Coopersburg, Lehigh County
Wallpaper removal in Coopersburg, PA.
About half of Coopersburg's homes went up between 1950 and 1979, and nearly a third are older still. Paper in the borough can be on plaster or drywall; around Center Valley, it is drywall.
Wallpaper removal for Coopersburg homes
The borough's houses tell two stories. The older one is the 175-building National Register district along Main Street: Federal, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses, plastered inside. The newer one came after the war: about half of Coopersburg's homes were built between 1950 and 1979, and only about one in ten since 1990.
Postwar rooms here can go either way, plaster or drywall, and later papers are often vinyl-faced, so the face may peel off dry and leave a backing to soak. The district's older houses are more likely to hold several layers on plaster, and those come off one at a time.
Coopersburg
Main Street plaster and the brick houses on State and Fairview
The district grew from a stagecoach stop into a railroad town, and its houses run from the 1700s into the early 1900s, including the plain brick homes on State and Fairview Streets built around 1900 to 1910. All of them were built when walls were plastered. Plaster that old is usually sound under the paper but marked by it: hairline cracks, earlier patches and the uneven bands a past partial strip-off leaves. Those are repaired and the wall skimmed to read as one surface under paint.
Upper Saucon Township, which wraps around the borough, is newer: close to half its homes date from 1990 on, about a fifth of all of them in the 2000s alone. Houses around Center Valley from those years are drywall, and if a room there was papered without primer underneath, the drywall face can come away with the paste. A sealer with a shellac or oil base goes on the torn areas first, then compound.
Worth knowing
Peel first, then soak
Vinyl-faced papers can often be peeled away dry, leaving a paper backing behind. With the face off, water reaches the paste much faster.
Plan the repair with the removal
In the district's older houses, crack repair and a skim are part of the same job as the stripping. The wall underneath is what the paint will show.
New paper wants its own primer
If fresh wallcovering is going up, the wall gets a primer made for it, which is also meant to make the next removal easier.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to wallpaper removal.
The walkthrough
Randy looks at the paper, the age of the house and the walls with you, and explains what removal is likely to uncover. The estimate comes in writing, and both are complimentary.
Water and wiring
Because the work is wet, power to the outlets and switches on papered walls is shut off and their covers come off before any soaking. Floors are covered against runoff.
Soak, wait, lift
Vinyl facings that will peel off dry are peeled first. The backing and older papers are soaked with warm water and remover, given time to soften, and lifted with a wide blade; steam handles stubborn or painted paper.
Wash off the paste
Every trace of adhesive is washed away. Paste left on a wall shows through paint and stops new paper from bonding.
Seal and repair
Torn drywall face is sealed first with an oil- or shellac-based primer, because water-based products make it bubble. Cracks and loose plaster are repaired, and walls are skim-coated where they need to be made even.
Prime for what comes next
The wall is primed for paint, or with a wallcovering primer if new paper is going up. That primer also makes the next removal easier.
Questions
Wallpaper removal, Coopersburg.
Our house on State Street is plain brick from about 1900. What is behind the paper?
Plaster, in all likelihood, since houses of that period were plastered inside. The paper should come away from the plaster itself without tearing anything, but cracks and old repairs will show once it does; they are filled and the wall is skimmed before paint.
Is a Center Valley house from the 1990s likely to tear when its paper comes off?
That depends on whether the drywall was primed before the paper went up, and the only way to know is to try a corner. Primed walls let go cleanly. Unprimed ones can lose their face paper, which is repairable: seal it, skim it, prime it.
Can we strip the paper ourselves and leave the walls to you?
You can. Mention it at the walkthrough so Randy can see the walls as you leave them. Washing off every bit of paste matters as much as the stripping, and torn drywall face needs sealing before any compound touches it.
More in Coopersburg
Other services here.
- Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
- Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
- Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
- Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
- Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
- Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
- Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
- Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
- Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.
Consultation
Request a private consultation.
Private walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary. Tell us a little about the house and the rooms, and Randy will be in touch to arrange a time.
- Hours
- Monday – Friday8:30 AM – 5:30 PMSaturday10 AM – 3 PMSundayClosed
- Service area
- Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley; Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Fully insured — proof on request. Residential and commercial.