The short answer
We remove old and layered wallpaper from Sky Lake homes, clear off the adhesive, and repair plaster or drywall so the walls are ready for paint or new paper. Being right next door lets us space steps out for proper drying.
Sky Lake homes have seen a lot of decorating trends come and go, and the walls often show it. Under fresh paint, we regularly find layers of vintage paper, borders from later decades, and adhesive that has hardened over many years. Since this unincorporated Orange County neighborhood is right next to our Orlando base, we can easily handle the slow, multi-step work that careful removal needs: stripping one day, letting walls dry, and coming back for repairs. Here is what removal involves in an older house and how we protect the plaster and drywall beneath.
Layers, borders and surprises
Older homes rarely have just one layer of wallpaper. It is common to peel back a print and find another underneath, sometimes a third under that. Earlier generations of paper were often hung with strong pastes directly on plaster or unprimed drywall, and some were later painted over to save time.
Borders along kitchen and bath ceilings add another layer of difficulty, because they were frequently hung over semi-gloss paint with heavy-duty adhesive. We approach each layer separately, testing how it responds before committing to a method.
Occasionally removal uncovers something besides glue: pencil notes from an earlier owner, a patched-over doorway, or water staining from an old leak. We point these out as they appear. Old stains get sealed with a stain-blocking primer so they do not bleed through paint later, and anything that looks like active moisture is worth checking at the source before new finishes go on.
Plaster versus drywall
The wall material matters. Plaster is hard and tolerates soaking and scraping well, which makes it forgiving during removal, though it can hide cracks that open once the paper is off. Drywall is softer. If the original paper went onto bare drywall, the paste may have bonded to the drywall's face paper, and aggressive scraping can tear it.
We adjust our technique accordingly: more soaking and gentler blades on drywall, more steam and patience on dense layered paper over plaster. Either way, the aim is to remove the covering while leaving the wall as intact as possible.
Step by step
Our typical removal sequence looks like this:
- Protect floors, trim and fixtures, and switch off power to wall outlets
- Test a corner to identify the paper type and number of layers
- Dry-peel strippable top layers where possible
- Score painted or vinyl surfaces so moisture can penetrate
- Soak with warm water and remover, or steam stubborn areas
- Scrape gently, then wash walls until no paste remains
Repairs that follow removal
After the walls dry, we look them over closely. Hairline cracks in plaster get filled with a flexible compound. Torn drywall paper gets sealed with a shellac-based or oil-based primer, then skimmed and sanded. Old nail holes and anchor holes revealed by the removal are patched at the same time.
Finally, we prime. If you are painting, a standard primer works. If new wallpaper is going up, we use a wallpaper primer, which helps the new paper stick and makes it far easier to remove someday.
Moisture, drying and the seasons
Removal introduces a lot of water into a room. Central Florida summers, hot and humid from June through September with nearly daily afternoon storms, slow down drying, so we rely on fans and steady air conditioning before patching starts. In the mild, dry winter, walls dry faster.
Damp walls in a home without power can develop mildew, so during hurricane season, June 1 through November 30, we time removal around storm forecasts.
Removal plus a fresh start
Many Sky Lake homeowners have us remove old paper, repair the walls and then hang new wallpaper in one project. Others hand off to a painter once we are done. Either path works. If you are still deciding what comes next, it helps to know before we finish repairs: walls headed for paint can keep a light texture that matches the rest of the house, while walls headed for new paper should be skimmed smooth. Telling us early means we prep once, correctly, instead of returning to redo the surface. We also provide removal in Edgewood, Belle Isle, Windermere, Winter Park and Lake Buena Vista.
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