Cost guide
What wallpaper removal costs in Ottawa, and whether to replace the wall instead
Published figures from three cost guides with their dates and countries, worked through for one real room, and the plaster question that decides whether the paper comes off or the wall does.
Short answer. HomeStars, a Canadian cost guide updated on 2026-08-21, puts professional wallpaper removal at $1.50 to $5.00 per square foot of wall, or $60 to $80 an hour when the job is difficult. For a 12 by 12 foot bedroom with 8 foot ceilings, that works out to roughly $576 to $1,920before tax and before any wall repair. The American guides do not agree with each other: HomeAdvisor, updated 2026-06-20, puts most US projects at US$423 to US$1,192, and Homewyse’s May 2026 per-foot average starts about where HomeAdvisor’s per-foot range ends. The wall behind the paper moves a quote more than the paper does, and in Ottawa’s older houses that wall is often plaster. The same wall decides the other question people ask, which is whether to strip the paper at all or replace the wall.
What wallpaper removal costs: the published figures, with their dates
The first page of Google for this search on 2026-09-23 had no Ottawa cost guide on it. The two Canadian price pages were painting companies in Toronto and North Vancouver quoting their own rates, and the rest were American cost guides, forum threads and a video. Below is what the published guides say, each with its publisher and the date its figure applies to.
| Figure | What it covers | Publisher | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.50 to $5.00 per sq ft | Professional removal, Canada. Moves with adhesive strength and wall condition | HomeStars, wallpaper cost guide | updated 2026-08-21 |
| $60 to $80 per hour | Hourly billing, used when removal is "particularly challenging" | HomeStars, wallpaper cost guide | updated 2026-08-21 |
| US$423 to US$1,192 | A whole removal project, United States. Average US$793 | HomeAdvisor | updated 2026-06-20 |
| US$0.60 to US$3 per sq ft | Per square foot, United States | HomeAdvisor | updated 2026-06-20 |
| US$535 | Average for a 12 by 12 foot room, United States | HomeAdvisor | updated 2026-06-20 |
| US$2.99 to US$6.09 per sq ft | Estimated US national average for basic removal in "favorable site conditions" | Homewyse | May 2026 |
The per-foot figures disagree even inside one country. HomeAdvisor’s US range tops out at US$3, and Homewyse’s US average starts at US$2.99. The same HomeAdvisor page also quotes labour alone at US$0.60 to US$10 per square foot a few paragraphs further down. Nobody sets a spread that wide from the paper; the condition of the wall sets it.
Sources: HomeStars, “How Much Does Wallpapering Cost?”; HomeAdvisor, “How Much Does It Cost to Remove Wallpaper in 2026?”; Homewyse, “Cost to Remove Wallpaper”. These are third-party market figures. They are not a quote from us, and a quote for your house will differ.
One room, worked through
A “per square foot” price means square feet of wall, not floor. HomeStars says as much in its painting guide: painters measure paintable wall area rather than floor area.
Take a 12 by 12 foot bedroom with 8 foot ceilings. Four walls of 12 feet, 8 feet high, is 384 square feetof wall before you subtract a door or a window. At HomeStars’ $1.50 to $5.00, that is $576 to $1,920.
Tax comes on top. The Canada Revenue Agency’s rate table lists Ontario at 13% HST and Quebec at 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, so the same range becomes about $651 to $2,170 in Ottawa and $662 to $2,208 across the river in Gatineau. HomeStars tells readers to add applicable GST, HST or PST themselves, which means a published range should be read as before tax.
Budgets usually go wrong on the items a removal price leaves out. HomeStars lists them as a minimum service fee on small jobs, scaffolding or lift rental for high ceilings, disposal of the stripped paper, and “additional wall repairs and priming” after removal. HomeAdvisor prices the repair separately, at a US$880 average for drywall repair. Homewyse’s estimate excludes testing and remediation of hazardous materials, and it names asbestos and lead.
Is it expensive to have wallpaper removed?
It costs about as much as painting the same wall. HomeStars updated its painting guide on the same day as its wallpaper guide, 2026-08-21, and puts interior walls at $2 to $4 per square foot. Its removal range is $1.50 to $5.00. So on one publisher’s figures, taking paper off a wall costs roughly what it costs to paint it, and “remove and repaint” is close to double the price of paint alone.
For the bedroom above, painting 384 square feet at $2 to $4 comes to $768 to $1,536, and removal plus paint to about $1,344 to $3,456 before tax. HomeStars also publishes $400 to $800 for painting a single room, which is lower than its per-foot figure gives for this room. That is a reminder that these are ranges drawn from different jobs, not a formula. Our guide to what house painting costs in Ottawa sets out the painting side in full.
Remove the paper, or replace the drywall?
On the most like-for-like published numbers, replacing the drywall does not come out cheaper once you read what its price leaves out. Homewyse prices all three jobs the same way, as US national averages for May 2026:
| Job | Homewyse, US national average, May 2026 |
|---|---|
| Remove wallpaper | US$2.99 to US$6.09 per sq ft |
| Skim coat the wall afterwards | US$0.95 to US$1.35 per sq ft |
| Replace drywall | US$5.38 to US$6.52 per sq ft |
Removal plus a full skim coat lands at US$3.94 to US$7.44, which overlaps replacement almost exactly. Check what the replacement figure covers before you treat it as a shortcut. Homewyse’s line item is removing the existing drywall, hanging new board and hauling the debris away. Its estimate excludes removing and reinstalling moulding, relocating electrical fixtures, and any hazardous materials testing. New board also has to be taped, finished and primed before it can be painted. Our guide to what drywall repair costs in Ottawa covers why a patch or a new sheet can still show through paint.
If the replacement question comes from torn face paper, that damage is repairable. Rust-Oleum’s technical data sheet for Zinsser Gardz, a sealer made for this situation, says it “penetrates and seals damaged facing paper, restoring it to a sound surface for repairs,” and that it prevents the bubbles that form when damaged drywall is skim coated. A wall that lost some of its paper along with the wallpaper is normally sealed and skimmed rather than replaced.
Replacement earns its place when the board itself has failed: soft, crumbling or water-damaged gypsum, or a leak that has to be opened up anyway. That is a drywall repair decision, and you can only make it once the paper is off and the wall can be seen.
Sources: Homewyse, Cost to Remove Wallpaper, Cost to Skim Coat and Cost to Replace Drywall, all May 2026; Rust-Oleum, Zinsser Gardz Problem Surface Sealer technical data GDZ-01.
Plaster walls are a different question, and Ottawa has a lot of them
Replacing drywall is a known job, while replacing plaster means demolition. No cost guide we found prices tearing out plaster and lath on the same basis as the figures above, so we give no number for it.
Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census counts 64,815 of the City of Ottawa’s 407,250 occupied private dwellings as built in 1960 or before, about 16 per cent. Across the river, the figure for the City of Gatineau is 16,660 of 126,475, about 13 per cent. Count everything built by 1990 and it rises to about 60 per cent of Ottawa’s dwellings and 55 per cent of Gatineau’s.
Those build dates matter because of what older walls can hold.
Health Canada’s guidance on lead is that a home built before 1960 probably contains lead-based paint, and that between 1960 and 1990 the exterior may, with smaller amounts possible on interior surfaces. The same page says that “covering the lead-paint area with wallpaper, wallboard or paneling provides extra security.” In an older house, the paper on the wall may be doing exactly that job.
On asbestos, Health Canadalists “cement and plaster”, “drywall” and “spackling” among older building materials that may contain it, names scraping and sanding among the activities that release fibres, and advises you to “hire a professional to test for asbestos before renovating or remodelling.”
CMHC’s fact sheet Lead in Older Homes(2005, now archived by the Government of Canada) puts both jobs in the same list. Under “you may want to consider hiring an experienced contractor”, it includes tearing down plaster walls and wallpaper stripping, because repairing lead-painted surfaces can create more lead dust.
In an older house, then, replacing the wall is the job on that list that disturbs the most material. Keeping the plaster, taking the paper off wet, and sealing and skimming what is underneath is usually the smaller intervention. Health Canada says plainly that sanders, heat guns and blowlamps should not be used to remove lead-based paint, which is why wet methods are the right ones on older walls. Our page on lead-safe painting for older homes describes how we work in these houses: it is a method we follow, not a certification.
Compare quotes knowing that the two big cost guides disagree about plaster. HomeAdvisor says plaster “tolerates more water, making wallpaper removal quicker, easier, and more budget-friendly.” HomeStars, which belongs to the same Angi family of sites, says plaster walls “may increase labour due to potential damage.” Each is describing a different wall. Sound plaster takes water well, but old plaster that has lost its grip on the lath can crack or loosen when it is soaked, and that repair lands on top of the strip. You find out which kind you have by looking behind the paper.
Why 20-year-old wallpaper is harder to remove
Twenty years changes both the paper and the paste. HomeAdvisor notes that old adhesives can harden or use stronger formulas, and that older wallpaper becomes brittle, so it tears into small pieces instead of lifting in sheets. Vinyl-coated paper keeps water out and has to be scored before it can be soaked.
What happened before the paper went up matters as much as its age. Rust-Oleum’s data sheet for Gardz describes a sealed wall as protected “from blistering, tearing and other damage when re-decorating in the future.” Paper hung on bare, unsealed drywall bonds to the face paper instead, and that turns a strip job into a skim-coat job. Every paper hung over an older one adds another pass.
None of this shows until someone lifts a corner, so we lift a small test patch at the estimate before we quote a number.
What to ask before you accept a quote
Is the price per square foot, per hour, or per room? They are not comparable until you know which, and the HomeStars and HomeAdvisor figures above use all three.
Does it include washing the adhesive off? Rust-Oleum’s Gardz data sheet warns that water-based coatings "will re-activate old wallpaper adhesive which results in cracking and peeling." Paste left on the wall shows up in the new paint.
Are wall repair and primer included, or quoted after the paper is off? HomeStars lists both among the hidden costs.
Who takes the stripped paper away? HomeStars names disposal as a common extra.
Is tax included? 13% HST in Ottawa, 5% GST plus 9.975% QST in Gatineau.
Can I have it in writing? Ontario’s consumer protection rules say that once a written estimate is part of the contract, the final price cannot come in more than 10 per cent above it unless you agree to the change and sign for it.
Wallpaper removal cost: common questions
HomeStars, updated 2026-08-21, puts professional removal in Canada at $1.50 to $5.00 per square foot of wall, or $60 to $80 an hour for difficult jobs. For a 12 by 12 foot room with 8 foot ceilings that is about $576 to $1,920 before tax and before wall repair. HomeAdvisor's US figures, updated 2026-06-20, run from US$423 to US$1,192 per project.
About as expensive as painting the same wall. HomeStars puts interior wall painting at $2 to $4 per square foot and removal at $1.50 to $5.00, both updated 2026-08-21, so removing and repainting costs close to double what paint alone does.
Usually removal. Homewyse's May 2026 US averages put removal at US$2.99 to US$6.09 per square foot and drywall replacement at US$5.38 to US$6.52, and the replacement figure excludes trim, electrical work, and finishing to a paintable surface. Torn face paper can be sealed and skim coated. Replacement makes sense when the board itself has failed, and on plaster walls it becomes demolition with lead and asbestos questions attached.
Slowly, and wet. Older adhesive hardens and older paper turns brittle, and vinyl-coated paper has to be scored before water can reach the paste. Whether the wall was sealed before the paper went up decides whether it lifts cleanly or takes the drywall's face paper with it, and only a test patch shows which.
Assume not. HomeStars tells readers to add applicable GST, HST or PST themselves. In Ottawa that is 13% HST; in Gatineau it is 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, per the Canada Revenue Agency's rate table.
HomeAdvisor puts a single room at several hours to a full day for a professional. The wall may then need a few days to dry before it is painted, and any skim coating adds drying time between coats.
Getting a number for your own walls
Ottawa Luxe Painting has been painting interiors in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec since 2015. Our wallpaper removal in Ottawa takes the paper off, washes the adhesive away, repairs the wall and primes it as one job, on drywall and on plaster.
Tell us roughly when the house was built, how many rooms are papered, and whether you know of more than one layer. We will lift a test patch at the estimate and give you an itemized number in writing.
Call (613) 799-5057 or email info@ottawaluxepainting.ca.
Every figure on this page is somebody else’s published market range. Yours comes from looking at the actual wall, free and in writing.