Vinyl wallpaper on a paper basis: glue without problems

Due to its strength, durability and attractive appearance that can fit into any interior, vinyl wallpapers are very popular. This wallpaper material has its own characteristics that must be taken into account in the process of gluing and operation. Step-by-step instructions and useful tips will help you understand to the smallest detail how to properly glue one of the varieties of vinyl wallpaper - paper-based.

Features of vinyl wallpaper based on paper

Vinyl wallpapers have a coating of polyvinyl chloride applied to the base in the form of a film. The material has excellent resistance to various influences, so such canvases can last 10 years. They withstand cleaning with a dry brush or damp cloth.

Vinyl-coated canvases can have a paper or non-woven backing. The paper version is more popular due to its affordable price and excellent performance, which is practically not inferior to products with a non-woven base. However, there are a number of features that you need to consider before buying the material.

• When working with a paper-backed coating, the adhesive is applied directly to the web, as with sticking ordinary paper wallpaper.
• The base paper stretches a little when glue is applied to it, but it is not necessary to attribute this to the disadvantages of this type of material. Due to this property, the strips can be wrapped around large irregularities or protrusions without being cut.
• Vinyl wallpaper on a paper backing is not the best solution for rooms with high humidity, because after soaking with moisture and subsequent drying, the joints of the canvases may disperse over time.
• In the process of gluing, you need to act very carefully, since the paper layer impregnated with the adhesive composition can tear, and the top one can accidentally get dirty.

Important! The canvas smeared with glue should not be left for a long time: it can be deformed.

First step: preparing the walls

Before sticking any wallpaper, you need to preparatory work, sometimes tedious, but still necessary. The procedure is as follows:

1. Remove old coatings. Sometimes the previous wallpaper is difficult to completely remove, but in the case of gluing wallpaper material with a paper base, this is not as critical as for non-woven.
2. If the wall has strong drops, level them with putties. Smaller defects will help hide dense wallpaper with a relief pattern.
3. Prime the walls. For this, the following composition options are used:

• diluted wallpaper glue;
• a special mixture designed for surface treatment before gluing;
• universal primer.

Note! Careful priming of the walls is especially important for concrete and wood substrates, which tend to absorb adhesive strongly.

Before proceeding to the next step, it is imperative to wait for the primer to dry completely.

The second step: we select the optimal set of tools

To glue vinyl wallpaper based on paper, you should prepare fixtures and materials from the following list:

1. Rolls as needed.
2. Suitable wallpaper paste.
3. Container for diluting the composition.
4. Roller with a fur coat + wide brush + narrow for applying glue to wallpaper.
5. Plastic spatula, wide and narrow pressure rollers (one for the main, the second for joints).
6. Old newspapers or plastic wrap.
7. A sharp knife with a retractable blade (construction or large clerical).
8. Pencil, ruler, plumb line or level, tape measure for marking stripes on the wall.
9. Sponge or cloth to remove excess adhesive.

A few words about glue.For vinyl canvases on a paper backing, you need to use not the usual composition for paper wallpapers, but a special, more durable one designed for vinyl. This is especially true for heavy varieties, such as hot stamping wallpaper. It is desirable that the composition contains an antifungal additive. You can also use PVA, which provides excellent adhesion of the canvas to the wall. However, in this case, the wallpaper will stick “tightly” and it will be difficult to remove them in the future.

Third step: sticking

Work order:

• Using a level or plumb line, mark a vertical line on the wall that will serve as a guideline for leveling the first canvas.

Advice. If there are uneven ceilings in the room, it is better to navigate not by level or plumb line, but by any large vertical elements, such as a doorway or corner.

• Measure the first strip corresponding to the height of the wall, adding 10 cm of margin. If a material without a pattern is selected that does not need to be joined, you can cut the entire roll into strips at once. If you want to match the pattern, you will have to pick up the pieces as you go, applying the unwound material from the roll to the just cut strip.

Note! When sticking wallpaper on the ceiling, the procedure is similar, but it has its own subtleties. They are written in detail here.

• Spread the first sheet of material face down on the floor or table and liberally apply adhesive to it.

• Fold the sheet in half or three so that the smeared surface is aligned, and wait for the time indicated on the roll package.

Important! Try to apply glue in the same layer on all canvases and maintain equal periods of time before gluing them so that the degree of stretching of the material is the same and the joints are even.

• Focusing on the drawn line, place a strip of material on the wall. It is most convenient to work with an assistant, especially if meter-long wallpapers are glued: while one is applying the top of the sheet, the second will support the bottom.

Important! Vinyl sheets with a paper backing can stretch when wet and shrink again when dry, so when aligning the strip on the wall, handle it as carefully as possible, avoiding excessive stretching.

• With firm pressure, flatten the wallpaper from the center to the edges to expel all the air. If the material is smooth, use a plastic spatula. In order not to damage the delicate foam pattern, perform this step with a large roller.

• Carefully press the canvas at the top at the ceiling and at the bottom at the floor so that the overlap cut line is clearly outlined.

 

Tip: before starting work, it is better to remove the floor plinth. If for some reason this has not been done, you can insert the wallpaper into the gap between the baseboard and the wall, cut off the remaining piece of the bottom edge and stick a narrow strip to cover the seam and part of the baseboard.

• Additionally coat the outgoing places.
• Roll the joints with a small roller.

• Wipe off excess adhesive.

• Cut off excess wallpaper near the baseboard and ceiling along the ruler with the sharpest tool possible, a blunt knife will crush and tear the canvas.

• Glue the following strips end-to-end, not forgetting to align the pattern.

Taping difficult areas

In order for the gluing process to go smoothly, you need to study the features of working in difficult places.

• Near window openings and doors, you need to leave wallpaper for the allowance and depth of the niche. Make cuts on the canvas at the top and bottom, press it and bend it around the corner. Then cut carefully.

• Do not glue a whole strip on the corner, otherwise creases will definitely appear.Cut the wallpaper so that only 2 cm of the canvas goes to the adjacent wall. Glue the second piece to the other side of the corner with the same overlap. Using a ruler and a knife, cut through the two layers of wallpaper formed at the corner. Remove excess coating.

• Around switches and sockets, the sheets are not cut in advance. The strip is glued directly to the recess left from the removed socket. After the glue dries, the holes are carefully cut with a knife.

Important! Sockets must be de-energized! In extreme cases, they can be sealed with insulating material.

In general, the technology of gluing paper-based vinyl is similar to working with simple paper material. The canvases are also smeared with glue, and only then they are applied to the wall. All the details are in the video below. But for vinyl wallpaper on non-woven fabric, the order will be different, read about it in this article.