Wallpaper removal in Houston.
Old paper off, the adhesive washed away and the walls repaired and primed, so every room is ready for a fresh coat of paint.
122 Google reviews, 5.0 average.
What wallpaper removal in Houston includes.
Wallpaper removal in Houston is a wall preparation service that takes old wall coverings off the drywall, cleans off the adhesive left behind, and repairs and primes the walls so they're ready for new paint or new wallpaper.
Rise and Prime Painting offers professional wallpaper removal services in Houston and the surrounding areas to the north: Tomball, Spring, The Woodlands, Conroe and Humble, in bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, hallways and whole houses. It's often the first step of an interior painting project, because new paint goes on best over a wall that's clean, flat and sealed.
The wall underneath decides how the room looks afterwards, so most of the work on a wallpaper removal project goes into washing, repairing and sealing it. Repainting the room once the paper is gone is interior house painting in Houston, and the two fit on one estimate.
- Paper and adhesive both removed
- Walls repaired and primed
- Free estimate before work starts
Text us a photo of the wallpaper.
One photo of each papered wall and one up close at a seam can show us how many layers are up and whether they've been painted over, and both of those move the price.
Or request the free estimate onlineSix parts of a wallpaper removal job.
Which of them your walls need depends on the paper, how it was hung and what the drywall looks like once the paper is off.
Protection
Floors covered and furniture moved off the walls.
Wallpaper comes off wet. Water, softened paste and strips of backing end up on the floor and the baseboards, so the floors are covered and furniture is pulled away from the walls before removal begins.
Testing the paper
Strippable, peelable, or neither.
Some papers are made to come off dry in whole sheets. Others leave a backing layer behind, and older paper hung with heavy paste has to be soaked before it moves. Testing a corner first shows which kind of wall covering you have.
Removal
Soaked or steamed, then scraped.
Paper that won't peel is scored lightly and soaked with a remover solution, or steamed, until the paste lets go, then scraped off with a wide blade. The scoring has to stay light, because deep cuts go straight into the drywall.
Adhesive cleanup
The paste comes off too.
Old wallpaper paste stays on the wall after the paper is gone, and paint doesn't bond to it properly. It's washed off until the wall is clean, then the wall is left to dry before anything else touches it.
Wall repairs
Torn spots sealed, then patched and skimmed.
Removal can tear the paper face of the drywall, and the wall may carry dents and seams the wallpaper was covering. Torn areas are sealed with a primer made for it before any compound goes on, or the patch bubbles.
Priming and paint
A sealed wall, ready for color.
Primer seals the repaired wall so the paint dries to an even finish. From there the room is ready for paint, or for new wallpaper if you're replacing the old one.
What old wallpaper can be hiding.
Nobody sees the wall until the paper is off, and older rooms tend to have a few surprises behind them. It's better to find them before the primer goes on than after the paint has dried.
- Paint over the paper, on walls that were painted over
- More than one layer of paper, hung one over another
- Paste, which stays on the wall when the paper comes off
- The paper face of the drywall, which can come away with the paper
- The wall behind: cracks, old patches and stains the paper covered
A wall seen from the side, room above. Not to scale.
Paper on unprimed drywall
If the wall was never primed before the paper went up, the paste bonds straight to the drywall's paper face. That face can come away with the wallpaper, and those areas need sealing and skim work before paint.
More than one layer
Older homes often have new paper hung straight over the existing wallpaper, two or three layers deep. Each layer comes off on its own, so the job can take longer, and the bottom one is usually the most stubborn.
Paint over the paper
Wallpaper that was painted over doesn't let water through, so it has to be scored or stripped differently before a remover can reach the paste behind it.
Damage the paper covered
Cracks, old patches and water stains can sit behind wallpaper for years. They're repaired before the wall is primed, so they don't show through the new paint.
Wallpaper removal, start to finish.
Paste left on the wall is washed off before any repair starts, and every repair is sealed before primer goes on.
The walls are assessed
The estimate starts with the rooms, the amount of wall covered, the type of paper and how many layers are up.
The room is protected
Floors covered, furniture moved away from the walls, and switch plates and outlet covers taken off.
The paper comes off
Peeled, soaked or steamed depending on the paper, then scraped clean with a wide blade.
Wash, repair and sand
Adhesive is washed off, torn areas are sealed, and the drywall is patched, skimmed and sanded where it needs it.
Primed and painted
Primer on the repaired walls, then the finish color if painting is part of the job.
Smooth, even walls from recent jobs.
Finished rooms from recent interior jobs, where the walls are flat, clean and evenly painted.
Take it from the people who've hired us.
Wallpaper removal questions.
How much does wallpaper removal cost in Houston?
Wallpaper removal in Houston is priced on the amount of wall covered, the type of paper, how many layers are up and the condition of the drywall underneath. One layer of strippable paper in a small bathroom is a very different job from three layers of painted-over paper in a living room. The wall repairs after removal are part of the price too, since that's where most of the variation between rooms comes from. The way to get a real number is a free estimate where the walls can be seen.
What is the best way to remove 30 year old wallpaper?
The best way to remove 30 year old wallpaper is to test a corner first, then score the paper lightly, soak it with a remover solution or steam it until the paste softens, and scrape it off with a wide blade. Paper that old was often hung with heavy paste, sometimes straight onto unprimed drywall, so patience does more than force. Once it's off, the leftover adhesive has to be washed away before the wall can be primed.
Is it cheaper to remove wallpaper or replace drywall?
Removing wallpaper is cheaper than replacing drywall in most rooms, as long as the drywall underneath comes through in reasonable shape. Replacing drywall means new board, taping, finishing and texture matching, plus the mess of tearing out walls. It starts to make sense when removal has badly damaged the wall or the drywall has other problems, such as water damage.
Can you paint over wallpaper?
You can paint over wallpaper, but it's rarely the better choice, because the seams tend to show through and the water in the paint can loosen the paste and make the paper bubble. Painting it also makes it much harder to remove your wallpaper later, since the paint seals it against water. Taking it off and preparing the wall gives a cleaner finish.
What happens to the walls after the wallpaper comes off?
After the wallpaper comes off, the walls are washed to remove leftover adhesive, then any torn or damaged drywall is sealed, patched and skimmed so the surface is flat. Primer goes on next so the new paint dries evenly. Skipping any of those steps is how bubbling, patchy sheen and visible seams end up in a freshly painted room.
Do you serve my area?
Rise and Prime's wallpaper removal service covers Houston and the north side: Tomball, Spring, The Woodlands, Conroe and Humble. We give free estimates anywhere in that area, for a single room or a whole house.
Book a visit to see the walls.
Which rooms have paper, roughly how much wall it covers and how many layers you think are up there, and we'll set a time to come and look.
- 122 Google reviews, 5.0 average
- EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm
- Fully insured
Get the wallpaper off.
Tell us which rooms have paper and roughly how much wall it covers. The estimate is free, and it covers the repairs and the paint if you want those too.
The painting cost calculator gives a ballpark for painting the walls once the paper is gone, and a free painting estimate in Houston puts a real number on the removal.