That dated vinyl in the powder room or the grasscloth accent wall in an older Scottsdale home has to come off before the room looks right. We steam it off without tearing up the drywall, skim the wall flat, and repaint it as one interior job, not a mess you have to fix yourself.
If you're searching for wallpaper removal in Phoenix, AZ, you've got dated paper on a wall and you want it gone before the room gets repainted. Maybe it's floral vinyl in a bathroom, grasscloth on a kitchen accent wall, or a border in a bedroom that's been peeling at the seams for years. Novak Painting Group handles wallpaper removal as the front half of an interior repaint: we steam the paper off, clean the adhesive residue, skim-coat the drywall flat where it needs it, prime, and repaint, so you're not left staring at a torn-up wall wondering who fixes it next. Owner Cody Novak looks at the actual walls and quotes it in person, bonded and insured, every estimate free.
One thing we say up front, because it's the whole game with wallpaper: the skill isn't pulling the paper off, it's pulling it off without shredding the paper face of the drywall underneath. Get that wrong and you've traded a wallpaper problem for a drywall-repair problem. We'll walk the walls with you first, tell you honestly how the paper was hung and how the drywall's likely to behave, then strip and repair it as one job so the wall paints flat when we're done.
SELECTED WORK
A compact look at recent exterior, interior, and whole-home finishes completed across Greater Phoenix.
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01 EXTERIOR PAINTING Exterior Renewal PHOENIX, AZ 
02 RESIDENTIAL PAINTING Scottsdale Residence SCOTTSDALE, AZ 
03 INTERIOR PAINTING Warm White Finish PARADISE VALLEY, AZ 
04 WHOLE-HOME PAINTING Complete Refresh GREATER PHOENIX, AZ EXTERIOR INTERIOR CABINET REFINISHING WHOLE-HOME PAINTING
Direct answer: on the vast majority of Phoenix walls you steam or wet the paper to release the adhesive rather than dry-stripping it, and you scrape at a low angle with the right blade so you lift the paper without digging into the paper face of the drywall underneath. Dry-stripping is what gouges a wall. The heat and moisture are what let it come off clean.
The reason this matters more here than in a lot of the country is the climate. In low desert humidity, old wallpaper paste dries hard and brittle and the paper bonds tight, so a dry pull tends to take chunks of the drywall face with it. That's the failure mode we get called to fix.
That second scenario is exactly why we don't treat removal and repair as separate jobs. Whatever the wall looks like after the paper's off, torn face, adhesive haze, old patch lines, gets skim-coated, sanded, and primed so it paints as one flat surface. Handling the strip and the repair together is the whole point of hiring one crew for it.
Here's how a Novak wallpaper job actually runs, so you're not guessing what you're paying for or how long the room is out of use.
1. Walk the walls and quote in person. Cody looks at the paper, checks how it was hung and whether the drywall behind it was primed, and scopes the room. That in-person look is what the number is built on, not a square-foot guess over the phone. 2. Seal and protect the room. Wallpaper stripping is a wet, sticky job. Before anything comes off, we mask the trim and outlets, cover and tape the floors, and move or wrap furniture so the adhesive and water stay off everything else. 3. Steam or wet the paper. We work the wall in sections, using a steamer or a scoring-and-solution approach depending on the paper, to soften the adhesive so the paper releases instead of tearing. In the dry Valley air this is the step that separates a clean strip from a wrecked wall. 4. Scrape and clean the adhesive. We lift the paper at a low angle with the right blade so we don't score the drywall face, then wash the wall to pull off the leftover paste haze. Adhesive left on the wall telegraphs through fresh paint, so this step isn't optional. 5. Skim-coat flat, sand, and prime. This is the step that decides the finish. We skim joint compound over torn spots, old seams, and rough areas, sand it smooth, then prime the whole wall so the new paint sits on a sealed, uniform surface. 6. Repaint and walk it with you. We roll on the finish coat for an even, clean wall, put the room back together, and walk it with you in daylight before we call it done.
Pulling the paper off is the part everybody pictures. Skimming the wall flat afterward is the part that decides whether it paints like new or like a patched-up mess.
On cost: nobody can quote wallpaper honestly without seeing it. What moves the number is how many walls and rooms are in scope, how the paper was hung, how the drywall behaves once it's off, how much skim work the surface needs, and whether you're repainting the whole room after. That's exactly why the estimate is free and done in person. Call (715) 223-7083 and we'll come look before quoting.
We strip wallpaper and refinish walls throughout Phoenix and across the Valley: Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, Goodyear, Avondale, and Paradise Valley. The established 1970s-to-1990s homes across the East Valley and Central Phoenix are where the dated grasscloth and vinyl live, and where the drywall underneath calls for a careful hand. Stripping the paper is usually the front half of a full interior repaint, done as one job, so most homeowners bundle it. We handle wallpaper removal in older Scottsdale homes and removing dated wallpaper in Mesa all the time. Not sure you're in range? Get in touch and we'll tell you straight.
Call Cody and the crew directly at (715) 223-7083 for a free, in-person estimate. We'll look at how the paper was hung and how the wall's likely to behave, then scope the strip, the skim, and the repaint as one job. No voicemail maze, no scheduling software.
Call (715) 223-7083Or send us your info
Tell us which rooms have the paper and roughly how old the home is, and we'll follow up within one business day. We look at the actual walls before we give you a number, and we'll flag straight up whether the drywall behind the paper is going to need skim work. No pressure, no upsells.
WHY NOVAK
A paint job is only as good as the system underneath it.
Novak Painting Group treats scope, preparation, coating selection, and final inspection as one connected process, not separate tasks to rush through.
Surfaces, repairs, products, colors, access, and timing are defined before work begins.
Protection, cleaning, repair, sanding, and priming create the surface the topcoat needs.
Coatings are matched to the material, exposure, sheen, and demands of Arizona heat and sun.
Coverage, edges, touchups, and the final walkthrough are handled with the same careful eye.
Share the space, scope, and timing. Our team will respond within one business day with a clear next step.
Painting done the Novak way.
Clear scopes, careful preparation, accountable crews, and finishes made to last.
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