How To Remove Wall Adhesive From Painted Walls

Wall adhesives, such as poster putty and double-sided mounting squares, help you decorate your walls without creating holes. If you live in a cinder block-wall dorm or rent from a finicky landlord, these wall adhesives may be the only way you can hang up your wall décor. Eventually, you'll have to remove the wall adhesives either because you're redecorating or you're moving. Remove your wall adhesives and not the paint beneath them.

Step 1

Scrape the poster putty gently with your putty knife. Pull off putty that comes off easily.

Step 2

Roll your poster putty into a ball. Press your putty ball against the stubborn wall-attached poster putty.

Step 3

Remove your putty ball. The ball should have picked up some of the wall-attached poster putty. Continue blotting your wall-attached poster putty with your poster putty ball, until you remove most, if not all, of the offending poster putty.

Step 4

Soak a cotton ball with your citrus-based cleaner. Apply the soaked cotton ball to the stubborn wall-attached putty to loosen it. Remove the putty by peeling it off with your scraper or fingernail.

Step 5

Wipe away any remaining oily marks from the putty with your soaked cotton ball.

Step 1

Slide your putty knife beneath the corner of your attached adhesive square. Pull up that corner gently.

Step 2

Roll that corner upward and away from its original location carefully. If you encounter a lot of resistance, stop. Otherwise, roll up the entire adhesive square from that corner.

Step 3

Soak a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol. Press the soaked cotton ball against a stubborn mounting square until the square is saturated with alcohol. Carefully scrape off the square. This method also works to remove remaining adhesive after you've removed the square. Try vinegar if you don't get the results you wanted from the alcohol.

Step 4

Wipe away any alcohol or vinegar residue with a clean, water-dampened cotton ball.