In the good old days, wallpaper was often considered the low end of decorating; patterns were limited and it was the very devil to clean, using that dough-like cleaner.
But it was inexpensive, and in many cases it held some of the crumbling plaster together.
Painted walls ruled supreme; there were lots of colors and the oil-based paints were easy to wash.
Today, the tables are turned somewhat. Wallpaper is “in” and paint is prosaic. There are only so many colors you can get in paint, while wallpaper provides an infinite variety of patterns as well as colors. And the patterns keep getting more elegant, with borders and other nice touches.
Another thing is different about wallpaper. It is expensive. But it is also durable, vinyl-coated, and often strippable, and is washed as easily as paint. More easily, in fact. There are also special papers designed to cover all defects in a super-rough wall, even over concrete and other unfriendly surfaces.
Considering the cost of wallpaper, today called wallcoverings, you could always paper only one wall, as an accent. Or, install a border at the top of the wall or as a chair rail or at the top of wainscoting. There are lots of ways you can use borders.
Well-stocked wallpaper shops carry most brands.
OK, it’s time to do it.
But not quite yet. The old has to o come off, first. If the old is strippable, all you have to do, maybe, is grab a corner at the top and pull off a strip, dry. No fuss, no bother.
If it is not strippable, it’s not necessarily easy to remove. If you plan to remove a lot of paper, renting a steamer will make the work go much faster, with a minimum of mess.
If you are going to do only a room or so, use hot water and a stripper additive. There are a number of new additives on the market which claim miraculous results.
Use a wide putty knife to scrape, or a scraper with a wide razor blade, designed for paper removal.
If the paper is on a plaster surface, removal is a cinch. If it is on unpainted plasterboard, it will be miserable to remove, because it is hard to avoid gouging or scratching the paper finish of the palsterboard. Extreme care is required.
If you do mess up, you can cover those gouges and scratches with joint compound; let it dry and sand smooth.
Old-fashioned non-vinyl-coated paper will come off hardly without trying. If the old paper is vinyl coated or painted, you have to do a little extra work before scraping.
The vinyl coating or paint is waterproof, so steam or hot water will not penetrate it. So, you have to score the covering; a good way is to hold a hand saw horizontally, teeth against the paper, and bring it down the covering. The teeth will score through the coating but will not affect the wall itself. Wallpaper shops sell special scoring tools. One is called Tiger Claws.
Now you can use steamer or hot water.
Once the paper is off, wash the wall with lots of warm water, to remove little shards of paper that remain, and to dissolve and wash off the previous paste and glue size. Several washings may be necessary. If you cannot get all the paste off, it is probably OK to go ahead and paper, because what is left on the wall (as long as it is smooth), will make the paper stick better.
Be sure to put down tarpaulins to catch the paper and keep water off the floor. Many a floor has been ruined by careless paper removal. It’s a chore to take up those pieces of paper that fall to the floor, paste side up. That paste is active and will stick the paper to the floor as tightly as it did to the wall.
Now you’re ready to put up the paper, almost. One more thing to do: If your walls are unpainted plasterboard, it is a good idea to paint it with a coat of oil-based primer such as Kilz, or a latex undercoater. This will allow the paper that is applied to come off more easily when the time comes.
Next, apply a glue size (sold at paper shops) to the wall. This does two things: It makes it easier to apply new paper (allowing it to be moved into place or adjusted), and easier to remove in the future.
Wallpaper is sold by the roll, which is approximately 32 square feet. Seldom can you buy a single roll; most paper is sold in double or triple rows.
To determine how much paper you need, measure walls (multiply the height and width of the wall to get the area in square feet). Ignore windows and doors. Add up the area of all walls, add 20 percent (for waste), and divide by 32. The result is the number of single rolls you need. You can return unused rolls.
As for paste, the newest type paste is vinyl, which comes premixed in a bucket. It is very thick and can be thinned somewhat with water, but not too much.
Most new wallpapers are prepasted; all you have to do is add water according to instructions and hang the paper. Some old-timers ignore the prepaste and hang the paper with vinyl paste.
One good thing about the vinyl paste is that it can be used when applying vinyl paper, such as a border, over a vinyl-coated paper. Non-vinyl paste does not usually work when applying paper to paper. This also comes in handy when papering over old paper, which is sometimes done to avoid stripping the old paper.
To hang paper, you need a few tools: a bucket for paste, a smoothing brush, seam roller for pressing seams tightly, a straightedge, a level, sponge, and lots of water. And a utility knife with lots of extra blades for cutting the paper. Modern papers are best cut with a utility knife, which is also good for cutting wet paper. When the knife wrinkles the paper instead of cutting it, change blades.
If you are using paste, you also need a a paste brush. If you are going the prepaste, you need a trough for dipping the strips.
The only real rule in hanging paper is to hang it plumb; vertical, that is, straight up and down. Don’t follow a slanting ceiling or sloping floor. You will end up with a house more crooked looking than it is.
Pasting tables can be rented, but it is easier and less expensive to lay a large piece of plywood on a bed or table. Lay newspapers on the plywood to paste a strip; after hanging the first strip, put on another layer of newspapers to await the second strip.
Cut a strip about 6 inches longer than the height of the wall from baseboard to ceiling. Lay it face down on the table and paste it thoroughly (the newspaper ink will not run). The table is shorter than the strip; so to paste it, paste the bottom half first, fold it over itself, reposition the strip and paste the top half. This will also make it easier to carry and apply the strip to the wall.
Start in a corner, preferably behind a door. Measure the width of the strip (it can vary, but 28 inches is a convenient width) for demonstration purposes. Measure 27 1/2 inches out from a corner and make a mark near the ceiling and a corresponding mark near the baseboard. Connect these marks with a pencil line, making sure it is plumb; use a spirit level to determine this. The 27 1/2-inch measure from the corner will allow the paper to turn the corner by 1/2-inch. Never turn the corner with any more than 1/2-inch of paper; anything larger and the paper will wrinkle.
Hang the strip, lining one side up with the pencil line. Smooth it out with the smoothing brush, and cut the paper at the ceiling and the baseboard. Wipe the strip with a sponge and water to remove any paste that got on the paper. Do this frequently and thoroughly; dried paste, especially vinyl, is very difficult to remove.
Hang the next strip, being sure to line up the pattern on the first strip. When you reach a corner, cut the strip vertically so it turns that second corner by 1/2-inch. Use the piece you cut off to continue around the corner, but you have to make another plumb line on the second wall to make sure the strips on that wall are also plumb.
Continue all the way around the room. You will never match the last strip with the first but that is characteristic of wallpaper that has a pattern.
Papering around windows and doors is tricky. As you lay a strip next to the window, it will also cover the window frame; tuck the paper into the space between wall and frame, and cut. Do the same above and below the window. Doors are only a little easier.
The best thing about hanging paper is that when you are done, you are competely done. There is no need for painting, staining, varnishing, and other finishing touches.
Just a little cleaning up, and you can sit down and relax, enjoying what a dandy job you did. And the admiration of your helpmate, maybe even the neighbors.
