Anyone who told you that wallpaper installations are very hard probably never gave you the chance to prove to them that you can do it! Getting a professional wallpaper installer to help you hang your choice wallpapers on your wall is sure to cost you some big buck, but what exactly are you paying for? I’ll tell you later.
Before we go fully in for a DIY on how to install wallpapers, let’s start with knowing what we will need to get the job done.
What you need for an easy Wallpaper Installation activity.
-
Wallpaper
-
Paint Roller
-
Wallpaper Brush
-
Razor blades
-
Buckets
-
Water
-
Measuring Tapes
-
Foam.
For anyone to have decided to choose wallpaper over paint, then they’ve probably been dreaming about it for a while, seeing your home’s interior finished with the choicest wallpapers. After getting the above-listed items for a successful wallpaper installation project, then you just have to follow these few steps…
First Step: Wall Preparation
Wall preparation is the first thing you’ll have to do in order to get an easy installation experience. An Improper wall preparation will have your wallpaper tearing off in no time.
Wall preparation means that you’ll have to make sure your wall is smooth and nice. Peel off loose paints and use a very hard sandpaper to level paint bumps or cement moulds. You can also spray some water on the wall to loosen the bumps so scraping off will be easy. You can use the foam to soak some water and rub it all over the wall, this will have the wall prepared, and have it wet so you don’t spend too much adhesive getting your wall wet.
If the paint on the wall is an emulsion paint with too much powder content, then you’ll need to scoop off as much powder as you can with your wet foam.
For a better effect, after making the wall smooth with a sandpaper, you can wash the wall wholly with a mixture of vinegar and warm water.
Second Step: Get Your Wallpaper Ready
Getting your wallpaper ready will make pasting them on your wall an easy activity.
Measure your wall from floor to ceiling, and add an extra length of 4 inches to serve as an error factor, and then cut through.
Note: Before you cut the next row, b sure to study the pattern of the wallpaper you are using, cut it in a way such that every end of a pattern one roll must match perfectly with the design on the other roll when they are both installed side by side. Brick shade should continue to its corresponding brick, a floral design should continue into its other half on the next roll.
That’s the professionalism on the job, this is why you need to cut with 100% attention.
If your wallpaper is one of the Italian brands or one from Singapore, then you may need to have it soaked in water for a period of 5 minutes, and allowed to drip for 10 minutes. If it is one of the Chinese brands, then you do not need to soak them at all.
Third Step: Adhesive Preparation
The basic rule of thumb in this step is to blend one liter of bond with one and a half litre of water. This is important because if your adhesive does not hold well, you wallpapers will continue to fall off even before they stick to the wall.
Pick up your bucket and pour in your adhesive, add the corresponding measurement of water gently as you stir it with your paint roller until the mixture becomes uniform. Roll the wallpaper on the wall and monitor the speed with which it drips down, too fast is too watery, too slow is too think and will make moving the wallpaper around difficult, so you just need one that drips down as fast as ‘sluggish’ can be.
Fourth Step: Roll the adhesive on the Wall
With your paint roller, roll the adhesive on the wall. Do not roll it on the entire will in the room, wallpaper installation is done piece by piece, thus, you’ll only need to add your adhesive on the surface area of the wall where your next roll of wallpaper will occupy. Totally applying your adhesive on every wall will have it dried up even before you get to the next spot.
For edges like the top of the wall where the ceiling meets the wall, you will need to use a wallpaper brush so your glue can totally cover every part of the wall in order to make your wallpaper hold at all the edges. Loopholes can cause a disaster.