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Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @cotcom. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about removing wallpaper.
Is it vinyl-coated wallpaper? How fragile the wallpaper is will determine what removal method you could employ. Sometimes if no additional adhesive was used, you'll get lucky and can remove larger sections of vinyl-coated wallpaper in one piece. If additional adhesive were used, you'd probably rip the pieces. Take your time, apply water with a spray bottle to release the glue and use a plastic scraper.
If you are removing the paper from an entire room, you'll likely get at least a couple of large pieces comes away that can be used later.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
Hello @cotcom
I'm afraid the amount of wallpaper I've removed through the years has all ended up shredded. There are two possible conditions present in your wall. One, the wallpaper glue has petrified and has lost all of its holding power allowing you to gently strip the wallpaper off. Two, the opposite has happened and the glue has absorbed the fibres of the wallpaper making it impossible to strip.
You could try a wallpaper steamer but excessive use will degrade the pattern on the paper making it too soft to strip as a whole. There's also the possibility that it will not affect the glue due to its age.
I recommend either taking a very good picture of the wallpaper or engaging the services of a professional photographer to capture the image of your wallpaper. You can then have it colour laser printed to the size that you want. You'll then have the pattern stored on digital media for life. You can also hire a graphic artist to recreate the pattern for you digitally.
Please keep us updated with your progress, we look forward to seeing your wallpaper pattern preserved.
Let me tag our experienced members @prettyliving, @craftyhopper, and @lifestylebymari for their recommendations.
If you need further assistance, please let us know.
Eric
