The safest way to remove an already installed LED Light Strip is to heat up the adhesive first and gently pull it off. But, if you don’t do it carefully, then you might damage the walls.
Good LED light strips often come with strong adhesive tape. So, once you stick the light onto your walls, you can expect it to last for a very long time. However, you might want to remove or replace the light meanwhile for any reason.
But, if you don’t do it right, you may accidentally peel off the wall paint and damage the wall which may not be pleasing to your aesthetic mind. So, let’s learn the right technique to remove the LED Light Strips with us.
What Occasions You Might Wanna Remove Your Existing LED Light Strips
LED Light Strips are installed with adhesive. It means it’s not any permanent property of your house. And you can remove or replace it anytime you need.
You may feel the need to remove the LED strips on several occasions such as—
When You are Shifting Your House
If you live in a rental house, there might be occasions or times when you need to shift. Even if that house you own, sometimes you may shift the house for work or other purposes.
So, while packing up your things, you aren’t gonna leave the things you love, right? That’s when you would need to remove the already installed LED strips in your house.
You Probably Need to Renovate Your House
If you are a person with great taste for home decorations, you probably often keep doing some changes in your interiors like lights, paint, or furniture.
On such occasions when you are making changes and renovating your house or simply repainting the house, everything on the walls needs to be removed. And that includes the adhesive LED strip lights as well.
Sometimes you may just want to change the position of the strip lights and want to remove and replace the LED light strips.
Remove and Replace the Existing LED Light Strips
Another reason to remove your existing LED light strips may be simply for replacing the previous one with a new one.
Well, that usually happens, when you have faulty LED strips. Sometimes LED strip lights malfunction and don’t change colors with your command.
In some rare cases, the LED strips get burnt on some points, or some diodes emit low voltage.
Concerns While Removing an Already Installed LED Light Strips
Removing an already installed LED Strip Light can be a real struggle if you want to either save the light itself or the wall it was attached to. There are a few concerns you might wanna pay attention to. Here are they—
The LED Strips May Tear Off
If you are not being careful enough while detaching the LED Strips from the surface it has been adhered to, then the strips can fall apart.
The LED light strips are usually cuttable for your convenience of use. So, you cannot be expecting the strips to be rock solid. So, better be careful while pulling it out from the surface.
Removing The Adhesive Strips May Peel Off the Wall-Paint
Be very careful if your LED strip light is adhered to a painted wall, or on wallpaper. While pulling the strips out of the surface, the strong adhesive may peel off some of the portions of the wall paint or tear off the wallpaper brutally. And that’s quite a big deal for some people.
The LED Strips May Lose Its Adhesion
Sometimes while removing the light strips, it gently comes off of the surface leaving its adhesive tape behind. And that’s the last thing you wanna see because it’s a nightmare when the adhesive tape alone is mounted on the surface and you need to remove it separately from the light itself.
How to Remove LED Light Strips Without Damaging the Walls
Now that you have decided to remove your LED Light Strips, for whatever reason, you need to know the simplest way to do that perfectly. With the given concerns you need to remove the already-installed LED light strips without damaging the walls or the strip itself.
Here are five simple steps to remove LED lights without peeling the paint. Let’s dig into more details.
Step 1— Make Sure No Electric Connections are Plugged
It’s a very common practice as a safety measure to unplug any electrical devices before working with it. However before you turn the strip light off to remove it from the wall, there’s a little trick there.
Before unplugging it, turn the light on for the last time. It will make it easier for you to find the end of the strip. Once you find the end edge of the strip make a little mark on it and turn it back off. It will make sure no short circuit happens then.
Step 2— Heat Up The Adhesive For Easy Removal
Now that you have marked the end edge of the strip light, get a hairdryer and set it on low to medium heat. Then hold it for a few seconds or a minute and let it heat up the adhesive. When you heat up the corner of the LED strip so that it softens the adhesive.
Once the adhesive tape of an LED strip light softens it loses its hold over the surface and tends to come off just with a gentle pull.
Step 3— Take A Sharp And Flat Object To Loosen Up The Corner
When the adhesive is still warm and soft, turn off the hairdryer for a while and hold a flat object like a stainless steel scale, a useless credit card, or a metal coin. Slide the flat object underneath the corner you marked.
Now, gently push the adhesive tape backward. It will loosen up from the corner facilitating the removal without harming the surface.
Be very gentle so that when you rub the object back and forth it doesn’t scrape the wall paint or the surface. Make sure that the adhesive is heated properly before you pull it off. Hopefully, this trick will help the adhesive come off without any damage made.
Step 4— Pull the Strip backwards and Remove it
Now that you got hold onto the corner of the strip, gently pull it backwards. After every few inches you will feel that the adhesive is getting cold and solid again.
So, whenever you feel even a little bit of resistance while pulling the strip out, warm it up again with the hair dryer and keep going until you successfully remove the LED strip securely.
Step 5— Remove The Sticky Residue From The Wall
You may notice, there are still some traces of sticky residues left on the wall. So, what should you do now? Don’t worry. You have done the bigger part already.
Now just rub off the residues using your thumb. If it still doesn’t go away, try to rub it off gently using a soft sponge or a piece of cloth dampened with soap water.
How To Reuse LED Light Strip
Step 1— Remove The Previous Adhesive Tape From The Strip
After successfully removing the adhesive LED strip light from the wall, you may notice that the adhesive tape is partially or fully damaged. Take the used tape out.
It won’t be hard to do at this part. Take the tape out completely.
Step 2— Reapply New Adhesive Tape
If you decide not to reuse the Light Strip, then stop at this point. Just store the light after removing the old adhesive tape. But, if you want to reuse it and restick the light in another place, then you need to reapply a new adhesive tape for the strip light.
In that case, choose a good-quality adhesive mounting tape to effectively stick it up. Two great options you may consider are Large Command Strips or Double Sided Mounting Tape.
Step 3— Restick The LED Strip Light On A Chosen Spot
Now, choose a new spot where you want to restick the Light Strip and put a mark. Peel off the back of the double sided tape before resticking the Light Strip.
Now, gently stick one corner on the mark and keep pasting it along its length. Make sure that you don’t miss the alignment. Because if you paste it wrong, it will be a lot of hassle.
Once you are done, take the hair dryer once again and lightly heat it up all along. It will help soften the adhesive gently before it hardens and ensure a stronger hold.
What Alternative Can Be Used To Restick LED Strips
Another query appears in some people’s minds while resticking the LED strips. And that is what else they can use to install the LED strips back in another place. The reason for this query I think is not wanting to take the hassle to remove this tape again. Because it really needs some patience.
So, if you are one of those impatient creative people who constantly keep experimenting with your lights and decor, here we may tell you some alternatives.
You can use cable ties to tie the strips up. But for that, you will need a pole or rod or something like that for tying it up. That doesn’t seem appropriate for many.
So, the next suggestion is to use cable clips to install the LED strips on the wall and secure it at intervals.
Another alternative can be glue dots. These glue dots are designed in a way that doesn’t damage the walls or any surface in any way. But, this type of glue doesn’t hold strong for long usually.
Final Words
An appropriate light is a total mood changer. So, it’s really important that you place your color-changing LED Light Strips right in the place that compliments the surroundings perfectly.
Now that you have known how to remove and restick the LED light strip without damaging your walls, you can do it anytime you want. Whether you want to install an upgraded version of the LED light strip or change the position of the light, hopefully, this article will come in help.
