Removing wallpaper glue residue before painting or re-wallpapering

Why does glue residue have to come off before you paint?

Wallpaper paste dries, but it does not disappear. As soon as water touches it again, it turns soft. And wall paint is a water-based product.

What happens then: the paint softens the glue underneath, the glue does not move properly with the drying paint film, and you see the result as stains, shiny patches or small blisters. In the worst case, the paint flakes off after a while, exactly where most of the glue was.

This often goes wrong unnoticed. Glue residue is almost invisible once dry, especially on a light wall. Anyone who only looks after removing the wallpaper will think the wall is clean.

Does it matter less if you are wallpapering again?

A little less strict, but still important. The biggest misunderstanding about glue residue is that it does not matter because new glue is going on anyway.

Old glue forms a smooth, uneven film. In those spots the new glue bonds to the old glue instead of the wall, and the moisture in the new glue softens the old glue again. The new wallpaper then does not hold equally well everywhere. Loose seams and bubbles often only appear weeks later.

The difference with painting lies in the finish. Wallpaper hides small imperfections, whereas paint shows everything. For painting, the wall therefore has to be cleaner and flatter than for a new layer of wallpaper. For new wallpaper, the requirements of a wall that is ready for wallpaper apply.

How do you remove glue residue from the wall, step by step?

The job itself is simple. It mainly takes patience and clean water.

1. Cover up. Put plastic sheeting or cardboard on the floor and tape over sockets and switches. Water will run down the wall.
2. Soak. Wet a section of wall about a metre wide generously with warm water and a sponge. A squirt of washing-up liquid helps the water penetrate the glue.
3. Let it work. Wait a few minutes until the glue feels slippery.
4. Wipe away. Wipe the glue off with the sponge. Stubborn spots can be removed carefully with a filling knife held flat.
5. Rinse. Wipe the wall down once more with clean water and a well-wrung sponge. Change the water often, otherwise you only spread the glue around.
6. Check and let it dry. Do the test from the next section and then leave the wall to dry for at least 24 hours.

If there is a lot of glue, or old glue, on the wall, a wallpaper stripping liquid works faster than water alone. It dissolves the glue instead of only softening it. Rinse thoroughly in that case too.

On plasterboard, use as little water as you can, because the paper facing of the board turns soft if it gets too wet. If the wallpaper is on plasterboard, work with a well-wrung sponge.

How do you know all the glue is gone?

With your hand, not your eyes. Dampen a section of wall lightly and rub your flat hand over it.

• Slippery or sticky: there is still glue. Soak again and wipe off.
• Rough and slightly gritty: the glue is gone and you can feel the surface itself.

Do this test in several places, especially along the seams of the old wallpaper and at the bottom of the wall. That is where most of the glue usually sits. A lamp held at an angle along the dry wall also helps: shiny patches are often glue.

Once the wall is clean and dry, you can finally see what condition it is really in. Small holes, cracks or a rough plaster layer determine what is needed next. For a wall that is going to be painted, that is often more than you think. Sometimes the wall first has to be levelled before it is painted.

What does it cost to have wallpaper and glue residue removed, and what comes next?

Removing the glue residue is not a separate line in our price list. It is part of wallpaper removal, which we charge per m² depending on the wallpaper on the wall. After that comes the finish you choose.

Prices exclude VAT. For renovation work in a home more than 10 years old, VAT is usually 6%, otherwise 21%. The VAT rate is stated in the quote.

An example: a bedroom with 30 m² of unpainted paper wallpaper costs 30 × €6.99 = €209.70 to strip, including removing the glue. If you want to paint the wall straight afterwards, it depends on the surface whether priming and painting is enough, or whether a layer is needed first to make the wall flat.

If you have more layers or a different type, we use our price overview per type and per layer. Painting and the rest follow our prices page, and you can work out your m² yourself with the m² calculator.

Who removes the wallpaper and glue, and finishes the wall afterwards?

The wallpaper and glue are removed by one of our 40 wallpaper hangers, on average 100 m² per day. If paint is going on, one of our 25 painters takes over. All of them are permanent employees in a single team of 97 tradespeople, so everything is in one schedule.

Because we also finish the wall ourselves after the removal, we know exactly how clean it needs to be. For painting we check more strictly than for wallpaper, using the hand test from this article. If you want to have the walls painted afterwards, that falls within the same schedule.

In your request, say what wallpaper is on the wall now and whether you want to paint or re-wallpaper afterwards. That determines the line in the price list and how clean the wall has to be. You then receive a free quote within 24 hours. During the site visit we look at which wallpaper is on the wall and what the wall needs next.

This is how wallpaper removal works with us: wallpaper off, glue off, wall ready for the next coat.