Wallpaper replacement is an obligatory stage of every second repair in a house or apartment. It is not enough to choose the right material, glue and tools. To get the desired result, you can not just open the roll and get to work. You need to prepare in advance, as well as decide where to start gluing the wallpaper in the room.
Choosing a starting point: why is it so important?
In Soviet times, wallpaper was glued from the window. The canvases were glued with an overlap, because the material was thin. To make the joints invisible, they started working from the window opening. Today, the range of wallpapers from various materials is huge - from interlining to the cork tree. Why is it important to choose the right place to start gluing?
- Wallpaper indoors are glued in a circle - from point to point. The starting point in this case is the very first canvas. However, if you proceed in this way, in the absence of experience, it is easy to make inaccuracies, and the last piece may not coincide with the first.
- The last strip of wallpaper often does not fit entirely, which means that the pattern may not converge. Therefore, it is better to choose a starting point for gluing in an inconspicuous place.
To glue the wallpaper neatly and evenly, you will have to carefully work with the first canvas. If it is glued somehow, the rest of the strips will also lie crooked. You need an even vertical for the first strip of wallpaper, as it will become a guideline when gluing the next strips.
Tools that determine the evenness of the desired landmark:
- The building level is a simple and affordable device. The longer it is, the better the performance.
- Plumb – suitable for vertical lines.
- The laser level is an expensive, but the most accurate and convenient tool.
Where to start wallpapering in a room: options
There are several generally accepted methods for choosing a start point for work:
- from the window;
- from the doorway;
- from the corner;
- from a major landmark;
- from several lines, for example, on 2 sides of the window.
The choice of working method depends on the characteristics of a particular room.
From the window
The old Soviet method is still used, and often, despite the ability of modern wallpaper to create a seamless coating. The method is popular because people are used to working this way, and the older generation advises the younger generation to do this.
The second reason: Soviet windows were even, unlike doorways or corners, the curvature of which is sometimes visible to the naked eye. Another plus of this method: the window opening, as a rule, is deformed very weakly and is quite suitable for a guide.
And one more argument in favor of the window opening. When gluing from another point, when it comes to the window, the whole canvas will most likely not fit near the opening and you will have to cut off a strip of the desired width.
In addition, it is usually very difficult to stick wallpaper under the window, since heating radiators are usually located there. If the work starts from the window, these problems can be avoided.
From the door
Currently, builders, as a rule, strictly monitor the verticality of doors and corners. Unfortunate exceptions do occur, though rarely. It is convenient to glue wallpaper from the door for the following reasons:
- the first and last strips do not have to be joined together;
- in places such as a hallway or hallway, the doorway is often the only suitable landmark.
- if there is an unevenness somewhere, the door will close it. This option is optimal when the pattern on the stripes must converge exactly.
It should be noted that even a very even-looking doorway does not hurt to once again check with a good building level or plumb line.
From the corner
The angle as a guide is unreliable, as it is rarely perfectly even. Therefore, wallpaper is glued from the corner infrequently, in cases where the room has no windows or when the doorway is very skewed.
Sometimes they work with an angle like this: they do not start directly from it, but recede a distance equal to the width of the roll minus 2–3 cm. They draw a vertical line, which will be the starting point. This approach allows you to smoothly and beautifully join the wallpaper in the corner.
From any major landmark
If there are many doors and windows in the room, a large selection of starting points appears. In this case, it is recommended to start from the most voluminous landmark.
From multiple lines
An option for rooms with a large window, from which the wallpaper is glued immediately in 2 directions. To make the joints of the strips invisible, they must be placed above the window, then they will be covered with curtains. Instead of a window, you can start gluing on both sides of the doorway.
What else to pay attention to
To avoid additional problems, you need to consider the following points:
- The ratio of adjacent corners and doors.
- The location of window openings relative to each other, the entrance to the balcony.
- Placement of heating elements: pipes, radiators, etc.
- Arrangement of furniture items.
- The presence of other important interior details.
If the room has a stationary cabinet that is not planned to be moved to another place in the future, you can start gluing from it, so that the junction of the strips is hidden behind it. The same applies to the headset in the kitchen.
How to mark an even vertical on the wall with the help of improvised items
Work order:
- We select a rope length from floor to ceiling.
- We make a loop at one end, we hang a load at the other.
- We rub the cord with chalk or paint.
- We hammer a nail under the very ceiling, tie a rope.
- We hold the cord by the weight at the bottom, pull it slightly and release it - an even trace of paint remains on the wall.
Maintaining verticality in uneven corners
This is especially important if the wallpaper has a geometric pattern that needs to match. There is a proven way to maintain verticality. When wallpapering each wall, mark a new vertical line using the method described above. In this case, the last strip of wallpaper on one wall will go a few centimeters over the first fragment to the second.
Helpful Hints
Tips to help simplify the gluing process:
- It is better to glue the wallpaper behind the batteries and vertical heating pipes immediately, while there is fresh strength, so as not to suffer later.
- Before work, you need to de-energize the apartment, remove the covers from the sockets in order to glue the canvas directly on them. After the wallpaper has dried, holes are carefully cut out and the socket housings are put back in place.
- You can glue uneven joints at the ceiling with the help of borders.
- When working with external corners, it is good to use a special plastic corner to match the color of the finish.
The choice of the correct “reference point” and the strictly vertical orientation of the stripes are the key conditions for a neat and high-quality finish.
