Forums Forums Wirral Information Ask - Wiki Wirral Woodchip Removal

Hope this is in the right place...

Basically our bathroom has woodchip wallpaper all over it, the really thick horrible stuff, and i want it gone. I've made a start but progress is slow and tough, does anyone know a way thats best to get woodchip off walls??? I'm currently going through the 'score-and-steam' method but its taking forever and basically i can't be bothered carrying on with that til hell freezes over so i was wondering if anyone knows a quick/er method? Would a more expensive scraper do or is ny poundland special one just as good???

Cheers

No method of removing woodchip is easy , Ive tried them all. Best I found was investing in a Stanley orbital scorer and really scrubbing a third of a drop at a time till its well scored and then soaking it with a wallpaper remover liquid (using hot water) and moving on to scrub another section . Kept going back to re-soak earlier sections about three times- (thats the secret) just quickly with a sponge. After about 15 -20 minutes, the paper scrapes off easily and cleanly. If it doesnt , you have either not scored it or not soaked it enough and you need to responge and leave longer. I used Bartoline stripper - £3 Rightway.

You can of course make your own kind of scorer with a piece of wood with the ends of nails sticking out an eighth of an inch of so , but my one didnt work that well probably because it wouldnt do the orbital scrubbing motion .

cheers, yeh i've seen them orbital scorers for about £12 and while they look great, you don't often take wallpaper off so it's redundant most of the year really, i can imagine a good investment though... i've managed to (luckily) get a fair amount off this evening with the steamer and a cheapo scraper but i think a slightly more knife-like edged scraper is needed and a bit more time and patience. will have a go at the bartoline stuff and get some tomorrow, i just don't have the patience for this kind of thing........

Not saying the Bartoline is any better than any other remover, its just what Rightway had in cheap at the time. I had a whole house full of chip paper , so I couldnt have done without the orbiter really. Tried hand held steamers, but apart from being expensive on the leccy keeping water boiling all the time , it made such a damn mess amd holding it up with my arms above my head for minutes at a time, fair wore me out!! Probably not worth it for you though if its the only chipped room youve got. Patience is at least free!!

don't steam for too long as it can damage the plaster. A decent scraper does make a bit of difference --not too flexible and sharp.
Really frustrating when you only peel small bits. Even worse when its been painted with a washable paint . Anyone ever tried burning it off?

Worst I've ever had was gloss on Artex making totally waterproof Artex, ended up melting it off with a heat gun.

Woodchip has never been too much of a struggle as scrapping off the bumps allows the water/steam to soak in (I've used a surform before now). Adding washing up liquid to water helps it to stop drying off so makes a good solution to soak with.

A couple of good soaks over previous days after scraping off the bumps helps.

Had loads of it to remove in previous house found best way was to use sharp scraper start small and get between painted layer and base layer and scrape, try pulling at raised edges and if you're lucky you can continue this way leaving base layer which can be easily but messily steamed off.

Thick woodchip? Just knock the walls down.