LETTER:Wallpaper wheeze

From Dr I. R. McLauchlin

Sir: The success of wallpaper in paste in removing old wallpaper (Letters, 13 January) does seem incredible, but there is a simple explanation.

To get paper off the wall, the old paste must be softened. You can use water to do this, but it must soak through the paper to get to the paste. Unfortunately, it runs down the wall and off the paper. Any water that does manage to wet the paper evaporates quickly. The problem reduces to one of keeping the water on the paper. Wallpaper paste itself does this, as it contains a lot of water and it sticks to the paper!

Yours faithfully,

Ian R. McLauchlin

Dursley, Gloucestershire