way to do it. If you have bare boarded floor clean up the srappings while wet or they will dry and stick to the floor. Oh and I will fess up to really liking the big fat woodchip cos it reminds me of the first flat I bought for 10K in 1979 when it, hessian and cork was the must have wallcoverings….OMG.
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
Thanks for above comment, really was getting disheartend when reading very first comments on how to strip wooddchip. Felling realy confident now, steamed room 6″scrapper and T scrappers here i come!!!!!!.
oh no i have 2 bedrooms, hallway, livingroom, kitchen, bathroom all with woodchip, so thinking of trying t scraper and warm water, will scrape all walls first with stanley blade…keep you posted
Well after removing woodchip from the whole of our house sweat and tears all the way. I have come to the conclusion that when I am on my last legs and about to be forced into a home I shall pay a decorator to redo the whole house in woodchip,I mean why should I be the only one to have the pleasure of removing it, well thats how I feel about it.and why cant I have the last laugh.
Just purchased a steamer,a black & decker paper tiger to score the walls,and some stamdard cheap scrapers from tesco in a 3 pack. I have a whole house to do tht is covered from wall to ceiling in glossed woodchip wallpaper. I have been reading the posts and shall be investing in the Hamilton T wall scraper implement. I stripped a hallway of a freinds home of woodchip a number of years ago and it took 2 days, so i am not looking forward to this task at hand, but its gotta be done…wish me luck.
How to strip woodchip wallpaper
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