Wall decoration in residential premises is most often carried out using wallpaper. Rolled products are quite simple to use, they allow you to completely transform the interior in a short time. To perform such work, it is not necessary to hire craftsmen, as any housewife will cope with this task. However, before proceeding with the repair, it is worth reading the instructions on how to glue the wallpaper on one, and what is needed for this.
Where to start?
Any repair work begins with the calculation of the required amount of material and its acquisition. To determine how much wallpaper you need, measure the width of the walls in the room. The height of the ceilings in the apartment is also important. Knowing these parameters, you can understand how many rolls you need.
Please note that modern paintings can have different widths. If the old-style rolls had parameters of 70 cm, then the standard indicators of modern products are 53 cm. Products with a width of 106 cm are also on sale. Each roll is 10 meters long.
To understand how much material you need, conditionally divide the wall into strips. Knowing the height of the ceilings in the apartment, you can calculate how many strips will come from 1 roll. With a standard indicator of 2.5 meters, you will get 4 stripes from one roll.
If the pattern on the wallpaper involves selection, the number of stripes in a roll will be reduced to 3 pieces. Divide the number you need (the number of stripes in the entire room) by 4 (or 3), and you will find out how many rolls you need to purchase.
How to choose a wallpaper?
When the hostess needs to glue the wallpaper alone (both narrow and wide), monophonic canvases will be the best choice. It is easiest to work with them, since it is not required to perform the selection of an ornament. However, such options are suitable only in those cases when a strict and restrained design is created.
Wallpaper with patterns looks much more interesting, but working with them is much more complicated. During installation, you will have to carefully dock the strips so that the picture does not diverge and the walls look presentable.
When choosing finishes with patterns, pay attention to the fact that the appearance of the picture should be selected according to the parameters of the room. If it is a small space, it is better to give preference to products with small patterns. Wallpaper with a large pattern visually fill the space, so it is better to use them in spacious rooms.
Recommendations by experts on the choice of wallpaper
Experienced craftsmen say that the basis of the wallpaper is very important. So, paper products tend to quickly soak, but they are cheaper and more suitable for those who perform the work for the first time.
Non-woven and vinyl varieties are much more difficult to glue. Firstly, when applying glue, they stretch and become heavy. Paste the wallpaper alone, as you might guess, it will be very difficult.
Secondly, after drying, the canvases are compressed again, which affects the appearance of the walls differently. Often there is a divergence of seams, often drawing moves out. For this reason, experts do not recommend choosing expensive options for self-pasting the walls, since there is a high probability of the appearance of defects.
Which glue to choose?
A wide variety of adhesives is presented on the construction market, however, all of them are made on the basis of one main component - starch. Based on this, it makes no sense to purchase expensive options, since they practically do not differ from the simplest counterparts.
Pay attention to the information icons of the wallpaper manufacturer. On each roll there is data on the footage of the product, the preferred conditions for its use and recommendations on the choice of glue. Pick up any composition you like, study its consumption per m2 and get the quantity you need (based on the area of the walls of your room).
How to glue one wallpaper: preparing the surface for work
Before you start gluing the wallpaper, you should prepare the walls. First, the old coating is removed. To do this, you will need a small spatula. Pry the strip in a place convenient for you and tear it off the wall. If the wallpaper is too firmly held on the base, wet the old canvas. Wet paper is easier to peel off and faster.
If the walls were painted before, they must be cleaned of the old finish. Aqueous emulsion ink can simply be washed out with water, and oil compositions can be cleaned off well with special washes.
Before you glue the wallpaper yourself, evaluate the condition of the base. If there are weakly stuck plaster areas and sagging on the wall, the surface must be completely cleaned of defects. Please note that small debris and minor irregularities will certainly be visible through the wallpaper. Therefore, the walls under the wallpaper should be aligned.
Wall Preparation Methods
If the differences on the surface of the walls are insignificant, you can smooth the base with the help of finishing putty. Dilute the selected composition and apply to the walls with a wide spatula. This method can be used in cases where the depth of the bumps does not exceed 5 mm.
If the wall is characterized by numerous and deep defects, you will not be able to quickly paste the wallpaper (both independently and with the help of specialists). In such situations, alignment is done using plaster on the beacons. The composition applied to the walls should dry well (from 2 to 7 days), after which the walls can be primed.
Porous surfaces are primed 2-3 times. If you are dealing with a concrete wall, a single treatment will be sufficient.
How to quickly paste wallpapers: rules for kneading glue
The process of transforming the room should begin with the preparation of glue. Check the manufacturer’s recommendations for the amount of water and dry mix, and then get to work. The glue kneading instruction is as follows:
- Pour the right amount of water into the prepared container. For dry powder to dissolve faster, use a warm liquid.
- Take a brush with a long handle (or a regular stick) and start stirring the water in a circle until a funnel forms in the center.
- Continuing to stir, pour wallpaper glue along the edge of the funnel.
- Allow the mixture to infuse (the necessary time is indicated on the packaging of the composition). Re-mix the composition.
When mixing glue, pour the dry mixture into water, in no case, not vice versa! Do not use too hot water, as it kills all the antifungal additives found in modern formulations and contributes to the formation of lumps.
If you choose heavy varieties of cloths, add a little PVA to the finished glue. This will make the fixation more reliable.
Wallpaper preparation and cutting
Before starting work, close all windows and doors in the room. The presence of the slightest draft will lead to the fact that the canvas swell and fall away. Then thoroughly wash the floor in the room. On it you will cut the canvas, so the surface should be absolutely clean.
Print the roll, lay on the floor a strip of old wallpaper or paper. Position the canvas on the base and measure the length of the required size. Cut the wallpaper not strictly according to the height of the ceiling, but make a margin of a couple of centimeters.
If you glue wallpaper without selection, you can immediately cut the rolls into segments of the desired length. Wallpaper with a large pattern, requiring the joining of strips, so it will not be possible to cut. First, measure one strip, turn it upside down, place the second strip nearby and move it until the pattern matches. Cut off excess parts.
Where to apply glue?
When using simple paper webs, glue was always applied to the wrong side of the wallpaper. However, in recent years, the application of wallpaper glue on the wall has been practiced. This is due to the fact that there are many varieties of paintings that, when wet, lose their density and original size. They are more convenient to use in dry form.
In addition, when applying glue to the surface, you save yourself from smudges on the floor and clothes. Work is faster, the process is cleaner.
Use a paint roller to coat the surface with adhesive. In hard to reach places and corners, it is better to use a wide brush for this purpose. The wall is spread over the width of one strip with a small margin. The rest of the surface is processed immediately before gluing the canvas.
What section of the wall to start work with?
The question of where to start gluing the wallpaper does not have a clear answer. Some masters recommend first of all to paste over even walls that do not cause difficulties, while others - to start work from the corner.
Since the corners are uneven in most apartments, it is better to start finishing with them. In this case, you can start from absolutely any angle. The process is as follows:
- Step away from the corner to a distance equal to the width of your roll. Using a plumb line, draw a vertical line on the wall.
- Place the first strip parallel to the marking. In this case, the edge of the canvas should go slightly to the corner. With further gluing, you will cover it with a whole strip, which will allow you to accurately draw up the problem area.
- Attach the top edge of the canvas to the wall first, align the strip in a line and press the entire segment of wallpaper to the base. The upper border of the canvas should be adjacent to the ceiling.
- When the canvas is already fixed on the wall, air bubbles should be squeezed out from under it. To do this, you can use a clean sponge or a special wallpaper roll with a rubberized surface.
So glue all the walls. Align subsequent stripes not along the line, but along the previous canvas. First press only the top edge, align the entire strip and fix it on the wall.
The average drying time of the paintings and glue is 24-72 hours (depending on the type of wallpaper). During the specified period, windows and doors in the room cannot be opened.
How to make seams?
If you have a question about how to glue the wallpaper: butt or lap, then choose the option of evenly joining adjacent strips. However, there are cases when the edges of the roll are not trimmed evenly enough, because of which a beautiful docking is simply impossible.
In this case, you will have to arrange the wallpaper with an overlap. So that the strips do not appear on the walls, the edges of the paintings should be cut with a clerical knife. For this work, special accuracy, a margin of time and a fairly sharp knife are needed.
To make the seam beautiful, position the edge of the new strip so that it goes a few millimeters onto the previous canvas. Fix the strip on the wall, squeeze out excess air from under it and proceed to trim the excess. Take a long rule or ruler, attach it to the canvas and cut through two layers of wallpaper. After removing the trimmed strip, you will get a straight and smooth seam. Walk on it several times with a wallpaper roller.
Designing complex areas
Since the work of wallpapering is considered to be quite wet, it is better to disconnect electric sockets and switches. In order not to suffer with cutting holes for these elements, first remove their plastic parts from the walls. In the process, just glue the strip evenly, and after it dries, cut a hole for the exit of electrical wires. Then reinstall the switch keys and sockets, hiding the edges of the wallpaper under them.
When you need to glue the wallpaper behind the battery, it is better to remove it. If this is not possible, cut out the required number of holes for the pipes in the canvas and fix the wallpaper behind the radiator.
Door and window openings are made according to a similar principle. If you have purchased wallpapers with a margin, use the whole strip. Glue it to the edge of the wall, and cut off the excess part above the opening with a knife. So you get the most even cut.
If the number of wallpapers does not allow you to do the job in this way, you will have to transfer the opening parameters to the wrong side of the canvas and cut a segment taking into account all the roughnesses of the wall.
Do not try to form corner sections in one strip, as folds and air bubbles are necessarily formed in these places. The ideal option is when two canvases are joined in a corner, while one of them goes behind the other.
To summarize
Self-adhesive wallpaper will be able to anyone. The result of the work done will depend on compliance with the above recommendations. Particular attention is paid to the seams. If you join the canvas, then there is no difference where to start gluing the wallpaper. When working with an overlap, it is better to start from a window. So the seams will be less noticeable.