How to prepare a wall for liquid wallpaper

Currently, in construction stores you can find a large number of materials designed for decorative wall decoration. Along with modern paper wallpapers, liquid wallpapers have gained great popularity - they are easy to use, have a special style and are able to please their owners with pristine beauty for many years. Everyone knows the positive properties of liquid wallpaper, but when applying them on the wall yourself, some problems may arise: how to properly prepare the wall, does it need to be aligned or left in the same position? These and other questions will help answer our article.

What is liquid wallpaper

Very often, liquid wallpapers are confused with decorative finishes, even sellers of small shops can say with confidence that this is the same material. In fact, liquid wallpaper is significantly different from plaster both in composition and in the application method.

Liquid wallpaper consists of crushed fibers of cellulose and silk, color pigment, decorative additives and glue. This finishing material does not need detailed preparation, as when applying decorative plaster, however, some nuances are also here. Another fundamental difference from decorative plaster is the creation of a plain surface around the entire perimeter of the wall. Since liquid wallpaper is a rather expensive material, it is necessary that even with time it does not lose its original appearance, and the color of the wall has a special relation to this.

Why do you need to prepare the wall surface in advance

As already noted above, liquid wallpaper is a rather expensive material, so it’s worth it to take the wall preparation with all responsibility. Due to the fact that this material consists of several thick components and water, over time, the wallpaper can change color, acquiring a darker or lighter shade, thereby spoiling the whole style and design of the room. Also, to save material and money, you need to carefully level the surface, eliminate depressions and tubercles, so that the liquid wallpaper lay evenly.

There are some general guidelines for preparing a wall:

1. Before applying liquid wallpaper, it is necessary to carefully check the wall for the presence of small screws, driven nails and other metal objects. Over time, they can begin to rust, which will adversely affect the wallpaper.
2. Carefully remove from the wall all the remnants of the previously applied decorative material - scrape off paint, wallpaper, glue.
3. Primer. Apply a monophonic water dispersion paint, usually a light shade.

It is worth adding that these are just general recommendations for preparing the wall for applying liquid wallpaper. Depending on the type and material of the walls, preparatory activities will also differ.

How to prepare a concrete wall for applying liquid wallpaper

If you are going to apply liquid wallpaper in a brand new apartment, or in a house where the walls are plastered, the principle of operation is slightly different from the general recommendations. Since concrete or plastered surface absorbs a large amount of moisture, it makes no sense to paint the wall with a water dispersion - even after 15 layers applied, the wall will still be the same gray and not monophonic. You can’t use oil paints - they do not allow the walls to breathe, and the composition of liquid wallpaper does not fit well on the acrylic surface. An ideal solution in this case would be a plasterboard putty.It has a white tint, dense structure, which is necessary for the procedures. It is necessary to apply the drywall mixture with a thick layer to hide all the bumps and roughness and make the wall color lighter.

Now that there is a water-repellent base, a soil mixture is applied and painted with water dispersion paint (you need to create 3 layers). If there is no primer nearby or you forgot to buy it, you can replace it with PVA glue, which is mixed with paint in a ratio of 1: 2, respectively.

How to prepare for wall decoration of an old house

Wall decoration in old houses, such as the "Khrushchev", requires special care, since the materials of manufacture are not known and it is not possible to guess whether a stain will appear somewhere or not, and the level of evenness of the walls allows us to wish for the best. That is why the process of painting and leveling should be given more time and effort. In order not to cross out all the repairs done, it is necessary to treat all stages of the preparatory work more responsibly.

1. First of all, it is necessary to remove all the previous decoration - to clear the walls of wallpaper, remove nails, screws and so on.
2. Clean the walls with a primer or a special mixture, which is intended for application under liquid wallpaper.
3. After the base coat dries, apply a primer mixture again for the best result.
4. Next, the wall must be painted with water dispersion paint in two layers. If you think that this is too much, you can reassure you: liquid wallpaper is too expensive a pleasure and you are unlikely to decide to change it every year. Follow all directions implicitly so that the work done will bring you joy, and not new problems, such as how to remove a stain or how to reduce the consumption of liquid wallpaper.
5. After the last coat of paint has dried, proceed with applying the most decorative finish. Since all conditions are created, decorating the walls with liquid wallpaper will be easy and simple.

How to prepare for plasterboard wall decoration

Drywall is the most popular building material, which builders really like, because of its versatility, ease of installation and many other positive characteristics. But if you think that liquid wall-paper on a plasterboard surface can be applied without additional preparations, you are deeply mistaken. Drywall, although it has standard properties, is not a good basis for liquid wallpaper, since it can absorb moisture, rust spots from metal screws can appear on the drywall wall - you can list many unexpected situations that can negate all your efforts, to spoil the whole newly created environment. In order to prevent such a deplorable result, we recommend that you follow some important tips:

1. Some masters believe that it is enough to paint only the joints with light paint, since the surface itself already has a white tint. This approach often causes the opposite effect - the colored stripes act as bright contrast, and the area under the drywall remains gray. In order to avoid such situations, we advise you not to save money, but to pre-coat the entire surface with a stucco mixture, with a thin layer, simply in order to level the entire structure of the wall.
2. White water-dispersive paint must also be used on the entire surface of the walls, so that there is not a single bright accent - the whole wall should be monophonic.
3. After the paint layer has dried, all the details of the work have been strictly observed, you can begin to apply the liquid wallpaper itself.

A few useful finds:

1. If you want to simplify the process of preparing walls from drywall a little, you can not use water dispersion paint, but you need to add PVA glue to the plaster, so that the layer also has repulsive properties.
2. To smooth the walls and evenly distribute the plaster, you can use materials quite normal for this work - spatulas, trowels, grouts. Depending on the quality of the wall and texture, you can choose the right tool yourself.
3. If there are “leaks” on the wall, that is, you know firsthand what a “flood from above” is, darkened and damp areas must be pre-treated with a special solution.

You can give a large number of recommendations regarding how to properly prepare the wall for applying liquid wallpaper, but when you start repairing, you yourself will understand what the essence is, and the tips presented above will only help you orient yourself more quickly.

Video: instructions for applying liquid wallpaper