Vinyl removal can be easy or difficult depending on the following variables:
- How long the vinyl has been installed on the wall
- Surface finish of wall: smooth or textured, rigid or soft, etc
- Environmental exposure: desert vs. highly humid regions
- Time in the sun: the longer the graphics has been exposed to UV, the more brittle the film will become for certain grades of vinyl
To make the process easier, best practice for removing vinyl from a wall is on a hot sunny day or to heat up the wall to 38°C to 49°C/100°F to -120°F. When the wall wrap is up high and covers a large surface, leveraging the sun at the right time to soften the adhesive will speed up the job. As shown in Figure 1 to the left.
During the winter or cold weather, it is best to use an IR heater, weed burner, or heat gun to warm up the wall section by section for ease of removal.
Recommended tools for vinyl removal:
- Heat gun, IR heater, or weed burner/propane wand
- IR thermometer or surface contact thermocouple
Removal procedure:
- Warm up a section of the wall graphics approximately 5’- to 7’ wide from the top left corner to mid section of the vertical wall using a heat gun or IR heater. Use an IR thermometer to confirm vinyl temperature is in the desired range.
- Peel graphics off starting from the top right or top left corner and pull vinyl off at 90 degree angle (or greater) from top to bottom.
- Removal rate: slow (1 inch/sec) and constant pull of graphics towards the ground.
- Continue steps 1 & 2 until the graphic is completely removed.
- If there is adhesive residue left on the wall, please use a citrus base cleaner to remove adhesive. Prior to using any cleaner, test to make sure cleaner doesn’t have adverse effect on the wall surface.