Wallpaper Faults

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 Read more from Chris Bennett

If there is one type of person that I have a dislike for, it would be the eternal pessimist! You know the sort of person, doom and gloom, never have any faith in themselves to do a job around the home and can always see problems before they even exist. What am I talking about? Well, it's about the pessimist I was talking to the other day about wallpapering his lounge; the conversation was more about the mistakes he might make rather than how to do the job! Well just in case you are thinking about wallpapering anytime soon here’s a couple of the most common problems you might find.

If you have small bubbles appearing all over your paper as it dries and they don’t go away then the problem could be that you didn’t get the paper wet enough when you were soaking it in your water trough.

The answer to these bubbles is to take a sharp knife, the ‘snap off’ one you used when papering will do, then make an incision across the bubble. Purchase a bottle of Selleys Stick Back paste and using the nozzle supplied squirt paste into the cut you have made. Using a damp rag press and smooth the paper back in place; then wipe away any excess paste. In extreme cases you may have to remove the whole drop and paste in a new piece, this time however make sure that you really soak the paper for the correct length of time.

Once your new wallpaper has completely dried out and there are no obvious problems like bubbles appearing, have a good check around the edges where the paper drops join. If you find any that are lifting this is a job once again for your Stick Back glue. Simply and very gently lift the offending seams up with a broad blade spatula or knife and squirt in the Stick Back paste. Using a damp rag press and smooth the paper back in place and then wipe away any excess paste.

If you find a patch of paper that has some how been damaged a very easy way of making a patch that will not show is as follows:

• Take a new piece of paper that is larger that the damaged portion of your paper. Place this new piece over the damaged piece and match the pattern with paper on the wall.

• Take a very sharp knife and using great care not to slip and cut yourself, cut an irregular shape in the new paper and through to the old.

• Remove your new piece of paper throw way the trimmings and you will be left with the irregularly shaped patch. You will now carefully remove the identical shape piece of original paper off the wall, making sure that the wall surface is in good condition.

• Assuming that your new piece of paper is ready pasted, soak it for the required amount of time and carefully fit it to the shape cut in the wallpaper.

• Using a damp rag press and smooth the patch into place; wipe away any excess paste.

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