How to Clean Wallpaper

How you clean wallpaper comes down to one thing: what kind you've got. Modern washable vinyl shrugs off warm soapy water and a cloth or sponge. Older non-washable paper, though, tears the instant water touches it, so it has to be cleaned dry. Use the wrong cleaning solution on the wrong paper and a ten-minute chore turns into a full replacement.

So this guide starts with how to tell which type you have, then walks through the right method for each, how to tackle set stains like grease, mold, crayon, and ink, how often any of this is actually needed, and what to do if a seam starts lifting mid-clean. The whole aim is a spotless wall with zero damage.

Identify Your Wallpaper Type First

There are three groups, and each one tolerates less water than the last.

  • Scrubbable. Vinyl-based and built for busy, damp rooms. It handles repeat cleaning, light scrubbing, and mild soap without complaint, which is why you'll find it in kitchens, bathrooms, and shops.
  • Washable. The bulk of what's been sold since the 1990s. Warm water, mild dish soap, and a soft sponge are fine. Scrubbing and harsh chemicals are not.
  • Non-washable. Older paper, hand-printed designs, grasscloth, fabric-faced stock. Water wrecks the surface on contact, so these are dry-clean only.

Not sure which you own? Check the roll label if you kept it. If you didn't, run a quick water test in a hidden corner: dab a small spot with a damp cloth and wait thirty seconds. If the paper darkens, the color bleeds, or the spot drinks the water in, it's non-washable. If the water just beads on top, you're looking at washable or scrubbable.

One rule covers every type. Test a hidden spot first, every single time, so you don't find out the hard way that your paper hates water. When you're unsure, that little spot test settles the argument.

Tools and Materials

Short kit. You almost certainly own most of it already, with the dry cleaning sponge the only likely gap.

  • A soft microfiber cloth or two
  • A clean, non-abrasive sponge
  • A bucket of warm water
  • Mild dish soap, Dawn or Palmolive or any grease-cutting liquid
  • A vacuum with a soft brush attachment
  • A dry cleaning sponge or wallpaper eraser, for the non-washable jobs
  • White vinegar, for tough spots and mildew
  • A step ladder for the high reaches

How Often Should You Clean Wallpaper?

Honestly, less often than you'd think. The upkeep is light.

  • Monthly, run the vacuum's soft brush attachment over it to lift dust and cobwebs.
  • Every few months, wipe the high-touch zones (around light switches, doorways, behind chairs) with a damp microfiber cloth.
  • Once a year, do a full-wall deep clean if it's washable, or a dry sponge pass if it isn't.
  • And as needed, deal with any mark within a day or two of spotting it, before it sets.

Kitchens and baths ask for more attention, thanks to grease, steam, and damp air. A powder room or bedroom can happily coast a full year between deep cleans.

How to Clean Washable Wallpaper

This is the common modern case, so here's the routine.

  1. Vacuum the wall first with the soft brush attachment to pull off loose dust and cobwebs.
  2. Mix a tablespoon of mild dish soap into two cups of warm water. Stir gently so you don't whip up a head of suds.
  3. Test a hidden corner. Dab the mix on with a damp, not wet, sponge and wait a minute. No color run, no texture change? You're clear to go.
  4. Now work the wall in small sections, top to bottom. Wring the sponge until it's just damp, never dripping, since drips love to creep into seams and lift the paper.
  5. Rinse with a second clean sponge and fresh warm water as you go, and don't let soapy water dry on the wall. Dab up any pooled drops before they sit.
  6. Dry each section with a clean microfiber cloth before moving on. Leave it to air-dry and you'll get water marks.

Greasy zones (above the stove, the headrest height behind a sofa) just want a second gentle pass with the same mix. Resist the urge to add more soap. Two soft passes beat one aggressive one.

How to Clean Scrubbable Wallpaper

Same routine as washable, with two tweaks.

  1. You can swap the sponge for a soft-bristle brush on caked-on grease or soap scum.
  2. Tougher marks can take a slightly stronger mix, up to two tablespoons of soap per two cups of water, with no harm to the surface.

Scrubbable stock is the only kind that takes a brush without scarring. If your paper is washable but not scrubbable, keep it to a sponge.

What Makers Recommend for Wallpaper Care

The right method tracks the material, and the makers say as much. The Tempaper "Frequently Asked Questions" page calls for installing only on smooth painted walls, and the same logic carries straight into cleaning and restoration. A gentle wallpaper cleaner on the right surface keeps it looking new, while the wrong product can scar the face for good. Vinyl wipes down with a damp cloth. Uncoated paper and grasscloth want a dry method, full stop. The material sets the rule, and the stain method has to live inside it.

How to Spot Clean Non-Washable Wallpaper

Older paper, grasscloth, fabric-faced, and hand-printed designs all demand dry methods. Water hurts the surface, lifts the ink, or swells the paper until it tears.

  1. Vacuum thoroughly with the soft brush attachment. On non-washable stock, that vacuum is your main tool, not a backup.
  2. For smudges and fingerprints, reach for a dry cleaning sponge, sometimes sold as a soot sponge or wallpaper eraser. These rubber blocks lift grime with no moisture at all. Wipe one direction, and lift between strokes.
  3. For stubborn marks, a kneadable rubber eraser (the kind charcoal artists use) can help. Test it out of sight first.
  4. Never put a damp cloth, soapy water, or any liquid on this stuff.

If a non-washable wall is genuinely filthy and dry methods aren't cutting it, your real choices are professional cleaning and restoration or replacement. Wet cleaning won't save it, and forcing the issue just trades dirt for permanent surface damage.

How to Spot Clean Specific Wallpaper Stains

Every stain has its own quirks, so the fix shifts a little each time. As always, prove the method on a hidden patch before you commit.

Grease is the friendliest of the bunch. Fresh splatter on washable paper wipes away with the usual soap and water. Older grease that's had time to set needs a different trick: bury it under cornstarch or talcum powder, walk away for half an hour while the powder pulls the oil out, then brush it off and clean as normal.

Mold and mildew want vinegar, cut half and half with water and dabbed on with a sponge, and only ever on washable paper. One caveat that matters more than the cleaning itself: if it has crept past a small patch, the real fix is the cause, whether that's damp air or a hidden leak. Mold on non-washable stock is usually a replacement job, not a cleaning one.

Crayon comes off washable paper with a baking soda paste, mixed about one part soda to three parts water, rubbed on with a soft cloth and wiped away. Non-washable paper only gets the dry cleaning sponge, and even that may leave a faint waxy ghost behind.

Ink and marker are the villains here. Your best shot on washable paper is to blot, never rub, with a cloth barely touched with rubbing alcohol, and you absolutely test first, because alcohol happily lifts the paper's own color right along with the ink. On non-washable stock, ink has usually won before you start.

Spills like coffee, juice, and food are a race against the clock. Blot fast with a dry cloth before any of it soaks in, then finish up however your paper type prefers.

Smoke and nicotine leave a tar film that often shrugs off a single soapy pass, so plan on a few on washable paper. Dry-sponging is all you can do on non-washable stock, and it only skims the surface film, never the staining set deep in the fibers.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Most of the ways this goes wrong come back to water. Too much of it is the big one. Drips and soaked patches creep into seams and lift them, so wring that sponge until it's barely damp. Letting soapy water dry in place is its quieter cousin, leaving streaks that dull the finish, and cleaning over an already-lifted seam is worse still, since it drives moisture behind the paper and hurries the peel along.

The other slips are about being too aggressive. Skipping the spot test is the classic, when sixty seconds in a hidden corner is all that stands between you and a ruined wall. Gritty scrub pads and harsh cleaners scar the face even on scrubbable stock, and ammonia, bleach, or strong solvents go further, stripping the ink and softening the paste underneath. One last thing that has nothing to do with the paper: don't clean around outlets with the power on. A damp sponge near live wires is a real hazard, so kill the circuit first.

What to Do If Wallpaper Starts Peeling While Cleaning

See a seam start to lift or a corner curl while you work? Stop right there. Pushing on only makes it worse.

  1. Dry the area with a microfiber cloth, clearing the water off the face and out of the seam.
  2. Give the wall a full 24 hours to dry before you do anything else.
  3. Re-glue the lifted seam with wallpaper seam glue from any hardware store: a thin bead under the lift, press it flat, wipe the squeeze-out with a damp cloth, and weight it if you can.
  4. For a bigger lift, more than a few inches, use wallpaper paste instead of seam glue. Spread a thin layer on the wall behind it, press the paper back, and smooth from the inside out.
  5. If the section flat-out won't stick, the paste behind it has failed. At that point you're either patching from a saved roll or replacing the whole strip.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the safest way to clean wallpaper?

Vacuuming with a soft brush attachment, hands down. It's the one approach that works on every type while harming none of them. Once you're past plain dust, though, you'll need to identify your paper and match the method to it.

How do professionals clean wallpaper?

Much the way you'd hope: they figure out the type, run a spot test, vacuum first, and then reach for the gentlest thing that actually shifts the dirt. Dry leads, damp comes in only when it has to, and harsh chemicals never get near the wall.

Does white vinegar clean wallpaper?

It does, on washable and scrubbable paper, mixed 50/50 with water. It's great on mildew spots and as a streak-free rinse. Keep it off non-washable and hand-printed stock, where the colors can bleed.

Can you use Zinsser on wallpaper?

Zinsser mostly makes primers, not cleaners. Its oil-based primers seal a wall before paint, which is a removal-and-repaint job (see our guide on Can You Paint Over Wallpaper?), not a cleaning one.

How do you clean different types of wallpaper?

Vinyl and washable take warm water with mild dish soap, sponge damp not wet. Scrubbable adds a soft brush for tough spots. Non-washable is dry-only: vacuum, dry cleaning sponge, kneadable eraser.

How often should you clean wallpaper?

Vacuum monthly, wipe the high-touch areas every few months, and deep clean washable types once a year. Kitchens and baths need more; bedrooms and living rooms can stretch longer between cleans.

Our Take

Almost all cleaning damage traces to one of two slips: wet methods on non-washable paper, or too much water on the washable kind. Both vanish the moment you spot-test and wring the sponge out properly. This is gentle work. The prep and the light touch matter far more than the strength of whatever you mix up.

And if you're staring at a wall that's already been damaged by a past cleaning, our guide on How to Remove Wallpaper covers the four methods that work on nearly every type when starting over is the smarter call.

Last updated: May 2026.

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