Vinegar + Water = Homemade Wallpaper Remover!
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Once again I’ve discovered something useful that a simple mixture of vinegar and water can do. It makes a super simple and super cheap homemade wallpaper remover!
For several years now I’ve been using a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water as an easy homemade all purpose cleaner. It’s my go-to method for lots of cleaning chores around the house. In fact, I was using it so often that I started keeping a gallon-sized refill of 8 cups of vinegar mixed with 8 cups of water in the cupboard so I would have plenty on hand whenever I needed to refill my spray bottle.
Well this week, in the midst of our bathroom remodeling project, we took a big mirror off the wall and discovered some remains of ugly old wallpaper. And even though we’ll be covering that area again with a new mirror, I wanted that old wallpaper gone. It was bad – so yucky – even a little moldy!
I first looked in our stash of supplies and tools, wondering if we still had a spray bottle of that DIF Wallpaper Remover stuff around that we had used years ago. But nope, no luck. I came up empty handed. What to do?
Well you go to Google to find out how to make your own wallpaper remover! And guess what the search results turned up? You can make your own wallpaper remover by combining vinegar and water. Oh happy day! I have a gallon of the stuff around here!
But would it work? I first scored the paper a bit with one of those handy “Paper Tiger” tools (which I did manage to find in my box of old supplies, along with my hubby’s ancient and well used putty knife up there in the photo). I poured some of my 50/50 vinegar and water mixture into a little spray bottle, sprayed it around on the wall, and then waited 15 minutes so it could soak in.
And when I started scraping, it came off with no problems! Some spots needed an extra spray or two of the vinegar and water, but overall I made quick progress and this homemade solution worked great.
Now it’s true, I was not removing an entire room of wallpaper. I was simply working on an area the size of a large mirror. BUT – because the vinegar and water worked very efficiently on that area, I have every reason to believe it would work well for larger projects too.
This is the kind of homemade solution that I really love. Those moments when you can use what you have, to make what you need. Instead of having to run out to the store, I was able to stay home and finish my project. It was early in the morning and I was in my grubby clothes and was just looking crappy in general. I did NOT want to run to the store . . . because whenever I run out to the store in that condition I will ALWAYS run into someone I know. ALWAYS! It’s like some weird law of nature or something. Instead I could stay home at 6:30 in the morning and get the job done with my handy vinegar and water to the rescue.
So if you ever find yourself in this predicament too, I can testify that vinegar and water did indeed do the trick for my wallpaper removing needs. Give it a try and I think it will work for you too!
we are actually planning on repainting our walls and removing the old wallpaper on them. We’ll give this a try.
I hope it works well for you Samantha – the vinegar did the trick for us!
Thankyou, saved a trip to walmart. I mixed 50-50 ,sprayed and wiped with a hot damp soapy washcloth, allowing several minutes to soak between applications. Scrapped with a soft pliable scrapper, pulled it off easily.
I’m so glad this method worked well for you and like you said, saved you a trip to the store to buy something. It’s great when you can use what you have to make what you need and get the job done!
Hello, thanks for the helpful article. I think many people are faced with the problem of removing the old wallpaper’s glue during the repair. From my own experience, I can say that using only water is not always effective. Special solutions can be much more effective, such as a solution of vinegar and water. I used a similar solution several times, then this solution allows you to remove even very old wallpapers. In more difficult situations, the old glue can be removed using steam and a special pump.
I have been looking for the 7 things NOT TO CLEAN with your water and v vinegar but instead you kept telling me everything I CAN do with but never did find what I was looking for. Sad