Paper-Hangings Feature Article
Rediscovering Wallpaper
By Robert M. Kelly
This article is about the nature of paper: why we use it for covering the wall, how we use it, how it reacts to water, and why it reacts this way. When I say "wallpaper" I mean just that. A traditional, unpasted paper, from companies such as Clarence House, Galacar & Co., Brunschwig & Fils, and Scalamandre. Most handscreens fall into this category.
This category also includes English paper like Cowtan & Tout. And it includes the most water-sensitive types of wallpaper, the French blockprints from Zuber and Mauny. What do these wallpapers have in common, besides being expensive, and sold through showrooms? They are all traditional, "real" paper, and require specialized techniques.
Ironically, we have now exactly the reverse of the situation in 1950 or so. Then, the great majority of wallcoverings were paper; they could be hung with a well established routine, with a few specialized techniques required for the "different" product........vinyl. Now the situation is reversed. Vinyl is firmly in the mainstream, and wallpaper installation has become "different" and specialized.
If you want to make every installation with showroom quality wallpaper a successful one, you may need to "rediscover" wallpaper and learn about what makes it tick. This article would not have been necessary 40, or maybe even 20 years ago, but it is surely necessary now.
Today we have an entire generation of paperhangers who routinely (1) use a paint-roller or machine to apply paste; (2) use pre-mix vinyl adhesive exclusively for unpasted material; (3) wash and roll seams vigorously; (4) use rigid vinyl smoothers to force the material tight against the wall and (5) never use a blankstock lining paper.
You can hang the vast majority of vinyl and vinyl-coated products successfully with these techniques but if you use them with paper, you will, sooner or later, run into a very serious problem with a room full of very expensive paper. I guarantee it.
This doesn't necessarily mean that there's anything wrong with your skills. My experience as a consultant and free-lance troubleshooter for the high-end wallpaper showrooms has proven to me that the key to solving problems is communication. In almost every "problem" installation, the wallpaper has arrived on the job with missing, outdated or contradictory guidelines. The paperhanger most often falls into his usual routine, outlined above. Sooner or later disaster strikes, and the usual reason is the most predictable one: paper does not act like vinyl. It never has, and it never will.
The majority of professional paperhangers have decent skills, and can, with coaching, adapt these skills to the problem at hand. The first step in the right direction is to recognize that paper is radically different from vinyl. Paper is porous, vinyl is not. Paper will conform and adapt to pressure, vinyl springs back. Paper is easily bruised, vinyl is not. Paper needs a high-moisture low-tack system, vinyl needs a low-moisture, high-tack system. And we could go on and on.
The few comments below about the nature of paper are offered as food for thought. I hope they can help you to "rediscover wallpaper" so that your business can grow and prosper when you find yourself facing a showroom quality wallpaper.
Why we use it for covering the wall
Wallpaper is flexible! Think about it, when an old plaster wall begins to belly out, not to mention a newly sheetrocked corner that is heading south, how can you hang a perfectly straight piece of anything on it! You can't! You have to be able to adjust the material to the wall. Traditional paper does this very well by stretching. With vinyls you have to double-cut or use a heat gun, duplicating the way that the vinyl sheet is formed in the first place, under extreme heat.
How we use it
Paper, at the microscopic level, is made up of bundles of fibers that have enough integrity to stay together, but enough "looseness" so that they become flexible when wet; paper accepts a thin starchy paste readily, is easily adhered to the wall, and is able to absorb and carry inks, embossing, and other decorative effects without changing shape during the pasting and hanging process.
How it reacts to water
Paper expands when wet and fully relaxed, typically 1%. This translates into 3/8 of an inch for a 20 and 1/2 inch paper. This is perfectly normal, as is the slight contraction that takes place on drying. What is not normal are wild fluctuations in either expansion or contraction. These are product defects and should be recognized as such.
The challenge of installing paper is to anticipate the amount of contraction that will take place, and plan for it with correct wall prep and technique. This is where the blankstock liner comes in, to provide an optimum hanging surface that absorbs moisture quickly enough to set the seams before they have a chance to pull apart and split.
Why it reacts this way
Paper needs water to relax because, unlike vinyl, it is not supple in and of itself. But while it needs water, it needs only a certain amount. Many showroom wallpapers are colored with sensitive inks that can be damaged by oversoaking or overworking the seams.
The best analogy I can think of is the proper procedure for making French Toast! You don't soak the bread in the batter until it is completely saturated. The batter should sink into the bread only partially. In the same way the paste should sink only partially into the paper, just enough to relax it thoroughly. Booking a paper excessively is an invitation to "strike-through" - this is when the moisture comes all the way through to the face. "Strike-through" can damage the inks, resulting in shading or spotting.
Conclusion
The fact that wallpaper needs water to relax explains why a high-moisture paste such as wheat or cellulose should be used. Even a clear premixed vinyl, which contains about 75% water in the pail, needs to be knocked back quite a bit to fully relax the material. The moisture content should be closer to 90% for paper. Because it absorbs so much water, paper may need to be double-pasted.
Paper does not require the same degree of pressure during installation as vinyl, particularly with sweeping. If the paste is the correct consistency, and if the face of the paper is still porous, expansion bubbles will dry out by evaporating through the face of the paper; they do not have to be forced out.
Every installation for the high-end designer trade needs to be approached cautiously and with respect. Designers and customers are ready to demand a high level of proficiency, and rightfully so, as the material is always expensive. When getting involved in a job of this type, learn to take your cues from the nature of the paper itself. Test it, and observe the results; listen to what the paper is telling you. This is the best and perhaps the only way to make every wallpaper installation a successful and profitable one.
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