Wallpaper Removal Tips for Des Moines Homeowners

Wallpaper removal is one of the most consistently underestimated home improvement projects. What looks like an afternoon project can easily stretch into multiple days of frustrating work, damaged walls, and adhesive residue that causes paint failure months later if not completely removed. Des Moines has a significant stock of older homes — many built in the 1950s through 1980s — where multiple layers of wallpaper over drywall or plaster create genuinely complex removal challenges. Understanding the process before starting helps homeowners decide whether to DIY or call a professional, and what to watch for either way.

The first step in any wallpaper removal project is identifying what type of wallpaper you're dealing with, since different types require different approaches. Vinyl-coated wallpaper, which became standard in homes built after about 1970, has a plastic-coated surface that must be scored before removal to allow removal solution to penetrate the paper backing. This is the most common type in Des Moines homes and the most time-consuming to remove because the vinyl face and the paper backing often come off separately, requiring two rounds of stripping. Fabric-backed vinyl is even more stubborn, with a thick backing that tenaciously holds adhesive to the wall.

Older paper wallpaper, common in Des Moines homes built before 1960 over plaster, is typically easier to wet and strip, but plaster walls are more fragile and gouge easily if scraped too aggressively.

Before beginning removal, make a small test cut to determine whether the drywall paper face will tear away with the wallpaper — a common and costly problem in homes where wallpaper was installed over unsealed drywall. When drywall paper tears during removal, it creates rough, porous patches that absorb paint unevenly and are difficult to skim coat smoothly. If you find that your drywall paper is bonded to the wallpaper, professional wallpaper removal is strongly recommended, as the drywall repair work required after DIY removal can significantly exceed the cost of professional removal.

For wallpaper that is safely removable, the process works as follows. Score the surface with a perforation tool to allow removal solution to penetrate without scoring too deeply and damaging the wall underneath. Apply a commercial wallpaper removal solution or a mixture of warm water and fabric softener with a roller or sprayer, working in manageable sections. Allow the solution to soak for several minutes until the paper feels soft and the adhesive has released, then use a wide plastic scraper to remove the wallpaper in sheets.

Work carefully and keep the scraper as flat as possible against the wall to avoid gouging.

The step most DIY removal projects get wrong is adhesive cleanup. After the wallpaper is stripped, the walls are covered in a layer of dried adhesive that is nearly invisible when dry but catastrophically disrupts paint adhesion. Painting over residual wallpaper adhesive causes paint to bubble, peel, and lift within weeks. Every square inch of the wall must be washed with a TSP solution after stripping, allowed to dry completely for at least 24 hours, and then inspected in raking light for any remaining adhesive or texture before painting begins.

After cleaning, most walls require at least minor skim coating to fill gouges, tears, and imperfections from the removal process. In older Des Moines homes where multiple wallpaper layers have been applied over decades, walls often require significant skim coating to achieve a smooth, paint-ready surface. Skim coating is a skilled finishing technique that most homeowners don't have experience with, which is one of the primary reasons professional wallpaper removal — where the team handles removal, cleaning, repair, and skim coating in sequence — often delivers better results and faster timelines than DIY removal followed by hired finishing.

TrueEdge Paint's wallpaper removal team handles the complete process: identification and assessment, scoring and wet removal, adhesive cleanup, wall repair and skim coating, and final painting. Contact us for a free assessment of your wallpaper removal project in Des Moines, West Des Moines, Ankeny, or the surrounding metro area.