What you need
You will need a bucket, washing up liquid, a wide paintbrush, some floor covers, plastic bags, a scraper and a lot of hot water.
Prepare the room from water splashes
Move items away from the walls, especially electrical items and of course the pictures. Electrical sockets and light switches may need to be taped up for safety to stop water from getting to the electric wires. Lay your floor covers down next to the walls. If you have plastic sheets put them down first, then the cloth covers on top of them. This will stop the water from running off the plastic sheets onto the carpeting.
Apply the solution
Now that you have the room ready for wallpaper striping, there is one last thing to do just before applying the solution. You should remove the top layer of wallpaper. Some types of wallpaper have a plastic or vinyl top layer that water will not penetrate. To peel off the top layer, grab the bottom corner of a strip of wallpaper and gently peel it off. Peel the top layer off in a diagonal direction. If you are gentle and pull slowly, you can peel off a whole strip in one piece. Now you are ready to apply the solution. Put some hot water in a bucket with a good squirt of washing up liquid. Dishwashing liquid is a degreaser, it softens the wallpaper paste. Dip the paintbrush in the solution. In order not to get your room soaked, touch the paintbrush on the inside of the bucket to squeeze out the dripping excess water. You will have enough water on the paintbrush to soak the wallpaper. This will keep the splashing to a minimum. Hold the paintbrush with the bristles down, this will keep the water on the wall and allow it to run down the wall instead of down your arm on to the floor. You will be surprised how much water the paper absorbs. Do one section then do it again in about five minutes. Then go back again and do the first section then check to see if the paper peels off easily, if not, soak it again.
Remove the wallpaper
If the paper rips off in pieces, you need to soak it again. This will be when you need to use a scraper. When the paper peels off as easy as a sheet of wet writing paper, you have the paper soaked enough. The better you get, the less you will need to use the scraper and the less you use the scraper, the less damage to the walls. The water has to penetrate though the wallpaper and soak the paste next to the wall. Let the water and dishwashing liquid do the work not the scraper.
Clean up
There is no clean up. Clean as you go. Remember there is still paste on the paper and when the paper becomes dry, you have to remove it again. So boil, soak, peel and bag it as you go.
Now you have walls ready for decoration
Just let the walls dry for a little while. There will be a glossy shine from the small amount of glue left on the walls. This is no problem when it comes to decorating. You can always apply a wall sealer before you wallpaper again.
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