Two surfaces, two very different removals
Lewis Lofts at 240 11 Avenue SW began life around 1910–1911 as the J.H. Ashdown Hardware Company warehouse. Lewis Stationery bought it in 1972, and it became residential lofts in 1995. In one of its units, a winter woodland mural covered a 94-inch wall and a dark star-patterned paper ran 114 inches across a 9-foot ceiling.
The owner wanted both gone and the room back to a clean base before new flooring and a fresh decorating plan. We were on site on Friday, October 16, 2026, and finished the removal, adhesive cleanup and minor patching on October 17. This is our wallpaper removal in Calgary on its toughest kind of surface: overhead.
- Service
- Wallpaper removal · wall mural and ceiling
- Location
- Lewis Lofts, Beltline, SW Calgary
- Installed
- October 2026
- Material
- Removed: a winter woodland wall mural and a dark star-pattern ceiling covering, over drywall
- Scope
- One 94″-wide wall and a 114″ ceiling run at 9 ft; removal, adhesive cleanup and minor patching on scaffolding over two days
Project challenge
The wall mural released reasonably well. The ceiling did not: the star-pattern paper held hard to the drywall overhead and took considerably more work to lift, all of it done with arms raised on scaffolding. The room also had a ceiling light, baseboard heating along the brick, and a sprinkler arm near the top of the mural wall, so every scraper stroke near the top of the wall had to stay clear of that line.
Our solution
We set up rolling scaffolding to reach the full 9-foot ceiling, protected the brick, heater and fixtures, then took each surface off with the method it needed: the mural in long sections, the ceiling slowly and in smaller pieces. Adhesive residue was cleaned off both surfaces and minor dents patched, so the next trade starts on a sound, clean base instead of glue film that would show through paint.
Overhead removal
114 inches of ceiling paper lifted from scaffolding at 9 feet – the slower, harder half of the job.
Heritage surroundings
Exposed brick, baseboard heating, a ceiling light and a sprinkler arm all stayed protected and untouched.
Ready for what’s next
Clean drywall, adhesive gone, minor damage patched – ready for paint or new wallpaper once the new floors are in.
More wallpaper removal projects
See the Deer Run removal and new installation, the McKenzie Towne bedroom removal and repaint, and the Eau Claire condo mural and ceiling nearby.
Old wallpaper on a wall or ceiling?
Send a photo of each surface and rough measurements, and we can tell you what the removal involves and quote it from the photos.
Send photos for review · Wallpaper removal · Wallpaper costs