by Bob Donnelly

Created on: April 06, 2007   Last Updated: March 08, 2012

Most information disseminated to the public on the subject of wallpaper stripping tends to leave out some very important information that could be hazardous to your health and safety.

Let's begin with the obvious; electrical hazards. Since the task of removing wallpaper necessitates saturating the walls and possibly ceilings (if also papered), you need to start with a plan to keep electrical outlets, switches, fixtures, panel boxes, and telephone jacks from getting saturated.

First and foremost, the plan should begin by disconnecting anything plugged into an outlet to avoid a tripping hazard, since you will need unencumbered access to the wall surfaces. Now here's where many folks go wrong; they automatically remove the outlet covers and switch plates with the rationale that they need to remove the paper trapped under those covers in order to do a neat job.

Unfortunately, that's not a good plan. The fine tuning of those areas should be done last. The plates are a good line of defense against water infiltrating into the outlets and switches. However, you'll still need to be creative and tape the entire void areas as best as possible. It's a wise idea to cut pieces of cardboard slightly larger than the outlets and duct tape it-right over the covers. Make sure the tape seals all possible water entry points. While spraying or sponging the walls down, pay attention to these vulnerable electrical hazards and be careful not to flood them.

Often times, old wallpaper is associated with solid plaster walls as opposed to modern day drywall. As such, these surfaces were more than likely finished with lead based paint prior to being wallpapered. Now as you begin to actually scrape the layers of wallpaper down to the wall surfaces, the scraping action will most likely disturb some of the lead paint and cause it to spread lead dust particles around the room. This is a good time to ensure that children and pets are out of harms way. There are free government bulletins available on the hazards of lead paint that can be downloaded or can be obtained free of charge from Home Centers. You might consider reading about lead paint hazards prior to starting the project.

Techniques for removing the wallpaper and borders vary, depending on the type of paper. However, it is always best to begin with the most basic procedures as a test, prior to arbitrarily racing out to rent or purchase a steamer, which is also hazardous to work with. Be sure to begin by placing dropcloths on the floor

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