Comments on: How to strip woodchip wallpaper

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:00:31 +0000

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.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:09:44 +0000

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.

By: stewarty

stewarty — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:40:47 +0000

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

By: lucy

lucy — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 10:31:33 +0000

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!!!!!!.

By: patricia

patricia — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 08:21:54 +0000

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.

By: karen

karen — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:13:20 +0000

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

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:26:53 +0000

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 =)

By: ronnie

ronnie — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:42:14 +0000

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

By: Novice Diy-er

Novice Diy-er — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:46:17 +0000

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!!

By: James

James — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:05:53 +0000

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!