Wallpapering Tips

How to prepare your walls for wallpaper

Before applying paste to wallpaper, make sure you carefully prepare the area and wall surfaces. The walls in the room should be smooth, dry and clean.

Make sure that the walls are not damp. Exterior walls may have drops of moisture, the smell of damp and fungus. If you come across any of these in a room, eliminate the causes of damp. Use antifungal treatment if necessary.

Remove all possible items from the walls. There should not be anything on the surface of the walls (such as brackets, fixtures, nails). If the room has old wallpaper on the wall, wet it and remove with a brush or scraper.

Make your wall smooth.Small flaws in the wall can be smoothed over with filler. Filler smooths and evens the work surface. After applying filler, clean the surface with sandpaper or abrasive scourer. Check the smoothness of the wall by hand. You will be able to detect even the slightest surface defects.

Treat the walls with a primer. Apply the primer evenly with a roller in a thin layer on the wall. Avoid accidently spraying the ceiling and floor with the primer. It is recommended to choose a deep penetration primer.

Then, thoroughly prepare the room where you are going to hang the wallpaper.

Turn off the electricity. For safety reasons, it is best to turn off the electricity in the room before hanging wallpaper.

Tidy up the room. It is a good idea to thoroughly clean and dust the room. Particles of dust can stain wallpaper, harm your health, settle on the paste and primer and reduce their effectiveness.

Firmly close all windows and doors. . Before applying paste to wallpaper, close all windows and doors to prevent draughts in the room.

Spread out plastic film or cardboard on the floor. This will protect the floor and allow you to lay out the wallpaper panels get then ready for pasting.

Как клеить обои

Before applying paste to the wallpaper

The walls are ready and check, you have bought the wallpaper but there are still a few more things you need to do.

Make sure that all rolls are the same. Open all the rolls and make sure that all the rolls of wallpaper have an identical pattern, colour and size.

Double-check the information about the pattern match. The wallpaper’s match type is indicated on the label by arrows that designate how the strips match each other. This is so that you can match the pattern on adjacent strips correctly. Note that when using wallpaper with a large pattern, you will need to extra rolls to match the pattern, which means you will use more rolls overall.

Carry out a wallpaper fitting. Use the height of the ceiling and the perimeter of the walls of the room to calculate the rolls needed. To make things easier, you can cut all the panels for the room in advance after calculating the height of each strip. Trimmings of strips can be kept as a reserve. Number the strips by making a mark top and bottom of each strip so that you do not mix them up.

Symbol	Meaning
	When hanging, it is not necessary to fit the pattern (wallpaper is plain or can be hung without matching.) .
	Straight Match (repeated pattern matches on adjacent lengths without any longitudinal displacement.).
	Offset Match, diagonal match. There is longitudinal displacement in order to give the correct match (match by pattern i.e. on adjacent panels are hung with a vertical displacement in relation to the previous.
	Pattern is non-defined (Reverse Alternate Lengths) Each adjacent panel is reversed from the last and is thus hung in an alternating pattern.
	Sometimes the pattern match ratio is indicated in figures, such as 56/26.5 (in this case, the repeat and displacement are fitted in cm, in accordance with these figures).

Prepare the wallpaper paste. . Wallpaper paste is selected according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Slowly pour the paste into a container of water stirring continuously. Shortly, the paste will bulk up and resemble jelly. It is now ready for use..

Evenly apply the paste to the wall. The paste should be applied to the surface in an even layer. Use a small spatula to carefully spread paste on the top of the wall. Excess paste can be removed with a moist sponge.

If you are hanging non-woven wallpaper, the paste should be applied to the surface of the wall only.

If you are hanging paper wallpaper, the paste should be applied to the surface of the wall, and on the panel itself. Before applying paste to the wallpaper, lay it out on the floor. Then carefully spread the paste onto it. After pasting paper wallpaper, fold it in half and leave it to soak in. After some time (the exact time is specified in the instructions) the panel can be hung.

How should you start hanging wallpaper? ? It is best to start from the corner or door / window frames, as these lines are perpendicular to the floor. Use a plumb line or spirit level to make sure you hang the panel straight. The final panel should be hung somewhere inconspicuous - above the door, in a corner, or where part of the wall will be hidden by furniture or curtains.

How to glue wallpaper on a wall

Make a mark on the wall to make sure the first panel is hung perpendicular to the ceiling. Mark a perfectly vertical line on the wall – this will be the guideline for the first strip of wallpaper. For accuracy, use a plumb line, laser or spirit level..

Hang the panel covering the crown molding slightly. Vinyl wallpaper should be pasted end to end. When hanging the panel, leave a small overlap onto the ceiling with a reserve of 5-10 cm.

Smooth the panel after pasting. After hanging the strip, smooth it out working out from the centre towards the edges (using a plastic wallpaper spatula. Then smooth out the entire strip from top to bottom evenly from left to right (in a herringbone manner). The final alignment of the panel is made by hand. If you have hung the panel unevenly or there are air bubbles, fix it before the paste dries.

Cut the upper part of the panel (the reserve) flush to the ceiling. First, press the wallpaper into place along the edge of the ceiling. Using a large spatula, smooth and set the panel up to the crown molding. Press the overlapping strips firmly and evenly and cut them with a wallpaper knife. It is important to hold the spatula and knife properly. The knife must be sharp, and the motion – smooth and at a slight angle to the wallpaper panel. After that, using a small spatula, press the upper edge of the wallpaper to the ceiling. That way, the upper edge of the wallpaper will run flush to the crown molding. Do the same with the lower edge of the wallpaper. After cutting it, work using a plastic wallpaper spatula from outwards towards the edges to smooth it out and finish with a damp sponge.

Apply paste thoroughly to the seams. Wallpaper seams should be well pasted. Surplus paste can then be squeezed out using a plastic wallpaper spatula and cleaned away with a sponge. If you have done everything right, you will have a perfect seam.

Remove the air bubbles from the wallpaper. When hanging wallpaper air bubbles may form. Small air bubbles disappear when the paste dries. Remove large bubbles by gently peeling back the corner of the wallpaper and smoothing it out using a plastic wallpaper spatula working outwards towards the edge. If bubbles have formed in the middle of the panel, disperse them by breaking them up and squeezing the smaller bubbles out the edge using a plastic wallpaper spatula or rubber roller.

Always check the panel. As you work, inspect each pasted strip. Make sure there are no folds, irregularities or air bubbles.

The seams of the strips should be thoroughly finished. A good seam should not be visible. When pasting a new panel, overlap slightly (about 5 mm) the adjacent strip and then work over the seam with a ribbed roller. The ribbed surface of the roller applies gentle pressure to the seams, creases them and aligns the strip. Then, pull the edges of seams towards each other with your fingers, smooth them using a plastic wallpaper spatula and use the roller on them once more. Alternate this cycle several times. You should only be able to feel where the seam meets with your hand. After the paste dries, the strips shrink slightly and the strips will meet fully. Vinyl wallpaper takes about two days to dry at room temperature without draughts.