Straight Talk About Vinyl Removal

A friend of mine recently told me that his landlord won't let him paint and he sees vinyl as a way to enhance his space without violating his lease. A little bell went off in my head. While this is true, it's also true that you have to be a little careful and know what kinds of problems you might get into.

1. If the paint is already visibly peeling anywhere in the room, don't put up vinyl. All vinyl is removable but if the paint doesn't have good adhesion to the wall (maybe because it wasn't primed first or it hasn't had time to cure, or even if the surface was dirty when it was painted) and the vinyl sticks to the paint really well, then the paint will come up with the vinyl when you take it off.

2. Let the paint dry really well before putting vinyl on a painted surface. I make signs for a living, often signs I'm planning on changing the text of later, and this is the mistake I've made the most often with painted surfaces. If it's an oil based paint wait as long as a week before you put vinyl on it.

3. Test. Test your surface. This is why I send a test decal. Put it inside the closet or behind a door or someplace you don't think your landlord would notice, then heat it up with your hairdryer to make sure it's really good and stuck on. Wait a day or so (newly installed vinyl comes off a lot easier than vinyl that has been around) and then peel it off. If you have trouble peeling it off, heat it up with your hairdryer again to make it nice and pliable and get a fingernail or credit card-like device under the edge. If it takes up the paint then send your decal back to me and get your money back.

Finally, I want to say something about adhesive. All vinyl is removable but some shops are selling vinyl labeled removable. What does that mean? It means the adhesive is less obnoxious. It is absolutely true that "removable" vinyl is easier to take off but it is also more expensive and comes in a limited number of colors. This is why I still sell regular vinyl for wall application. This also means that six months down the road, when you take down your vinyl, you need a strategy for getting rid of adhesive that has decided it likes your wall a lot more than it likes the vinyl. Honestly, this doesn't always happen, but it does lots of times. There are two things you can do.

1. Buy an adhesive remover. I use Rapid Remover. I think it might only be marketed to sign shops, but Goo Gone or something like that will work just as well. Read the directions and test your surface. Bye Bye adhesive. You and your landlord will live happily ever after.

2. This is a little more involved but non-toxic. I've tried it on several kinds of surfaces and it seems to work fairly well without messing up the paint. Again, test your surface. I don't have photographs because the adhesive just wasn't showing up in them. If you try this, let me know how it works for you. I've learned nothing if not that every application is slightly different.

Take a paper towel or cloth and soak it with full strength vinegar (the kind you cook with). Wipe the sticky surface very thoroughly, saturating the adhesive. Wait about thirty seconds and do it again. Repeat the process until the adhesive seems to be softening (this might take four or five rounds) and then scrape the adhesive gently from the wall with your credit card-like device. If your wall is textured you can use a very mild abrasive, like a kitchen scrubby sponge, but don't apply a lot of pressure. You don't want to scratch the paint. Then wash with window cleaner or soap and water. The adhesive should be gone.

If this article helped you at all, please consider buying a decal from my shop. Thanks so much for reading all of that....

Marilyn