Service
Wallpaper Removal in Ottawa & Gatineau
Careful wallpaper removal and wall repair so the surface is ready for a clean, modern paint finish.
Wallpaper removal in Ottawa means stripping every layer, washing the old adhesive off, repairing whatever the paper was hiding, and priming the wall so it is ready to paint. We do all four, in Ottawa and Gatineau, on drywall and on the plaster behind older homes. Getting the paper off is the easy part. What is underneath it decides the job.
What comes off the wall is only half the job. Where the surface needs more than a patch, our drywall repair and skim coating takes it further, most projects finish with interior house painting, and where original paint may sit under the paper we follow lead-safe practices.
Ottawa walls, and what is behind the paper
Ottawa's housing stock splits at about the line Health Canada draws for lead. The older core, the Glebe, Westboro and Centretown, is largely plaster over lath, and Health Canada's guidance is that a home built before 1960 probably contains lead-based paint, while one built between 1960 and 1990 may. CMHC puts roughly one in four Canadian dwellings in that pre-1960 group and lists wallpaper stripping among the jobs worth handing to an experienced contractor. Suburban Ottawa from the 1960s on is drywall, where paper hung on an unprimed sheet is the version that tears. Ottawa's exterior painting season is also short, roughly late spring to early fall, because coatings need warm dry conditions and freeze-thaw punishes anything applied late. Wallpaper removal is interior work, so it fills the cold half of the year.
What is included
Every layer, not just the top one
A room updated three times often carries three papers. We take the whole stack off rather than leaving one behind for the paint to lift later.
Adhesive washed off, not sealed in
Old paste left on the wall is the most common reason a repaint fails after wallpaper. We wash it off and check the surface before anything is primed.
Wall repair and skim coating
Torn face paper, gouges, open seams and the dents the paper was hiding get filled, taped where needed, then skim coated and sanded flat.
Plaster handled as plaster
Behind the paper in older Ottawa homes is often plaster over lath, which takes water and repair differently from drywall. We find out which we have first.
Contained, then cleaned
Removal is wet, sticky work. Floors, furnishings and trim are covered, waste is bagged as we go, and the room is left clean rather than tacky.
Our process
Estimate and test patch
We lift a small test area to see how many layers there are and what is behind them, then quote a written number and timeline.
Protect the room
Floors, furniture, trim and outlets are covered before any water goes on a wall. On an older home the lead-safe containment goes up too.
Score, soak, lift
Scored only where the paper will not take water, then wetted and lifted rather than dry-scraped, which is what keeps the surface intact.
Wash, repair, prime
Adhesive washed off with clean water, damage filled and taped, the wall skim coated flat, then a sealing primer and a walkthrough with you.
What does wallpaper removal cost in Ottawa?
Wallpaper removal cost in Ottawa is driven by what is on the wall and what is behind it, not by square footage. The number of layers comes first. How it was hung matters more than most people expect, because paper applied straight onto unprimed drywall bonds to the face paper and takes some of it away, which turns a strip job into a skim-coat job. After that it is the repair the bare wall needs, ceiling height and stairwell access, whether the room is furnished, and whether the age of the home calls for lead precautions. We give you an itemized written estimate after seeing the room and lifting a test patch. Request your free estimate to get yours.
Products are matched to what is on the wall: a gel or enzyme stripper for older pasted paper, hot water with a wetting agent for many newer ones, and a scoring tool only where the paper will not take water, since over-scoring perforates the surface underneath. Adhesive comes off with a glue remover and clean water rather than being sealed under paint. Repairs use a setting-type compound for deeper fills and a lightweight one for the finish coats, then a primer suited to a freshly stripped wall. Where lead paint may sit under the paper, Health Canada is explicit that sanders, heat guns and blowlamps are not to be used, so we keep to wet methods.
Want a real number for your wallpaper removal project in Ottawa or Gatineau?
Plaster or drywall: what is behind the paper
| Consideration | Plaster over lath (older Ottawa homes) | Drywall (most homes from the 1960s on) |
|---|---|---|
| How the paper releases | Usually well: plaster is dense and does not drink the water | Depends on whether the drywall was primed before the paper went up |
| The main risk | Opening cracks or loosening plaster already tired | Tearing the face paper off and exposing the gypsum core |
| Repair that follows | Filling cracks and consolidating loose areas, then skim coating | Sealing the torn face paper, then skim coating the wall flat |
| Lead consideration | Common in pre-1960 stock, where Health Canada says lead paint is probable | Far less likely after 1990, when consumer paints were virtually lead free |
Wallpaper Removal: common questions
Sometimes, but it is usually not the right call. Seams and texture telegraph through the paint, and anywhere the old adhesive lets go it takes the new finish with it. We look at the paper and the wall and give you an honest recommendation rather than painting over a problem.
We wash the remaining adhesive off so the next finish can bond, repair gouges, torn face paper and open seams, skim coat where the surface needs it, sand flat, and prime. The wall leaves sealed and ready for paint, not just bare. On older plaster that usually means filling cracks the paper was hiding too.
It depends on the age of the home. Health Canada's guidance is that a Canadian home built before 1960 probably contains lead-based paint, one built between 1960 and 1990 may, and one built after 1990 should not. CMHC lists wallpaper stripping among the jobs worth handing to an experienced contractor. We work from your build year and use lead-safe practices, which is a method rather than a certification.
Wet, patient, and from a protected room. Score only where the paper genuinely will not take water, soak it, and lift rather than dry-scrape, because dry scraping gouges the surface underneath. Wash the adhesive off with clean water instead of sealing it under primer. Where older paint may be involved, Health Canada is clear that sanders, heat guns and blowlamps should not be used.
What this page covers is removal and the wall preparation behind it, which is also the half that decides whether new paper hangs well. Paper applied over leftover adhesive or an unsealed skim coat lifts at the seams. If you are planning to paper rather than paint, tell us at the estimate and we will say what we can take on.
It depends on the number of layers, the type of adhesive, and the wall underneath, so a single accent wall and a whole papered room are very different jobs. Rooms needing a full skim coat take longer, because the compound has to dry between coats. We give you a realistic timeline with your written estimate.