How old? I had 1950s wallpaper that I soaked with plain water and it peeled off. It some places I had to soak the lining with more water and scrape off with a plastic paint scraper.
Having lived in the UK, wood chip paper deserved its reputation as the most difficult paper to remove, but there will always be patches that are a little more stubborn! Is your steamer a wallpaper steamer with flat base and 'ledge' to sit against the wall, or a general 'steam off into air' steamer? I found my wallpaper steamer brilliantly effective, and brought it back with me... Friends who borrowed it were so impressed, they wanted to buy it off me. You will find this method works on all paper types, including flock and vinyl faced. First, lay a plastic groundsheet. Mel N is right - score the paper all over (in smallish diamonds or just randomly) with the corner of a 100mm wide metal paint scraper. The closer the scores to cut the surface of the paper, the easier the stripping. Working over 5-6 (steam base) areas, place steamer against the wall, allowing time for it to penetrate the edges of scores each time, then come back to scrape with the metal scraper from the first area, then second etc. This gives the steam time to seep in. Repeat. Clean up wallpaper scrapings from the floor regularly as they will be sticky and messy. Finally wash down the wall with sugar soap to remove adhesive, open windows for drying and prepare your walls as usual.
Forgot to add that vinyl faced papers may also respond to 'worrying' a corner of the paper and lifting it away from the paper backing (like removing a jam label). No need to score the paper, just steam, again allowing time for the steam to weaken the paper and adhesive, and scrape. Depending on the age of your house, there can also be several layers of wallpaper, eg using lining paper if the walls were very uneven etc.
bigreader
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