Advice

The first thing to consider is the condition of the wall.

Some walls may be ‘good-to go’, especially if the plasterwork has old paint on it and there is nothing flaking or loose material. If a wall has been previously wallpapered, it’s often better to wallpaper over the original as long as it is well adhered, rather than try to strip the old paper.

Some walls may require a little preparation before your paper can be hung. To see if your wall needs sealing or sizing to prevent the paste absorbing into the wall, try the ‘flick test’. Flick some water from a saucer at the wall – if it soaks into the wall it needs sealing/sizing – if it runs down the wall it doesn’t.

To seal a wall, we recommend a PVA based size diluted to the manufacturer’s instructions and painted onto the porous area. Don’t go over the top and put so much PVA on that it forms a skin on the wall – this could lead to bonding issues.

Non-porous smooth surfaces will need a light sanding to form a ‘key’ and stability for the paste to bond to.

If the wall texture is very rough it advisable to sand down the high points.

Once the wall is prepared you are ready to hang the paper. Only the wallpaper needs to be pasted, not the wall. Use a paste brush and paste the paper from the edges to the centre of the paper. Remember to soak it as described earlier and then use a paste of suitable quality.

Use the paste to the instructions recommended on the roll – typically for example you will need at least a kilo of ready mixed paste per standard roll.

We recommend a good quality ready mixed paste as they tend to have superior adhesion characteristics. A good ready mixed normally contains higher quality ingredients such as PVA for example. Ready mixed pastes also have a much higher percentage of bonding agents in than flake types, around 20% for ready mixed and only 4 or 5% for flake type pastes.

Always allow plenty of time for the wallpaper to dry out especially when the surface is going to be painted.

Never try to speed up the process by advancing the drying process – such as turning the heating up in the room. This can result in the paper drying much more quickly than the paste behind meaning the paste does not have the time to bond the paper in its expanded state before it shrinks too quickly with the heat being applied – the result will be lifting and shrinking.

Always allow plenty of time for the wallpaper to dry out before painting. As a guide, each 5l tin of Patiné Paint will cover approximately 25 square meters of wall.

Patiné Paints, and most modern paints, are ‘water based’ so when the paint is applied to the surface of the wallpaper the paper will try to expand. If the bond is fully cured and as strong as it should be, the surface will not be able to expand and a very satisfactory finish will be the result. But if the bond strength is inadequate then lifting, especially at seams will result.

Please note the paint will not penetrate all the way through the paper and be able to weaken the paste bond directly – the paint can only cause shrinking if the bond with the wall is too weak.

The use of primer before the paint is not necessary. Use a standard emulsion such as our Patiné Paint, making sure all the relief is covered by applying with a brush rather than roller. We would recommend 2 coats, with the first coat being thinned by 5 – 10% with water.

All our papers are made from responsibly sourced pulp which is a natural product, so very slight variations in whiteness can result from batch to batch as a result. When painting our products with modern paints  two coats are recommended to achieve the best results – this will normally also ensure any shade variation is completely eliminated.

Wallpaper that has been previously painted can be re-painted. So if you fancy a change, it’s easy to transform your room with colour.

Tones of separate batches may vary slightly so for full colour consistency, we always recommend purchasing sufficient paint for the complete job at one time.  Store upright, in dry conditions above 5 degrees Centigrade. Stir thoroughly before use.  Using paint that has been stored for several months or even years will need a very good level of agitation to fully re-mix the ingredients to ensure colour consistency throughout.  We would recommend carefully shaking the tin prior to opening and then using something robust to stir it well, ensuring that the base and bottom rim is scraped to lift any settled material from the base of the tin.

An important rule when hanging traditional wallpaper is to let it soak after being pasted for the correct time. The minimum time is stated on the label.

Inadequate soaking time can lead to bubbling, shrinkage and lifting.

Traditional paper based wallpaper is made with natural cellulose material which expands in dimensions when it is pasted (soaked) with adhesive (paste). Typically a 52cm wide wallpaper will expand 6 to 8mm across its width and length –which is over 1.5%.

It takes time for the paper to expand fully – generally the thicker the paper, the longer the soaking time – depending on the wallpaper type you will see soaking times between 6 minutes and 20 minutes.

If the paper is not allowed to expand fully on the paste table then it will carry on expanding on the wall – the classic cause of bubbling wallpaper. If the bubbling is not excessive then it may go flat as it dries out when the paper shrinks in the areas that have bubbled.

If paper expands when wet then it will want to shrink back to its original dimensions when it is drying. This is why the wall preparation and the quality of paste you are using is so important because the paste doesn’t simply bond the paper to the wall but its job is also to permanently hold the wallpaper in its expanded state whilst the paper and wall dries out.

If the paste doesn’t do its job, either because it is not suitable or because of wall preparation, or both, then the paper will shrink and you will see gaps opening up at the seams as the paste loses its fight against the paper wanting to shrink – in really bad cases the paper will lift off completely towards the edges.

Two useful tips are to tape seams with a masking tape once the paper is hung, and remove it once dry, and if lifting occurs, run a small amount of mastic along the seam prior to painting.

Hanging and painting your wallpaper isn’t difficult and can be done yourself with a few tools and following our guide above. However, if you prefer to use a professional to hang or paint the paper, we recommend finding a decorator in your area.