Good preparation makes the work easier and saves time and effort to complete the job.
First carefully cover the floor this saves you the trouble of cleaning the floor afterwards. When stripping wallpaper it can be a messy job, with old paper falling to the floor. It is best to clean these up as you go so they don’t dry and stick to the floor. Have a bin bag ready at the start of the job to collect the bits of wallpaper after removal.
The WAGNER SteamForce is the easiest way to remove wallpaper. Once the water boils the steam penetrates through the old wallpaper and moistens the adhesive. The wallpaper will then become loose and can then be removed either by peeling off the paper or by scraping it off using a scraper. As you only need water and not any chemicals you do not have to worry about endangering your health or the environment.
It sounds obvious, but make sure you have taken everything off the wall in the room. This includes not just obvious picture frames and mirrors but also small things like hooks and nails, smoke detectors etc. Clear any furniture you can from the room to give yourself room to work.
Don’t remove light switches and sockets, it is best to mask them with masking tape combined with plastic sheets. This protects them from water and also means at the end you don’t need to remove wallpaper paste residue and hardened wallpaper which might have stuck to them.
It is a good idea to perforate the old wallpaper before using the steamer. Use a spiked roller or a wallpaper hedgehog or gently with a knife score the surface. The perforations, allow the steam to penetrate the surface of the paper faster and dissolve the wallpaper paste. Roll over the wallpaper a few times with the device of your choice. This is especially necessary if the wallpaper has been painted over, if waterproof, like vinyl wallpaper or if there are several layers of paper. Do not press too hard to avoid damaging the wall surface.
To be as efficient as possible place the steam plate completely flat on the wall. This traps the steam under the plate so it cannot escape. Hold the steam plate on the wall for about 10 seconds. Then, when you remove the steam plate to remove the wallpaper, place it directly on the next section of wall with your other hand so that you do not waste steam and time.
Protect the wall under the wallpaper, don’t hold the steam plate on one spot for more than about 10 seconds. Otherwise, you will moisten the surface unnecessarily and you might damaged the plaster wall. If there is a place where the wallpaper does not come off easily, leave it for a while and then come back to the stubborn piece of wallpaper again later.
Around the light switches, along the skirting boards or around windows and doors, the smaller steam plate is ideal. This allows easier movement and access to awkward places which would not be possible with the larger steam plate.
Just like your kettle: If the heating coil gets covered in limescale, it takes longer for the water to boil. Limescale greatly reduces the performance of your wallpaper steamer. Therefore, test your water for how hard it is. If the hardness is low, you should descale the steamer after approx. 11 full tanks, i.e. 44 litres. If the hardness is high, it is best after 6 full tanks, i.e. 24 litres.
To do this, mix 1.5 litres of water with a commercially available lime scale remover,according to the manufacturer's instructions. Pour the mixture into the tank of the wallpaper steamer and let it work for about 30 minutes. Then empty the tank entirely and rinse it two or three times thoroughly with clean water to completely remove the descaling agent and any residue.
With regular descaling, you not only ensure that the heating coil functions perfectly and quickly, but also extend the life of your steamer!
To prevent any reduction in performance or damage, the steamer must be regularly descaled.
Hardness level | °e | Descaling recommendation |
Low | < 8.4 | After - 11 (44l) - tank fills |
Medium | 8.4 - 14 | After - 9 (36l) - tank fillings |
High | > 14 | After - 6 (24l) - tank fillings |
