Sizing walls for wallpapering

Yesterday we told you how to prepare your walls if you wish to cover them in paint, well what about if you want to wallpaper your walls? Unfortunately once you have tediously removed all the wallpaper there are still a few more steps that you need to follow before you can get your beautiful wallpaper upon the wall.

Of course the first few steps, up until sizing, can be followed like the painting blog. Simply remove any bumps or lumps with sandpaper or your favoured tool and fill them back in with filler until you have created a much flatter wall to work upon as any bumps or lumps will show indefinitely through the wall paper. You will also need to clean the walls down with a semi-damp rag before sizing the wall up.
Once you have followed these simple steps of cleaning, sanding and filling you can continue unto sizing the wall up. Traditionally this is coating the wall in a thin layer of glue before beginning the whole papering process. It prevents the paste from sucking moister straight out of the wallpaper paste before it even has a chance to fit the paper to the wall. If the paste dries to quickly you will get bubbles, lumps, stretches and creases throughout the wallpaper.

The modern way of sizing a wall for wallpapering is to prepare a runny mix of paste and roll it around the wall area, brushing it into the edges. You’ll see the filler turn a darker colour as the paste is applied, this is good as it means the filler is absorbing the fresh paste and won’t absorb from the paste used to fit the paper to the wall.

I hope you found this blog useful and you now understand why sizing is a necessary step in applying wallpaper to a wall and making it look good. Until next time, from your buddies at Mr Fixing It.