How To Prepare A Wall For Wallpapering, Expert Advice

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 22:24

• Where to start repair
• Always Remember Safety
• Once again about deleting old wallpaper
• The most important thing
• Preparing the wall surface for wallpapering

Wallpaper is the most popular type of finishing materials. A huge variety of colors and patterns, a wide range of prices make the described material the most demanded in the construction market.

But you need to know how to properly prepare the walls for gluing wallpaper, so that the most expensive wallpaper looks beautiful on the walls, if it is correctly executed for pasting.

Let's say right away that preparing the surface for gluing wallpaper is not difficult, but requires certain knowledge, skills and special tools. A beginner can easily cope with such a task if he carefully reads the proposed article.

Where to start repair

Any work begins with a preparation process. You need to purchase the material itself and related products, tools and accessories.

We have talked about the rules for choosing wallpaper on the pages of our site more than once.

From the tools you will need:

• a mandrel for attaching an abrasive or a grinding block;
• abrasive material;
• sanding sponges for hard-to-reach areas.

You can use a sanding mesh as an abrasive material, but it is cheaper to use sandpaper. The quality of work will not suffer from this.

The use of a sanding mesh makes work more comfortable, since the mesh is not clogged with debris and dust during operation. But the correct paper also gives very good results. In addition, it is much cheaper than mesh.

The abrasive is marked on the back. Numbers 80 … 200 characterize the coarse-grained structure of the abrasive, and numbers 250 … 2500 indicate the fine-grained structure of the emery material.

Sanding pads are available with cut corners for easy handling of hard-to-reach areas.

Of the accessories you will need:

• stepladder or sturdy table;
• spotlight or lighting fixture;
• spatulas;
• rule or level.

Always Remember Safety

Any work should be enjoyable and not have a harmful effect on human health. Preparing walls for wallpapering is a messy, dusty process.

You cannot do without goggles, respirator or gauze bandage, headgear.

Removing the old coating

If you are going to glue the wallpaper in a new room, then the brick surface will need to be plastered, putty, grinded, primed.

A drywall surface requires a finishing putty and priming.

A more time-consuming process awaits you if you are going to re-glue the wallpaper or stick it on a painted or wooden surface.

You will need to prepare the surface by removing old wallpaper, paint, and nails. The wooden wall will have to be plastered or sheathed with plasterboard.

Everything in order

Any surface is freed from the old coating, dried and primed. If the surface is very uneven, it is plastered.

After drying for a day, the surface is again primed. The primer is applied after each layer of plaster or putty.

Rule 1

To obtain a high quality surface that can last tens of years, be sure to use all consumables from the same manufacturer.

If you bought plaster from a certain manufacturer, then the putty and primer should preferably be from this manufacturer.

Once again about deleting old wallpaper

You can use different methods to remove old wallpaper.

The simplest and most reliable way is to moisten the surface with a warm detergent solution. The solution is applied to the wallpaper with a sponge, roller, sprayers. With a pause of 15 minutes, you can carefully remove the lagging and swollen wallpaper with a spatula.

This method is good for removing thin paper wallpapers.

Do not forget that you cannot remove multi-layered wallpaper in this way. They are removed by using a steam generator or by ironing them with a hot iron through a damp cloth.

Multilayer wallpaper includes non-woven, vinyl, washable wallpaper, since it has a top protective layer that prevents water from entering the surface.

The most important thing

To obtain a high-quality surface for gluing wallpaper, it is necessary to carry out finishing grinding.

To prepare the walls for wallpapering, perform the basic operations:

1. Install the correct side lighting. The light source must remain in one place throughout the entire work.
2. Sand the walls from top to bottom with a circular motion of the tool.
3. Treat strips no wider than 1 meter. After going down the strip to the very bottom, sand the next strip of the same width.
4. Control the surface for light with a level or rule applied to the surface to be treated.

Never try to sand pits or depressions. You will only spoil the surface. Better putty the detected defect. With subsequent surface cleaning

When preparing walls for wallpaper, small scratches are allowed on the sanded surface.

A few words about the mechanization of the process

The use of mechanical devices is advisable when removing old paint, plaster, rough sanding.

At the finishing stage, it is best for a beginner to use hand tools. It is both more reliable and cheaper, albeit longer in time. For more advanced builders, we recommend using eccentric or orbital sanders.

Preparing the wall surface for wallpapering

You have completed the preliminary steps - removed the old cover. Where necessary, a layer of plaster was applied.

Let's make a reservation right away. The plaster should only be used on very uneven walls or on brick or wood substrates.

By the way, plaster is applied to the wooden base along the pre-nailed shingles.

Before applying the putty, a layer of primer is applied to the thoroughly dried layer of plaster.

Rule 2 The

primer is applied to a completely dried layer of plaster or putty.

We have written in detail on the pages of our website about the rules for applying plaster or putty when leveling walls.

Useful tips for beginners when preparing walls for wallpapering

1. When applying wallpaper in a damp room, treat the surface with an antiseptic.
2. Apply a layer of plaster if the walls are curved.
3. Apply the putty on drywall or previously plastered surfaces.
4. Sanding is necessary on the surface under a thin wallpaper or paint layer.
5. Grind in a circular motion with the skin grater, without pressing hard on the tool.
6. Start sanding with a coarse grit. If deep scratches remain, select a finer sanding structure.
7. In hard-to-reach places, use special sanding pads. But you can use the old-fashioned method by folding sandpaper in several layers, putting a rag or soft washcloth inside.
8. Perform surface quality control by applying a level plane or a rule to the polished surface.
9. After sanding, be sure to thoroughly clean the surface from the formed dust.
10. Apply a layer of primer to the dried surface. For porous surfaces, several coats of primer are required.

It is ideal to use wallpaper glue as a wall primer when pasting wallpaper. The dilution ratio is written on the adhesive packaging.

Rule 3

About how to properly prepare walls for wallpapering. For coarse grinding sandpaper No. 100 … 220 is used, and fine grinding is performed with abrasive material No. 250-280.

The markings on the sanding grid and sandpaper are applied to the back of the material.

Conclusion:

• prepare a surface for wallpapering is available to anyone who has read the proposed instructions;
• you can get a high-quality surface using related materials from one manufacturer;
• strictly observe the sequence of work on the preparation of walls for wallpapering;
• take your time and don't stop halfway.

Our article and video will help you understand how to wallpaper a wall with high quality.

I wish you success!

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