How to glue non-woven vinyl wallpaper

Recommendation points

• Where can I glue non-woven vinyl wallpaper?
• Requirements for surface quality
• Preparing walls before pasting
• Bonding process and sequence
• Completion of work

Non-woven vinyl wallpaper is an excellent choice for interior decoration. In addition to a large selection of patterns, these wallpapers have a pleasant embossed surface, which is not only decorative, but also sound-absorbing to some extent. We want to tell you about how to properly glue non-woven vinyl wallpaper.

Where can I glue non-woven vinyl wallpaper?

The use of wallpaper with a non-woven base and vinyl covering is limited not so much by their aesthetic qualities as by their resistance to external influences: mechanical and atmospheric. There is nothing surprising in the fact that the technical restrictions on the use of such wallpapers are quite easy to judge by their appearance: usually these are coverings with rich elegant colors designed to decorate the interior of residential and domestic premises..

Interesting fact:the term “Non-woven” is not the name of the material itself, but one of the popular trade marks. This name combines woven fabrics consisting of cellulose fibers, sometimes with the addition of polyester.

The presence of a vinyl decorative layer brings its own restrictions on the use of wallpaper. The polymer coating is impervious to air, therefore, it is recommended to use such a finish only for walls that are not able to “breathe”, that is, to exchange gas with outside air. This category includes internal partitions, as well as enclosing structures made of bricks, sandwich panels and with internal cladding such materials as OSB.

Finally, the third factor of applicability is economic. Vinyl wallpaper with a non-woven base is a heavy and fairly thick canvas; this is one of the most expensive finishing materials of this kind. The advantages of such a structure are high resistance to mechanical damage and reinforcing ability, which makes it possible to hide and partially prevent cracking of the base. However, such wallpapers have extremely low maintainability. The dense thick covering on the walls is an excellent “scratching post”, literally a magnet for cats, so when the latter live, it is better to abandon the use of vinyl-paper wallpaper, or trim panels about a meter high with other materials.

Requirements for surface quality

Due to the significant thickness of the canvas, vinyl-non-woven wallpaper is able to mask minor wall defects. That is, small indentations, scratches and cracks will ultimately not be noticeable. At the same time, there is a very specific list of requirements for the basis..

First of all, it is important to maintain the plane. As a rule, vinyl wallpaper has a pronounced pattern, usually quite contrasting and repetitive. If there are bumps and holes in local areas, the finishing result will be unsatisfactory due to the distortion of the pattern. Therefore, the curvature tolerance of the walls should be no more than 2 mm in an area of ​​1 m². Acceptable evenness of the walls can be achieved by applying a thin layer of finishing putty.

The second main requirement is the strength and hardness of the top leveling layer. Wallpaper creates a significant load due to its high dead weight, so you should do your best to increase adhesion and promote high-quality adhesion of the glue. For the same purpose, absorbency should be regulated: walls must be covered with reinforcing soil..

Preparing walls before pasting

The need to reduce the hygroscopicity of the base arises from the gluing method: no glue is applied to the canvas, only to the wall. Accordingly, there is a great risk that by the time the wallpaper is adjusted, most of the moisture will simply be absorbed and high-quality setting will not be achieved..

It can be primed in two formulations: adhesive for non-woven wallpaper, diluted with water to a third of the initial concentration, or with a primer, the composition of which is optimal for strengthening a particular type of wall. In general, we recommend universal acrylic impregnations applied in 2 layers. If the time for preparing the base is limited, PVA-based primers that dry within an hour are optimal..

An important point: on crumbling grounds and with severely dirty rooms, there is a high probability of small particles of debris or sand grains sticking to the wall. Therefore, after the soil has dried, the wall must be peeled off with a clean spatula, thereby removing the dried grains.

Bonding process and sequence

It is really easy to work with non-woven vinyl wallpaper: they do not require the canvas to be impregnated with glue for a certain period of time. In addition, due to its high density, such wallpapers almost never shrink when they dry, that is, the seams are guaranteed not to disperse..

The first step is to prepare the work front. The wallpaper is cut in such a way that the length of the canvases is greater than the height of the room, but at the same time remains a multiple of the pattern step. The height of the room must be checked at different points in order to take into account the difference in floor level. It is also imperative to beat off the starting vertical at the edge of the highest wall at a distance from the corner equal to the width of the canvas.

For reference:it is better to use glue for heavy and very heavy wallpaper. Its distinguishing feature is the increased content of methylcellulose, sometimes with the addition of PVA suspension.

Wallpapering is a basic step that is not difficult. The wall is thickly covered with glue; it is better to use a fleecy roller for this. The glue should be applied to an area 5–10 cm wider than the canvas and allowed to air dry for 1–2 minutes. The first sheet is applied to the wall and aligned along the starting line with a uniform offset of 10–20 mm towards the corner. Thus, the other edge is slightly wrapped at an angle, and the final sheet will be glued over it. Since the first strip is glued at the highest point of the ceiling, the canvas is raised as high as possible, the remainder from above is cut off later.

The next segment joins the first one in the drawing. You can move both along the contour of the room and work with separate walls, but be sure to maintain the general direction and correctly overlap the overlaps in the corners.

It remains to clarify only a couple of points, the first of which is the fit to the molding. If the latter does not form a straight horizontal edge, it is better to cut the wallpaper with a sectional or disk blade after drying; otherwise, you can do the cutting in advance, trying on the canvas in place. The second point is bypassing the openings. For open slopes, the canvas is cut beforehand, leaving a release of about 2–3 cm inside the opening, which is cut off after drying. If the slopes are cashed, the slats will have to be temporarily removed: pushing the edge of a thick canvas under them is extremely problematic.

Completion of work

Due to the impervious outer layer, non-woven vinyl wallpaper is less demanding on climate preservation during the drying period. Changes in temperature and humidity practically do not affect the quality of the adhesive bond, it is enough to maintain the temperature at +15 … + 20? С.

It is better to remove excess after complete drying: a thick canvas is confidently cut with a sharp blade if it is completely dry. At the abutment to the molding, the wallpaper must first be rolled with a hard corner roller and the edge must be glued if necessary. Sticking a ceiling plinth over wallpaper is extremely rare..

Some varieties of the wallpapers we have considered have a texture without a pattern, due to which they are suitable for painting. It is better to choose paint and varnish for wallpaper according to the manufacturer’s recommendations in order to avoid chemical incompatibility. Latex-acrylic dispersions are considered the most versatile in this regard, and with the addition of bulk fillers in addition to the pigment – on a silicate basis..