There are many materials for wall decoration, but wallpaper is still the most attractive option. The procedure for working with them depends on the type of canvases selected. However, there are basic points that are the same for all types. Let's find out how to properly glue wallpaper on flat sections of walls, on the ceiling and in hard-to-reach places.
What is needed for wallpapering?
Starting to decorate the walls, you need to prepare everything you need:
- Wallpaper rolls and glue.
- Water and spatula.
- Putty, plaster (required if you need to level the surface of the wall).
- Screwdriver to unscrew sockets, baseboards.
- Stationery knife or scissors.
- Level, tape measure, ruler.
- A brush for applying glue.
- Two pieces of clean cloth. Dry is useful for smoothing the canvas, wet - to quickly remove excess glue from the surface of the wallpaper.
Instead of a traditional cloth to remove air bubbles from under the glued sheets, you can use convenient modern devices: a plastic spatula for smooth canvases, such as silk-screen printing, a rubber roller for embossed ones.
Many people imagine the gluing process, but not everyone knows the important subtleties and tricks. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the step-by-step instructions with a photo and a block of 4 videos that clearly show all the stages of work, from preparing walls to pasting difficult areas.
Surface preparation
The first step after choosing the type of wallpaper, glue and buying everything you need is preparing the walls, which begins withrelease from the old cover.
- Paper-based wallpaper can be treated with a soapy solution with a small amount of glue added before removal.
- Cloths that are dense and washable need to be cut, thereby allowing the solution to go deeper to the base for quick softening. After soaking, the old coating is easily removed with a metal spatula.
- If the wallpaper does not come off completely, it is better to wet it again. Places that are still difficult to clean can be ironed through a damp cloth.
- Non-woven wallpaper should be removed as follows: make a horizontal cut and remove the first layer. The bottom one can be left: it will provide a solid base for gluing new ones.
- If the old coating is water-based or oil paint, you need to go over the surface with sandpaper, and completely clean off the weak and swollen areas. In this articleit is written when wallpaper can be glued immediately on painted walls, and in which cases the old paint will have to be completely removed.
- Chalk whitewash or water-based emulsion is soaked with soapy water and removed with a spatula. If the layer of whitewash is small, then it is easily washed off with warm water and a sponge. Lime is removed in the same way, but with correct surface treatment you can glue the material directly on the whitewashed wall.
Advice. When choosing light paper or non-woven wallpaper, it is recommended to paint the surface with white paint or use a white primer. So the wall will not shine through, and the tone of the paintings will be more saturated.
Further, each type of base is prepared in its own way:
- Concrete floors with cracks and potholes, as well as crooked cornersplaster and putty. Only after the surface has completely dried can you proceed to the next step.
- Drywall requires proper sealing of joints between sheets, priming and puttying. Step by step instructions can be found here.
- Preparation for gluing OSB boards has its own specifics. They are first sanded, then primed, plastered or puttied, and finally primed again. An important point is the correct sealing of the joints between the plates. Plywood and chipboard are treated in a similar way. Details - here.
It is important to remember that wallpaper is attached only to a flat, dry and clean surface. To remove dust from the base, you can cover itprimer or knead a weak solution of liquid wallpaper paste or PVA.
The nuances of preparing the walls are in the video below.
Measuring and cutting material
Before proceeding directly to pasting the walls, you need to prepare the material itself.
- A roll of wallpaper is rolled out on a flat surface so that the front side is at the bottom.
- A strip is measured, the length of which is equal to the height of the wall plus a few centimeters.
- If there is no pattern on the wallpaper and it does not need to be joined, several strips of the required size are immediately cut. If there is a need to select a pattern, cutting occurs with the addition of a pattern to match. The packaging often indicates the size of the rapport - a repeating image. It is worth remembering that canvases with a pattern that needs to be joined will require more consumption than without it.
Where to start?
Traditionally, gluing is done from the window and goes towards the doors, but you can choose another starting point from several options described in this article. Using a plumb line or level, a vertical line should be marked at the selected location. It will become a guide and a starting point.
Gluing process
The proposed instructions will help you independently cope with gluing any type of wallpaper.
- First, prepare the glue corresponding to the type of canvas. This is easy to do: dilute the dry adhesive powder in the proportions described on the package, stir well and leave to swell.
- On a cut piece tassel glue is applied. Spread the sheet starting from the center, moving to the sides. The edges are processed especially carefully.
- After applying the glue, the strip is folded in half with the edges together. Thus, the missed side will be inside. It is important to prevent the formation of wrinkles. The strip must be left for a short period of time indicated on the roll packaging. As a rule, for simple paper types it takes 5 minutes, and for dense ones - about 10. When moistened, wallpaper sheets can stretch a little, so they need to be soaked for the same amount of time. So you can avoid lagging behind the material from the walls and the formation of blisters.
Important! When working with glass and non-woven fabrics, the adhesive composition is applied to the wall, and not the material itself.
- The first strip is applied to the wall, aligned along the marking line, and the next sheet is glued end-to-end. No need to overlap when working with vinyl, non-woven, fabric types of wallpaper. It is only allowed when attaching thin paper products. If there is a pattern on the wallpaper, it must be correctly combined. Particular attention should be paid to the docking of the offset pattern.
- The strip that is glued is gently pressed with a dry cloth or rolled with a roller. You need to move from the middle towards the edges, as well as from the bottom up.
- In the case when the plinth is removed, the bottom edge of the canvas after gluing must be cut so that it is hidden behind it. If it is impossible to remove the trim strip, do it at the level of the plinth. Instead of a ruler, it is convenient to use a wide metal spatula.
- The top edge is removed along the edge of the ceiling baguette, and the bottom edge is aligned with the plinth on the floor. It is also convenient to use a wide spatula and a very sharp knife for this. Trimming is carried out immediately after the strip is leveled, in which case it will be even and without burrs.
Important! If the wallpaper is glued after the installation of the stretch ceiling, trimming must be done very carefully so as not to damage the film.
- Now all the edges that need to be passed with a rubber roller are carefully checked. The areas that did not stick are once again smeared with glue and pressed tightly against the wall.
How to glue strips in difficult places
Let's start with the inner corner.Most often in the rooms, the joints of the walls are uneven, which leads to the formation of folds or inconsistencies between the canvases. In order for the coating to lay as it should, you should measure the distance from the previous strip that was glued and add 2 cm. Then cut it along and evenly glue the corner and a small piece of the adjacent wall. In the very corner, hold with a special rubber spatula or brush so that the coating grabs better.
When working with heavy wallpaper, you need to stick a piece, giving an overlap on the adjacent wall vertically. With a knife with the sharpest blade possible, cut through both strips using a ruler. Carefully remove the trimmings and press the edges. As a result of correctly performed manipulations, the bend of the wall is smooth and clear.
When working with thin paper wallpaper, you just need to attach the remaining piece from the corner, overlapping the previous sheet and strictly observing verticality.
For proper gluing of the outer bend, you need to cut off a strip, the width of which will be 2.5 cm more than the distance from the already glued canvas to the corner. After attaching the cut, it must be bent to the other side. If the corner is straight, the rest of the web is glued end-to-end; if not, it is overlapped with an orientation to vertical markings.
After that, both layers are cut with a sharp knife using a ruler or rule. The remains are carefully removed, and the seam is rolled with a roller. Any protrusions are glued in the same way.
If the corner is uneven, you need to proceed as follows: while the canvas is not yet dry, cut it with a knife in the places where wrinkles occur and fix the edges.
Difficult areas also include wall sections behind radiators, sockets, door and window openings. To get a visual representation of the work in these places, we recommend watching the video.
Pasting the ceiling
The technology of pasting the ceiling has no fundamental differences from gluing wallpaper to the walls. The difference will be in the following points:
- First of all, you need to decide on the direction of the stripes: along or across the room, along the line of incidence of light.
- When attaching canvases to the ceiling, it is difficult to do without an assistant. If you need to work alone, you should choose non-woven wallpaper. They do not need to be coated with glue, so the strip can be rolled up and lifted to a height without any problems.
Step-by-step instructions for gluing the ceiling - here.
