How to Hang Wallcovering

What You Need

Wall Prep Materials

You may need some or all fo the following items: sandpaper, spacklingc compound or drywall compound, putty knife 6 inch, pigmented shellac, 9 inch paint roller and frame, paint brush, wallpaper remover and a good drop cloth. Chance are you already have most of these items.

Hanging Materials

You will also need some or all of these items: Large level, water tray, wallpaper adhesive, paint roller, paint brush, work table or work surface, drop cloth, Olfa razor knife, scissors, straight edge, smoothing tool, sponge bucket with clean and some soft rags.

Before You Start

You will probably need to do some wall preparation. This is the least fun part but a very important part. The time you spend preparing will make the job easier and yield a more satisfactory appearance when installation is completed. Visually examin the walls very carefully filling in any and all little indentations and imperfections with clean drywall compound. Don't over do this or the excess will need to sanded off. Once your wall is smooth and "perfect" condition, it will need to be sealed. Here is where some differences of opinions come into play but I like my way as it is tried and proven. Seal the walls with pigmented shellac diluted slightly with denatured alcahol. I like this because it soaks into the drywall and dries in 30 minutes to a rock hard surface. Put two coats on for good measure and you will not have wall damage later when you remove the wallpaper. Same for old or new walls. Get old walls to a "like new" condition and proceed with the pigmented shellac.

Starting Point

Start in what would be considered the most inconspicuous place in the room because you are going to have at least one mis-match in every room.

You will usually want to your first sheet in the corner behind the door entering the room allowing about 1/4 in. overlap around the corner. You will also want to have the first seam not in the corner perfectly plumb. The easiest way to do this is with a four or six foot level. It is so easy when matching wallcovering patterns to get out of plumb, you must be consistently aware to check and make corrections at every corner. The first strip and each corner corrected strip must be perfectly plumb.

Cutting First Sheet

It is a very good idea to unroll the first double roll of wallcovering to inspect it and become familiar with the pattern. You want to choose a starting point with the top of the wallcovering on the outside of the roll as opposed to being rolled inside with the bottom on the outside. You need to be able to unroll some of the roll with the top in one hand and the roll in the other hand. Pick out an easily recognizable part of the top as a ceiling line or starting point. That will be your starting point for every sheet. If you cut your sheets up in advance, be sure to allow a couple inches extra on both top and bottom. Some times wallcovering comes rolled with the top inside and other times the top is outside.

Transition

We have new materials to work with today that didn't exhist a couple years ago. Different manufactures identify the material by different names but it all works the same. It is not paper. There is no paper in wallpaper. It is a synthetic woven material which will not shrink as paper did. When wet, it does not expand and when dry, it does not shrink. Once it is placed on the wall and seamed up properly, it stays that way. If you have done proper wall preparation, you will be able to remove the entire sheet in one piece when you are ready to hang new wallpaper.