Tools Needed razor knife - cutting paper on the table, for corners...trimming on the wall...etc. 6 to 12 inch broad knife - used for guiding the razor on cuts plastic flexible wipe down blade - for chasing bubbles, when hanging 4 to 8 foot seam roller - laying down seams straight edge - used for making cuts on the table, for corners clean sponges - washing and removing adhesive...keeping table clean clean buckets - clean water tool pouch - carrying tools wallpaper table - cutting untrimmed paper...precutting...pasting 4 0z. of patience Measuring quantity of rolls You must have square footage to figure out the amount of rolls needed To figure: Multiply the length of your walls by the height Example: Room is 12 feet long 12 x 2 =

24 9 feet wide 9 x 2 = 18 48 x 8 feet high = 384 sq. feet Ceiling is 12 x 9 = 108 sq. feet If ceiling is included, the total square footage is 492 American and European rolls all come in different square footage amounts, and depending on the size and the repeat of the pattern (if it has one), will determine how many rolls you will need. When ordering rolls always purchase an additional 10%. American roll is 32 sq. feet per roll European roll is 24 sq. feet per roll Whether the width of a roll is 18 inches or 38 inches, you still get the same amount of paper in each roll. If it’s wide material like grasscloth (36 inches), the roll will be shorter, than a roll that's only 19 inches wide. When measuring , do not subtract for windows or doorways. If you have a set of windows or cabinetry that occupy a large area of a wall, you can section the open area off, but if you do this, you must add more than the average 10% additional footage. Another aspect when ordering rolls, is the pattern repeat. If it’s a large repeat (like 32 inches), you will have to take that into consideration when ordering. Adhesives Wheat Paste (powder): For hanging lightweight papers. Pre Pasted Activator: This is basically thinned down paste, for giving not only a little body, but strength to the dried up prepasted glue. Pre Mixed Lightweight Vinyl: Use this for Paper backed vinyl’s, and lightweight papers. Pre Mixed Heavyweight Vinyl: Use this heavy duty vinyl paste for all straight vinyl’s and any difficult materials. Can also be thinned down and used for a multitude of different materials. Vinyl to Vinyl: When overlapping corners with vinyl stock, you must apply a bead of this adhesive in between two vinyl’s. Border Paste: Use this paste strictly for applying borders on top of wallpaper. If you are hanging a border over a painted wall, I recommend that you use either wheat paste, or the ever popular, Premixed Lightweight Vinyl adhesive. Trimming untrimmed paper Before you hang untrimmed wallpaper, you must lay it out and trim the sides of the roll. The only other alternative would be to double cut it, in place on the wall. This is even difficult for an experienced paper hanger, and I don’t think that is you. To do this you must have a wallpaper table, or a large sheet of plywood to make the cut, (not your dining room table). Plywood makes a great pasting table, but not a cutting table. And unless you’re hanging wall covering on a wall without a corner, you’re going to have to make cuts. Wallpaper tables (can be rented) are mostly made out of vertical grain fir. This wood stands by itself, when having to make multiple cuts on top of each other, this wood splinters least. If you going to be hanging paper in the future, invest in a strip of zinc. Have this strip (4 inches) datoed right into your table. This will make sure all cuts are straight, and that you don’t eat up your table. After multiple cuts on the zinc strip, when grooves start to appear, simply sand it down smooth. When your trimming wallpaper on a table, and the razor catches a groove, your cut cannot be straight and perfect. [TIP] If you slightly overlap papers that are not cut perfect, you can hide the unevenness. As you will notice when you unroll the paper, There are small marks, along the edge, that you must line up with a long straightedge, and cut off. These marks are usually labeled “Trim here". I recommend that you lay out, and cut, however long of a piece (at a time) that the length of the straightedge allows. Cut the whole roll at once, and then turn it over and cut the other side. If you cut your pieces for the height of the wall, before you trim it, you might miss some of those “Trim Here” marks, and not know where to lay the straightedge and make your cut. When you continue cutting down the length of the roll, align the straightedge up with the edge of your last cut, This will aid you in making a perfect cut. Precutting With a little practice, you can measure up a whole room at a time, and precut every piece, before you start hanging at all. This saves a lot of time, but you must have a little practice under your belt, before you attempt this. So start with one wall at a time. You can use the roll itself or a tape measure to find out how many strips are going to occupy the wall. Make small and light marks on the wall where each piece ends, as you continue measuring the whole wall. Now that you know how many strips you have, measure the height of the wall and add an inch for both the top and the bottom of each piece. There are two basic types of patterned paper. Straight Across Pattern: After you cut the first piece to length, roll out the second piece (before cutting it), and lay it along side of the first piece. Match the pattern, and then slide the sheet over on top of the first piece. If the pattern matches then you have a Straight Across pattern. Which makes it much easier to cut all the strips at once because the top of your pieces all start with the same design. So pick the top of a pattern or an area that will be most pleasing to the eye. Remember that the first area that catches your eye when you walk into a room is the top of the wall. So plan your cuts accordingly. Drop Pattern: When you slide the second sheet over the first, and it does not match, you will have to adjust it up the sheet exactly 1/2 the length of your pattern. To find the length of your pattern measure from one tip of the pattern to the tip of the second pattern, and that gives you your pattern repeat. With a Drop Pattern, every other sheet is the same. So if your cutting one wall at a time or a whole room, just follow the first two sheets, and make every sheet the same. Pasting When pasting your sheets on the table (if you’ve precut multiple sheets), fan the sheets apart a couple inches, so you don’t apply paste on more sheets than you have to. Especially if using prepasted paper, because you will glue all the lower sheets together. When pasting, you must understand that pasted paper not only dries fast (when exposed to air), but it also stretches. You must be uniform with the amount of paste on each sheet, and the length of time before the sheet gets hung. If there is a different length of time on different sheets, and your hanging a paper with a pattern, the paper that is booked (see “Booking’ below) for a longer time will actually be longer, and the pattern will not match exactly. Booking Once wallpaper is pasted, you must book each sheet. This stops the paste from drying out, while the paper is stretching. It is a fine line that determines how long paper should book before it is hung. The average time is 10 to 15 minutes, so have all your tools ready, before you paste. If you don’t book the pasted sheets, and wait long enough before hanging, the paper won’t stretch properly. And when it is hung, and then shrinks, you will have the often seen, seam with a gap. If you don’t wait long enough, the sheet will be riddled with bubbles. To book a sheet, you simply fold it. With two hands, grab the top of the sheet. Make a mark with your eye (the good one) about 3/4’s of the way down the sheet. This is the point where you want to fold the top of the sheet. Next, grab the bottom of the sheet with both hands, and fold it up to meet the top of the sheet, slightly overlapping the top. If the edges of the sheet are not lined up with each other, either move the sheet by hand, or separate the sheet and try again. If the sheet edges are not lined up with each other, the edges will dry out, and the seams will open up, at a later date. Once the sheet is folded (booked), roll the sheet up in the shape of a cylinder, this will insure the curled edges are closed, and that they don’t dry out.

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