There surely can’t be too many household tasks as reviled and dreaded as the stripping of wallpaper. Redecorating a room is an exciting and rewarding process, but the ugly, labour intensive work of removing old wall-coverings is often unavoidable. Rather than spend hours hacking away at paper with a range of useless utensils, or going to the expense of hiring a steam stripper, you can use your Shark steam mop to make light work out of a huge job.
Because you will be reaching high and low, you’ll need something that is lightweight and agile – and the Shark Lift-Away Professional Steam Pocket mop is ideal. With the press of a button the handheld unit comes away from the ergonomically designed handle, and becomes something else entirely.
GETTING STARTED
Start by filling your mop’s reservoir the normal way, and selecting the ‘scrub’ setting, which is the most intense setting of the three that are available with this revolutionary cleaning system. Then attach the accessory hose – which is a simple case of clipping it onto the handheld unit’s nozzle.
The Lift-Away system comes with a selection of handy cleaning tools designed to make a myriad of household cleaning tasks a breeze, but it’s a little-known secret that some of them lend themselves perfectly to removing wallpaper. Which you choose may be a simple matter of trial and error, but the system’s flat scrubber with all-purpose bonnet is a great place to start. Its design means it should effortlessly glide over paper, and the intense and consistent flow of steam it delivers will loosen the most stubborn of wall coverings.
EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT ACCESSORIES
If you find that certain areas of wallpaper are proving to be tougher to remove than you initially expected, it may be worth switching to the direct steam nozzle. This fires an intense blast of steam onto very concentrated areas of your wall. So, if you are having trouble with smaller, out-of-reach areas, you can increase the concentration of steam and get things moving again.
If you have particularly large walls, it may also be worth experimenting with the Shark Carpet Glider, as its larger surface area will attack more of the wall and make your job a whole lot easier. Even the window squeegee delivers results on some wallpapers – particularly along the edges of door frames and along skirting boards.
ATTACK YOUR WALLS IN SECTIONS
It’s a good idea to think of your walls as individual sections. Instead of applying steam to an entire wall and then trying to peel away the paper, attack it in sections. The paper will be easier to remove when it’s at its hottest and wettest, so keep the areas you’re working on small and compact.
The lightweight, and agile nature of the Shark Lift-Away Professional Steam Pocket Mop means you can easily carry it around (as well as up and down ladders) with one hand. This leaves your other hand free to scrape away loosened paper, or to balance yourself when working at height.
Standard steam wallpaper strippers simply blast steam at a wall. However, using Shark’s Steam Pocket technology for the job means you can rely on a steady, evenly distributed flow of steam at all times – so no area the walls you’re stripping will escape the power of super-heated steam. The steam can also be directed at a very specific area of wallpaper, which is not possible with most standard steam strippers.
CLEANING UP IS EASY
Of course, the stripping of wallpaper is always followed by another important job – cleaning. But because you’re already using your Shark Lift-Away system, you can get to work almost immediately. Whether you have carpets or hard floors, simply clip the system back onto the handle and you’re ready to clean up after a job well done.
Stripping wallpaper is a time-consuming, tedious job that is often inevitable. However, having the power of Steam Pocket technology in your hands will make your life a great deal easier the next time you feel like decorating.
