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How can I take off paper that was glued to concrete wall using elmer's school glue?

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  • If it is actually school glue, which is water soluble, it should easily lift as described in the answers. Otherwise there is usually a plasticizer in it that makes it a good bit more water resistant. You may need a scrub brush to remove residue.
    – bib
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 10:48
  • it is school glue. I will be trying removing the papers tomorrow. the thing I am worried about is that I can't apply the spray directly to the glue, since the glue was used to stick paper on concrete, and I need to remove the paper.
    – morpheus
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 16:48
  • Warm (or even hot) water sprayed onto the paper will quickly wet through the paper and get to work at the glue below. If the paper has some type of plastic or other coating the warm water will make it easier to rip the paper off where you can the spray the glue.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Oct 14, 2013 at 8:27
  • Thanks. I ended up using 409 without any dilution with warm water. I had glued some flyers onto concrete and needed to remove then. The glue was put on the borders of the flyer. I used a knife to scrape off the paper after soaking it with 409. It mostly worked.
    – morpheus
    Commented Oct 14, 2013 at 17:52

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A low cost general purpose spray bottle purchased at a hardware store...

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Filled with a mixture of 75% / 25% Hot water and Windex...

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Works surprisingly well to soften and aid in removal of paper and water based glues. Spray application permits just the right amount of moisture to be applied to the wall without large amounts of excess to run off make a mess.

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  • In the past I have also used another liquid cleaner called "409" for this.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 17:23
  • Were the pictures really necessary?
    – Scott Baker
    Commented Sep 18, 2014 at 22:08
  • @ScottSEA - Was you comment necessary? No! If you do not like the pictures just scroll beyond them.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 4:57
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    @MichaelKaras You're absolutely right; I apologize. Yesterday was a bitchy day - I'm sorry I took it out on your post.
    – Scott Baker
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 15:15
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Elmer's glue is water soluble. Just soak it with warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes. If that fails a power washer certainly do it.

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