Wagner Wallpaper Steamer (Model 705)

For the past two weeks I have been using the Wagner Wallpaper Steamer. There is a half-bath in our home that the previous owners left slathered in a dogwood infested dark red wallpaper. It had to go.

As tempted as I am to write a pan for this little machine, it wouldn’t be honest. Truth be told, the Wagner Wallpaper Steamer is a lifesaver, it’s just not fun to use. The pan is only on the horrendous job of having to remove two layers of wallpaper from walls that weren’t primed before application.

This small bath was the only room in the house that had wallpaper in it, so I hesitated on buying yet another home improvement tool that we would have to store in our shed. Instead, I bought a small hand held tool to score the paper and a bottle of spray on remover. I worked for over two hours on a section of the wall about the size of a dinner placemat. What I didn’t know when I started was that under the first layer of hideous dogwoods on red was a second layer of little blue shells. When I discovered the little blue shells, I put down the hand held scoring tool and went to Lowe’s.

I spent only $49.99 on the Wagner Wallpaper Steamer at Lowe’s. What I wished was that it would magically make the wallpaper fall off in large sheets, leaving a ready to lightly sand, prime, and paint drywall. It didn’t, but it was no contest to the little scoring tool. My only complaint is that there is only one size head attachment, and it doesn’t get into corners very well. Other than that, it made this job much easier.

Wallpaper removal is never an easy job. If you have to do it, I highly recommend that you spend the few dollars on this tool.