How to prepare walls for wallpapering? How to properly prepare walls made of different materials for wallpapering Preparing a concrete wall for wallpaper

Despite the many options, wall decoration with wallpaper is still one of the most common types of finishing coating. This is facilitated by a wide range of materials, including wide choose drawings, and you can learn how to glue them in a short period of time. But in order for the planned work to go smoothly, and the result to please you, it is necessary proper preparation walls under wallpaper. What is involved in this process and what is the guidance regarding this work? How many times and is it necessary to prime the coating? What features do they try to take into account when preparing for wallpapering? These questions are worth considering.

Why is it necessary to prepare the surface before gluing?

Often, in order to save time, wallpaper is glued without preliminary preparation walls. This is fraught with some inconveniences. So, the unevenness of the wall can be clearly visible even to someone who comes to visit for the first time. And if new material paste over old wallpaper; after a certain period of time, streaks may appear on the coating, or the pasted room will be spoiled by the pattern that appears, so preparing the wall for wallpapering is carried out to achieve the following goals:

The prepared surface becomes porous before gluing. This allows you to ensure reliable attachment of the material. In addition, this eliminates the possibility of unpleasant surprises in the form of unstuck seams.
During preparation, cracks are covered, recesses are hidden under a layer of putty, and protrusions are removed, which is often required in a panel house. This process not only improves the aesthetic effect of the renovation, but also fulfills practical properties. Thus, sealing defects increases sound insulation and allows the room to better retain heat.
Such restoration is especially important for those structures that are in contact with the street. After the preparatory work, the flow of cold air from outside into the apartment will be reduced, which will protect the room from fungus and mold.
Uneven surfaces can cause rubbing or other damage to the wallpaper.

Although preparing walls for wallpapering can increase the repair time, it will make it better, and the service life of the coating will increase from 5 years to 10 or more, but to achieve the result you need to follow the correct sequence of work.

How to properly remove old wallpaper

In old houses, step-by-step instructions for finishing the surface invariably begin with removing old wallpaper. Otherwise the master will not be able to see possible disadvantages walls that have formed since the previous renovation. And this will protect the future coating from unpleasant stains and streaks.

Before you begin preparing the walls for wallpapering, you must take precautions: put on overalls and turn off the electricity.

They begin this work from those areas where the wallpaper has already begun to lag a little. Such places include seams. First you need to remove everything that can be easily removed.

However, the material in the middle of the sheets may not be removed so easily. To remove wallpaper in difficult areas, you can use a spray bottle or roller dipped in warm water. After the coating has become wet, it is carefully removed with a spatula.

To speed up the process, you can add a weak solution of vinegar or adhesive solvent to the water. Sometimes special ones are used for these purposes. chemical compositions. But if preparing walls for wallpapering with your own hands involves using finances to a minimum, such means are not used.

If the wall was covered with paint

The situation when a wall needs to be cleaned of old wallpaper occurs quite often. But how to prepare the walls for wallpapering if paint was used before? Several approaches are used for this.

Firstly, such a coating can be preheated using a hair dryer, and then separated from the surface with a spatula. But it is worth remembering that with this cleaning method it is necessary to ensure circulation fresh air. When exposed to high temperatures, paint can release toxic substances, a high concentration of which in the body can lead to serious poisoning.

Secondly, you can separate the paint layer using a grinder or a grinder. The disadvantage of this option will be a large amount of dust and dirt in the air during cleaning, so it is worth organizing good ventilation of the room where the renovation is being carried out and closing the doors to other rooms to avoid the entry of construction debris.

The most effective and safest option for cleaning painted walls is to use paint strippers. But subject to compliance with the precautions specified by the manufacturer.

Correction of irregularities

After removing the top decorative layer, the next step in preparing the walls for wallpapering will be to inspect them for cracks and other irregularities. If a building was built a long time ago, it may show signs of destruction, especially if it is located in an area with extreme weather conditions. Even if this house has appeared recently, this does not guarantee the ideal smoothness of the walls in the premises, therefore, from this stage, the preparation of walls in a new building or a room where repairs have not yet been carried out begins.

Carefully align the protrusions using sandpaper or another device. Small depressions can be well hidden by putty.

Depending on the condition, the preparation of plastered walls may vary. If the surface is smooth and without serious defects, the old plaster can be left unchanged. But if cracks are visible on the layer of plaster in the wall, this is a sign that the coating has begun to peel off from the wall. If, during the process of preparing the walls for wallpaper, a layer of plaster begins to crumble in large pieces, you should remove it completely, and then be sure to cover the surface with a new layer.

If the walls have small cracks or holes before wallpapering, it is better to cover them with cement mortar or tiles. This will be safer than sealing them with putty. The defect must first be expanded and lubricated with a primer.

Puttying and priming walls

After the surface has been cleared of a layer of paint or other decorative coating, it is necessary to prime it well. This is also necessary when preparing walls for wallpapering in a new building. A procedure is used to prevent small particles from subsequently detaching from the wall and forming dust. This way you can stop the absorption of moisture by the wall. This is especially important if concrete walls are being prepared for wallpaper. Since concrete absorbs liquid, wallpaper will not adhere well to it without pre-treatment. When working with primer, the following rules should be observed:

You need to prime the walls with a roller before gluing;
hard-to-reach places are treated with a brush;
if concrete walls are being prepared for gluing, and the surface absorbs a lot of moisture, it is worth applying several layers;
To complete the next step, you need to wait until the primer dries.

Further, the technology for preparing walls requires covering with another layer. To do this, a leveling mixture is used, like putty. Even if the surface has no serious shortcomings, it is necessary to cover it with this solution. This composition gives the surface of an old house a white or light gray tint, so even if light-colored wallpaper is chosen, spots, streaks or other signs of poor preparation will not appear on it. Inflicted thin layer putty increases the adhesion area of the material, which is necessary for gluing wallpaper, so puttying walls in new buildings is also considered necessary element preliminary work before wallpapering.

After the solution has dried, sanding is applied. Large deposits are removed with a spatula, and an abrasive mesh is used to remove small tubercles and protrusions.

During the leveling process, you can take ready-made compounds or use a solution prepared by yourself.

The preparation of the surface for pasting is completed by applying another layer of primer before gluing the wallpaper. It is required to increase the adhesion of the material. As a composition, you can use one of the types of wallpaper glue.

It is wrong to think that preparing the surface for wallpapering is not a necessary element in the renovation. The durability of the repair depends on how correctly this work is carried out.

Before wallpapering, the walls are prepared in stages. Firstly, this is the removal of the old coating, regardless of whether the walls are painted or covered with wallpaper. Secondly, it is worth choosing a way to level the walls if they have cracks, protrusions or holes.

There are some peculiarities in how to prepare concrete walls for wallpapering. It is worth remembering that such a surface absorbs more moisture than others, so in this case you will need to apply several layers of primer.

The following short video will help you clearly see the procedure for preparing walls for wallpaper:

If necessary, the surface will have to be plastered again, then apply a layer of putty. In conclusion on finished walls needs to be applied finishing layer primers. Now the surface to be pasted is completely prepared for wallpaper. The same method is needed when preparing walls with wallpaper for painting.

An important stage of finishing work is preparing the walls for wallpapering, because the final result of finishing the room will depend on how correctly and efficiently it is done. Even the most expensive wallpaper will not look good or last long if it is applied to poorly prepared walls. In this article we will cover all stages of preparation and tell you how to prepare walls for different types of wallpaper.

Why do you need to prepare walls for wallpapering?

The purpose of preparing walls for wallpapering is to achieve surface quality that will satisfy the following requirements:

Precise geometry. No wallpaper will hide the curvature of the walls; a high-quality finishing result can only be obtained with even planes and right angles. Dimensional accuracy is achieved, usually by plastering or plasterboarding.
No defects, smooth. There should be no protrusions, even the smallest ones, on the surface of the walls. Depending on the type of wallpaper for which the surface is prepared for gluing, the presence of a certain number of small depressions is allowed. The thinner the wallpaper, the smoother the gluing surface should be. Smoothness is achieved by puttying.
Low absorbency properties. If the material has high absorbent properties, then the wallpaper glue is absorbed into it, and the adhesion of the wallpaper to the wall turns out to be fragile. To reduce the absorbent properties of materials, a primer is used.
Uniformity of color. It is necessary when the wallpaper is thin and the surface of the wall is visible through it. A white primer helps achieve an even tone.

Having fulfilled all these requirements, you will receive perfectly prepared walls on which the wallpaper will look good and stick firmly.

During renovations, preparing walls for wallpapering usually begins with removing the old finishing layer. The exception is when the old wallpaper:

were glued to a well-prepared wall;
have no stains of dampness or mold;
holds tightly without bubbles or lags;
paper;
with permanent color;
do not show through new ones.

In such cases, it is recommended to first test the application of new wallpaper on one of the corners. If everything is fine after a day, then you don’t have to remove the old wallpaper. To prepare the walls for gluing, it is enough to prime them twice with an hour break. In all other cases, the walls will have to be cleaned.

To remove old wallpaper, most often you have to soak it. Each type has its own methods for soaking.

It is easy to soak paper ones with warm water using a sponge or fur roller. Having carefully processed one strip, after 10-15 minutes you can pry up its edge with a spatula and remove it from the wall.

If the wallpaper is waterproof upper layer, then to soak them it is necessary that moisture penetrates the paper base. To do this, you need to break the integrity of the top layer. This can be done either using notches or using a needle roller. In this case, you must use the tool carefully so as not to damage the putty located under the layer of paper.

After the paper base has been soaked, the waterproof film can be easily removed, and to remove the bottom layer you can use a steam generator, steam iron, special means, dissolving paper.

Removing wallpaper from drywall has its own specifics, because it is difficult to peel the paper off the cardboard without damaging it. Inexpensive wallpaper glue will help make the task easier. Having diluted it a little thinner than the instructions require, apply it thickly to the wallpaper, wait until it swells, and scrape it off with a spatula.

Liquid wallpaper, in addition to being decorative, also serves as putty. In addition, they have a long service life. Therefore, if they have lost their freshness, it is better to renew them by painting them with water-based paint. But if you are determined to remove them, you can do this using an industrial hair dryer or manually with a scraper after soaking with warm water and adding a primer.

Removing old paint

Old paint is usually difficult to remove, but preparing walls for wallpaper requires this. To do this, you can use one of the following methods:

Sand the surface with a grinder or electric drill with a steel brush attachment. This must be done in a respirator to protect against dust, which is generated in huge quantities with this method.
Use a hair dryer to heat the paint, and when it swells, remove it with a spatula. In this case, it is necessary to ensure good ventilation, since when heated, the paint releases toxins.
Use solvents. For large areas, this method is not recommended, since it is the most expensive and not environmentally friendly.

If the walls were painted with oil paint and do not need leveling, then you can remove only the areas with loose putty, and carefully treat the rest of the surface with coarse sandpaper to roughen it.

Plaster

Plaster is used for brickwork, as well as for walls made of other materials that require significant leveling.

Recently, instead of plaster, they are increasingly using interior decoration plasterboard, since it allows you to simultaneously insulate and soundproof the walls while leveling, and does not require continuous putty.

Plastering is done using ready-made dry mixtures, which are diluted with water according to the instructions. To dilute the mixture, it is convenient to use an electric drill with a mixer attachment. For brickwork, cement-sand mixtures are usually used; for concrete walls, cement-gypsum mixtures are more often used.

Before applying plaster, the wall is freed from fragile elements, cleaned and coated with a primer. Apply plaster in 2-3 layers, each previous layer must dry thoroughly before applying the next one.

Often, when finishing work, it is not plastering that is required, but repairs old plaster. This type of work includes cleaning cracks, removing all weak parts, followed by priming and filling the resulting voids with plaster mortar.

Putty

While in many cases you can do without plaster when gluing wallpaper, putty is almost always necessary. The only exception is when finishing walls with plasterboard, where putty is used only at the joints of sheets and in places where they are fastened with self-tapping screws.

Procedure for filling walls:

Preparing the surface for putty includes clearing cracks and voids, thoroughly cleaning and removing dust from the surface.
Then the primer is applied using a roller and brush.
After the primer has dried, you need to dilute the starting putty mixture, rubbing the lumps, until smooth.
The finished solution is evenly applied to the wall with a spatula, leveled and left for about 12 hours to dry.
The dried starting layer is primed.
After the soil has dried, the finishing agent is diluted putty mixture.
The finishing layer is applied and leveled.
After the finishing layer has dried, it is sanded with sandpaper, dusted off and primed.

After these step-by-step instructions have been completed, we can assume that the walls are completely prepared for wallpapering.

Primer

An important step in preparing walls is priming. The essence of this action is that the applied composition penetrates inside the layer, gluing its particles and forming a film on top that does not allow liquids to be absorbed into it. Thanks to this, the liquid component of the next layer is not absorbed into the previous one, but performs its function - the glue holds the wallpaper, water from cement mortar ensures it dries slowly, etc. Without priming the layers, the quality of plaster, putty, and wallpaper will be very low, so neglecting this procedure is strictly not recommended.

When applying a primer, it is important that the layer on which it is applied is thoroughly dry.

In this case, the primer will be well absorbed and will perform its task efficiently. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to apply 2 layers of primer. You can continue working with the primed surface only after it has dried.

How to prepare brick walls for wallpapering

Preparation for wallpapering brick walls includes all the steps described above: plaster, putty, primer. Please note that newly built brick house, as a rule, shrinks, which can last from 1 to 5 years. If you do not want to postpone finishing work for at least 1 year, then it is better not to use too expensive materials for the first finishing, because due to shrinkage, the need for cosmetic repairs may soon arise.

How to prepare concrete walls for wallpapering

If concrete walls have precise geometry, then when finishing them you can do without plaster. It is enough to widen the existing cracks in the concrete, remove all weak elements and protruding irregularities, and then seal the recesses with cement mortar. After the applied “patches” have dried, the surface of the walls is puttied in two layers - starting and finishing, sanded, primed, after which any type of wallpaper can be glued to it.

Since concrete has high thermal conductivity and sound permeability, concrete walls are often finished with plasterboard, combining it with soundproofing insulation.

The easiest way to prepare drywall for wallpapering is to just fill the joints and recesses from the screw heads, sand and prime these places, and then prime the entire surface.

How to prepare the walls of wooden and frame houses for wallpapering

Wooden and frame housing construction is most often finished inside wooden clapboard, panels or block house. These materials are chosen to highlight the warm atmosphere of timber homes. But if you want, then why not cover the walls with wallpaper?

Preparing walls for wallpapering wooden houses may involve both applying plaster and putty, and covering the walls with plasterboard or other sheet material. In frame houses, the second option is mainly used.

Preparation of walls made of plasterboard and other sheet materials

As already mentioned, preparing for wallpapering plasterboard wall coverings is the least labor-intensive option. It is only necessary to fill the joints of the plasterboard sheets using serpyanka tape, cover the recesses from the fastener heads with putty, after drying, sand the filled areas and prime the entire surface.

How to prepare walls for different types of wallpaper

The highest demands on the quality of walls are made when preparing for gluing thin and light-colored paper wallpaper, especially if they have a glossy surface. In these cases, the wallpaper will emphasize the slightest unevenness, and if the wall underneath is not uniform in color, it will be noticeable. Therefore, you need to prepare the walls for hanging such wallpaper especially carefully, not forgetting to cover them with a white primer at the end.

When preparing walls for gluing dark wallpaper You don’t have to worry about the uniformity of the tone of the surface being pasted. Therefore, diluted wallpaper glue suitable for this type of wallpaper can be used as a primer.

Thick wallpaper allows you to be less critical of the quality of the walls and allows the presence of a limited number of small depressions on their surface.

Preparing walls for liquid wallpaper is simpler, since it does not require puttying. After all, liquid wallpaper combines the functions of a decorative coating and putty; they can be applied directly to plaster or a concrete wall, not forgetting to prime them first.

One of the main stages of apartment renovation is wallpapering. This type of room decoration requires some knowledge, since wall preparation plays an important role in this process. To get the desired result, it is necessary to properly prepare the surface for gluing. The features of this process will be discussed in our article.

Process Features

The process of preparing walls for wallpapering can never be ignored, because it is always important how well the canvas is pasted. You shouldn’t think that all the imperfections will be hidden under the new expensive wallpaper, so don’t skip the leveling step under any circumstances.

There are many reasons to prepare walls for wallpapering, but I would like to highlight the main ones:

A porous surface will not be able to hold wallpaper for long.
An uneven base will directly affect the final result.
A smooth, prepared surface will ensure good adhesion to the coating.

In the process of preparing surfaces, you will need many tools, such as a roller, knife, brushes different sizes, primer, putty, glue, sandpaper.

An important step in the work is creating a workspace. To protect the floor from various types of substances, it is recommended to cover it with film. To avoid drafts, it is necessary to close the room and maintain the temperature between eighteen and twenty degrees. It is important to ensure that there are no foreign objects left on the walls, such as old nails or screws. It is important to know that you should not leave old wallpaper and glue new ones on it, otherwise the old pattern may appear, and the canvas may also swell.

Working with different surfaces

Before you start wallpapering the walls, you should determine what type of surface you will have to work with:

If the wall is made from plasterboard, then, despite the fact that the surface in this case is quite smooth, it is porous. It is necessary to perform additional smoothing of the plasterboard wall, while taking into account the numerous seams at the joints. It is recommended to use putty, but with minimal consumption of material.
For processing concrete wall it will take longer. It uses priming, plaster, and in some cases putty. The primer mixture improves the adhesion of materials. The problem with treating concrete surfaces is the dark color of the base, which is not very good if you are going to glue light-colored wallpaper. On help will come use of putty.

Brick surfaces are not smooth, so their preparation will take much longer. There is a lot of work ahead, which includes the stages of leveling using plastering, applying a primer solution, and puttying. Plastering mixtures are sold in finished form in specialized stores. To obtain a high-quality solution when diluting the dry mixture with water, it is better to use a mixer. The use of plaster is not always necessary. If the wall is dry and without unevenness, then you should not waste money and time on this stage.

As for the putty, it will help to properly fix the wallpaper. After this stage of processing is completed, the walls are sanded.

OSB boards are similar to the previous type of base, so they should be processed in exactly the same way. This also includes finishing the joints between the slabs. Preparation of walls made of OSB and chipboard is carried out with a special type of putty. Repairs in a new building are not always carried out with high quality, so often owners of housing in a new panel house face the same problems as residents of old buildings. It is often found that the sides of the panel are not level enough. Experts recommend using several layers of plaster before you start wallpapering.

There is an option for gluing wallpaper onto plywood. In this case, the preparatory work will consist of preliminary application of a primer layer

Next, you should pay attention to the seams between the canvases. It is important to putty them, otherwise defects will show through the wallpaper.. It is best to glue non-woven wallpaper onto this type of surface, since its density will help hide possible minor irregularities and roughness.

How to clean the surface?

An important procedure before applying new wallpaper is to get rid of old coatings. Here you will need a number of cleaning tools that are easy to find in hardware stores. Cleaning the base for new wallpaper is not that difficult if you follow some basic rules:

It should be remembered that near heating devices and near windows, the wallpaper comes off quickly, and this process does not require much energy. If this cannot be done the first time, wet the wall with water and then remove the remaining wallpaper with a spatula.
If you have to remove old vinyl wallpaper, in this case it is important to first remove the vinyl layer, and only then the paper itself. Hot steam will help remove non-woven wallpaper. This way the old canvas will be removed very quickly.

If the task is to get rid of old washable wallpaper, then this can only be done in layers. First, a thin layer is removed, then the paper layer. Using a steam iron or steam cleaner will also help greatly here.
Another challenge in the cleaning phase is paint removal. In this case, you can resort to several methods of removing the coating. You can try to clean the base with your hands and using tools. A regular hammer or wire brush will work well.

Alternative option there will be application chemicals, the list of which is extensive and available for sale. After this cleaning method It is necessary to wash the wall, preferably two or three times:

If there is whitewash left on the wall, it should be of high quality, also without cracks or chips. On this basis, the new wallpaper will stick well. However, whitewashing does not always have good quality and may crumble. In this case, it should be cleaned to avoid future problems.
Next, you need to clean the wall to get rid of debris and dirt using a vacuum cleaner or broom with water.
At the end of the stripping of the base, it is proposed to evaluate how ready the surface is for gluing.

What needs to be pre-treated?

How long the new wallpaper will last depends on the correct treatment of the walls before gluing. In this regard, it is necessary to process the base carefully so as not to miss important points, especially if you are going to do everything yourself:

It is already known that the surface must be leveled and properly cleaned. The cleaned bases are checked for dents and scratches. There should be no dirt on the base. Using putty will help prepare the surface more thoroughly.
Fungus may appear on the wall; to avoid this, the base should be coated with special antifungal compounds. It is important to know that you need to prepare the base for puttying after applying the anti-fungal agent.

If you plan to cover liquid wallpaper, then the processing technology is practically no different from preparing the surface before gluing paper wallpaper. In this case, the base for the wallpaper must be coated with a primer mixture. Usually the surface is covered with primer in two layers.
It is important to remember that if the walls are strewn with irregularities, then no amount of processing or further putty will save you. This is where drywall comes to the rescue.

The order of work performed

The stages of wall preparation have already been discussed, however, now it is necessary to determine in more detail the sequence of preparatory work before pasting. Preparing the base for gluing is as important as preparing it for painting.

Remove the switch

When working on wall preparation, it is recommended to remove the housings electrical outlets and switches. There are different types of electrical network devices; therefore, it is not always possible to clearly determine how to properly remove the switch. The network can be connected via circuit breakers. In this case, you will have to disable all protection.

There are two types of switches. They differ in the types of fastening. The switch can be attached to the wall using screws. There is also a hidden type switch, the box of which is located under the wall.

The modern switch has a smooth surface and the mount is hidden. The first step is to remove the fastening keys. If this cannot be done manually, then you should use a screwdriver. After the switch lock is removed, check that there is no voltage on the wires. Next you need to disconnect the wires.

To avoid defeat electric shock, all internal parts of sockets and electrical switches that are left without external protection must be covered with tape or other similar material.

Treatment

If, after removing the wallpaper, unevenness is found on the wall, you should resort to plastering work. Plaster mortar can be easily made with your own hands using sand and cement. The mixture is slowly stirred and water is gradually added to it.

The plaster is applied in three layers. The first layer should be no thicker than three millimeters. The second layer is aimed at leveling the plane of the wall and cannot be more than six millimeters.

The final stage of plastering is the so-called covering, which must be done very thinly.

You cannot proceed to the next stage of processing until the plaster is completely dry. Do not count on the plaster solution to dry quickly, as this may affect the quality of the material and its service life. The normal time for drying the plaster is about a day. After this, the wall is cleaned with special tools to level the surface and remove all defects.

Priming helps seal the surface and prevents further damage and peeling of parts of the finish.
The mixture of soil composition prevents the rapid absorption of moisture.
The primer helps deal with dust.
The primer composition easily penetrates into any thickness. To apply the primer, simply use a brush or roller. When applied to the surface, the primer mixture forms protective film In addition, it levels the surface and cleans the base from small debris.

Before wallpapering, the walls are primed for:

formation of a smooth plane;
strength;
protection against fungus;
sustainability guarantees.

Today there are several types of primer:

The most famous of them are acrylic. They can be used on any surface. They have a high drying rate and do not have a strong odor.
The next type of soil mortar is called alkyd. It is not suitable for all substrates; it is often used to treat wooden surfaces. This solution takes longer to dry than acrylic.

Another equally common type of priming is treating walls with a glypthal mixture. This type is suitable for metal bases.
Mineral primers are good for brick or concrete walls.
Soil mixtures deep penetration are used to further strengthen the planes. This type of primer can penetrate five to twenty millimeters into the surface. Often these types of soil solutions contain substances that protect the base from fungal formations.

There are compositions with coloring pigments. Such primers are suitable for treating walls before gluing light wallpaper.
Quite often, when renovating apartments, there is a need for fastening various materials. In this case, it comes to the rescue special type primers called concrete contact. This solution changes the surface of the base, which makes it possible for the materials to adhere to the wall. This composition has many advantages: it lasts for many years, has an insulating effect, and dries quickly.

After the primer comes the sealing of seams and cracks. Deep cracks are usually enlarged, treated with soil and sealed with cement mortar. It is imperative to check Is the rest of the plaster coming off the wall?. Most likely, it will have to be removed with a hammer in order to avoid repeated leveling with plaster in the future.

The next step will be putty. This process will not take much time, it is quite simple. Minor defects and unevenness of the wall can be easily eliminated using putty and a spatula.

All the necessary materials and tools for this are sold at any hardware store and are inexpensive.

It is recommended to apply putty on plastered walls if the walls are not very crooked. Puttying is a mandatory step, as it can significantly reduce the level of roughness of the base. Using a puttying tool, all unevenness is eliminated in several passes. To achieve perfect flat wall you will have to putty at least three times. It is important to note that the last layer (finishing) should be the thinnest.

It is worth additionally paying attention to the need to grind the surface both before starting putty and after it dries. You need to sand the wall until it is perfectly smooth.. An important point is the choice of putty solution, which is made from different ingredients. Experts believe that the most best option- This is an acrylic mixture.

The puttying process may include several stages, depending on the condition of the walls:

Initial coverage. This is a rougher finish that allows you to smooth out all kinds of holes, chips, and cracks. At this method You can use a mass of gray color. Puttying is best done using beacons. They will help make the surface smoother. Can be executed from different materials.
Finish coating. This is a layer that prepares the base for wallpapering.
The last stage processing is repeated impregnation with a primer. Essentially, the same thing is done as before puttying. The only exception is the volume of mixture used. Less of it will be required, since the base is already almost prepared. Before you start gluing wallpaper, be sure to wait until the soil solution has completely dried.

Sticking

If all stages of preparation are strictly followed, wallpapering itself will not cause any problems. The main thing is to follow the instructions exactly, depending on the type of coating, ensure an optimal microclimate in the room, use appropriate adhesives, etc.

We have looked at the main features of preparing walls for wallpapering. All that remains is to summarize and give some useful recommendations to those who decide to prepare the surface themselves.

Important Tips:

In order for the wallpaper to last for many years, do not ignore the instructions. technological process, which includes putty and base primer.
The finish will never adhere to gloss paint, however, if you work the base with a special tool, it will become rough, which will allow the glue to adhere well.
It is best to clean the joints between the wall and the baseboard and fill it with gypsum solution, wait until it dries, then remove the remaining dry mixture.
It is important to treat the seams on the plasterboard surface using putty; it is advisable to paint them with oil paint.
To avoid visible marks from the nails that fasten the plasterboard sheets, if possible, they should be deepened into the material.

If you skip the stage of priming the wall, then as a result the finish will not last long.
During the puttying process, those parts of the walls where metal reinforcement is visible are carefully processed. This must be done to avoid the appearance of yellow spots on the wallpaper in the future.
After each stage of wall treatment, the surface must be thoroughly dried. It's better to do it naturally without the use of artificial air heating devices. If the wall is not well dried, this will lead to the appearance of dampness, and subsequently to the appearance of fungus.
When puttingtying walls, the spatula tends to leave noticeable streaks. To reduce the roughness of the surface, two thin layers are applied horizontally, and the next layer should be done in the vertical direction. You can also do this work diagonally. This will give the putty layer a more even appearance.

When choosing a puttying tool, its dimensions are taken into account. The most optimal would be a spatula with a width of thirty to forty centimeters.
When choosing wallpaper glue, you should pay attention to its important characteristics. Firstly, the emphasis is immediately placed on a trusted manufacturer. Repairs are always planned to be done for more than a year, so the quality of the glue must be high level. Secondly, you must make sure that the adhesive is suitable for the type of wallpaper you have chosen. For each type of fabric there is a separate type of glue.

We must not forget that no matter how high-quality the wallpaper is, there is no guarantee of a successful final result. It all depends on how the walls were prepared for wallpaper.

For more information on preparing walls for wallpapering, see the following video.

Having appeared just over a century ago, wallpaper has changed dramatically, thereby changing the technology of pasting. Moreover, all the metamorphoses have occurred mainly over the last 20-30 years - if anyone knows only the old methods and techniques of working with paper trellises, in modern realities will not be able to properly hang wallpaper, since newspapers will no longer help here. New types of trellises require a different approach when preparing walls for their subsequent wallpapering. Why has technology changed so much and how to prepare walls for wallpaper?

The need for preparatory work when covering walls with trellises is due to three factors:

The use for construction of new types of wall materials (foam concrete, gas silicate, etc.) that do not hold trellises on their surface without prior preparation;
Pasting in some cases a smooth surface on which the glue does not hold the wallpaper well;
Production of heavy or very thin types of wallpaper. In the first case, problems arise when creating conditions for strong adhesion between the wall surface and the wallpaper; in the second, all the defects of the surface being pasted immediately catch the eye, since modern trellises do not hide them, but stick out.

In this regard, in the process of preparing walls the following tasks must be solved:

Creating good adhesion between wallpaper glue and wall material. There are two problems here: the porosity of many building materials And smooth surface concrete, glass, tiles, etc. In the first case, approximately 50% of the wallpaper area is in contact with the wall, which leads to constant peeling of the wallpaper and unraveling of the seams. During the preparatory work, the pores are stopped on the surface wall material a continuous film of primer is created, ensuring ideal adhesion between the wall and the adhesive applied to the trellises. In the second case, it is necessary to create good adhesion of the wallpaper to the wall - the problem can be solved by applying special primers.
Aligning walls with wallpaper. Modern wallpaper, both thin and dense, does not hide even minor unevenness of the walls. This is especially noticeable in daylight. Therefore, eliminating wall defects is one of the most important tasks during the preparatory work.
Fighting mold and mildew. This seemingly minor task actually helps solve the eternal problem of plaster - the appearance of microorganisms in cracks and crevices in damp rooms and on walls - cold and moisture coming from the street create ideal conditions for the growth and reproduction of mold and various types fungi.

The variety of tasks to be solved when preparing walls for wallpapering is overwhelming step by step instructions complete technological process for independent blocks: preparation of walls, their repair and leveling.

Stages of preparing walls for taping

How to prepare walls for wallpapering? Work on preparing walls for gluing consists of several sequential technological processes.

The preparatory stage that completes construction and installation work in a new building. There must be: the work of laying the floor screed has been completed; electrical wiring completed; door (window) frame installed; Built-in furniture is installed.
Old wallpaper and paint are removed from the walls, nails and screws are removed.
The quality of old plaster is checked by tapping it with a hammer. When dull sounds appear, the wall is cleared of the plaster layer.
Chips and peeling are repaired, microcracks are repaired.
The walls are washed if necessary (oil stains, soot, dirt are washed off).
A primer is applied to create good adhesion between the wall and the plaster layer.
Beacons are displayed.
The walls are plastered with cement-sand mortar.
The applied plaster layer is primed and putty is applied.
The final stage of preparation is priming the surface for taping with trellises.

Materials and tools

To carry out the preparatory work, the finisher, regardless of whether he is a beginner or an experienced builder, must have a variety of tools and devices. Their set is dictated by the type of covering to be removed: trellises, paint or plaster; wall type:

brick;
concrete;
wooden;
plasterboard, etc.

The owner of a house or apartment who carries out repairs on his own needs tools and materials for specific situation, and therefore there is no need to provide a general list of everything that will be required during the repair.

To easily navigate the necessary materials and tools, they the list will be given before the description of each type of work. The only thing you should always have at hand is a stepladder or portable platform (horses). Therefore, there will be no further mention of this device.

Preparatory work

Preparing walls for wallpaper will have the following order of work:

free the walls from old decoration and, if necessary, from plaster;
repair cracks, chips, fill masonry joints for plaster;
level the wall surface with plaster or drywall;
apply primer under the pasting.

Wall cleaning

Preparing walls for wallpapering with your own hands begins with cleaning the walls of old wallpaper, paint or plaster. Moreover, for each type technological operations there are correct techniques and methods. Let's look at them in more detail.

Wallpaper

How to remove old wallpaper? To do this you need:

1. Clear the walls of furniture - take them out next room or move it to the center of the room and cover it with polyethylene film.

2. Turn off the electricity in the room being repaired, remove sockets and switches.

3. Collect necessary tools and accessories:

paint roller (can be used), sponge or rags;
set of spatulas;
knife (kitchen or construction);
bucket for hot water;
"wallpaper tiger";
metal brush;
iron;
a piece of fabric (old T-shirt, towel);
garbage bags;
individual protection means.

4. Buy more if you don’t have a home:

laundry soap - a quarter of a piece ground into shavings (in a bucket of warm water) will speed up the process of removing wallpaper;
fabric softener - one cap of the product will give an effect similar to ¼ bar of soap;
table vinegar (9%) - 5 tbsp. spoons in a bucket of hot water will help you quickly and easily clean the walls of old trellises;
MK wallpaper glue - diluted to the consistency of kefir (5 times more water than indicated on the package) quickly softens wallpaper, indispensable when removing wallpaper from drywall;
special compositions - can be bought in liquid or dry form, allow you to remove all types and types of wallpaper from the walls, regardless of the type of glue with which they were glued (see photo).

The methods for removing trellises are influenced, first of all, by the type of glue and the type of wallpaper: paper, non-woven or vinyl. For example, for modified starch (MS) glue, warm or hot water, but for paper wallpaper some methods are used, for non-woven fabric and vinyl - others. If you know the little secrets, the work won't take long.

How to quickly remove old wallpaper from a wall glued with MK glue? For trellises that have been hanging on the wall for more than 8 years, the procedure is very simple. Sections of wallpaper that are lagging behind the wall are cut with a knife. A narrow spatula is inserted into the resulting cracks.

The wallpaper sheet pulls towards itself very slowly - if it moves quickly, the paper will tear due to age. The remaining trellises on the wall are scraped off with a knife or spatula blade. The process can be accelerated if such areas of the wall are moistened with heated water and given time (about 20 minutes) for the paper and glue to soften.

How to remove paper wallpaper from walls when they have been in use for a short period of time? If the trellises have been hanging for less than 4 years, they are moistened with warm water. A roller or sponge is suitable for these purposes.

Usually work is carried out not on the entire wall, but on several canvases. After soaking 4-5 wallpaper sheets, they are “forgotten” for 20 minutes. This is enough for the glue (due to the starch it quickly becomes liquid) and the paper to become saturated with water. After that, the wallpaper is removed with a spatula and a knife.

However, this procedure is completely unsuitable for vinyl trellises - the top layer of wallpaper does not allow moisture to pass through. Then how to quickly remove vinyl wallpaper from a wall? There are two ways here.

Use a knife to pick up the vinyl layer and tear it off the paper base. Then proceed in the same way as with paper wallpaper - warm water, spatula and knife.
Use a knife to make cuts on the trellises (you can use a “wallpaper tiger”) and moisten them. Penetrating under the vinyl film, the water wets the glue and paper, after which the wallpaper easily comes off.

There are some peculiarities when removing paper wallpaper from drywall. Here the soaking process is completely eliminated - water will not only soften the glue and trellises, but also damage the plaster. In this case, liquid wallpaper glue will help.

He's being scammed big amount water (4-5 times more than indicated in the instructions) and smear the trellises. Wetting the paper web and the glue with which the trellises were glued, such a composition is not able to completely saturate the gypsum board cardboard with water. You can remove the sheets with a spatula and knife after 20-30 minutes. Such methods are not suitable for PVA, MC and CMC glue.

How to quickly remove wallpaper from walls glued with modern high-quality types of glue and PVA glue? PVA glue has the most problems. It must be removed in two stages: first the wallpaper, then the glue itself.

Water-permeable trellises treated with hot soapy water. For this piece laundry soap crushed, diluted in 4 liters of water and brought to a boil and immediately applied with a roller to the wall. After 15-20 minutes, the trellises can be removed without problems.

They do not process the entire wall, but a part. After removing the wet wallpaper, the remaining adhesive is scraped off with a spatula or a metal brush, and the wall is washed. Then the solution is heated and work continues in the same order.

For water-repellent wallpaper make a solution with fabric softener. For single-layer trellises, 0.3 liters of conditioner per bucket of water is enough; for double-layer trellises, pour twice as much detergent into the water.

The instructions are simple:

approximately 2 m2 of wallpaper is wetted;
after 10 minutes the next 2 m 2 walls are wetted;
after 20 minutes, the wallpaper is removed in the place where the primary soaking was carried out;
the remaining glue is scraped off with a wire brush;
the next area (2 m2) is soaked, etc.

MC and CMC glue is destroyed either by steaming or when treated with special removers.

Professional builders use a steam generator or steam cleaner, but not every home has one. An iron and a linen towel (any natural fabric without synthetic additives) will come to the rescue.

The technology is as follows:

the fabric is lowered into the water, then twisted not very much;
the iron warms up to maximum temperature - an extension cord is needed here to connect to electricity from another room;
the towel is applied to the wallpaper, and, pressing firmly, it is ironed - 5-6 times;
The trellises are scraped off from the steamed area with a spatula.

This operation is repeated until the wallpaper is completely removed from the walls. The work is not fast, it takes a lot of time. But in practice it is the best option.

Special washes sold in the form of powder or jelly can speed up the work. Their manufacturers claim that the products are completely safe for the health of people living in the apartment. But, still, it is better to work with gloves.

The solution is prepared in accordance with the recommendation on the packaging. Apply to the wall with a roller. On waterproof trellises, it is necessary to apply perforations with a knife or “wallpaper tiger”. The removers need 2-3 hours to dissolve the adhesive mass, after which the wallpaper will come off the wall on its own.

Liquid and photo wallpapers can be removed by any of the above methods, glass wallpaper- only with washes. When removing glass wallpaper, there is a little secret: you need to remove one sheet at a time and be sure to pull it from top to bottom.

Dye

It is impossible to level the surface on a painted wall. plastering work or apply simple putty - neither cement nor plaster has any adhesion to paint. Therefore it needs to be removed.

Attention: painting the wall is not an obstacle to wallpapering. In many cases, it is possible to glue trellises directly onto the paint layer (see work “”).

To clean the paint layer from the wall you must have:

personal protective equipment;
blowtorch;
grinder;
axe;
various attachments for a hammer drill or grinder;
putty knife;
chisel;
paint remover;
brush.

Using the tools listed above, paint can be removed:

using chemistry - special solutions (washes);
heating the surface of the walls - thermal method;
mechanically - the paint layer is removed with power tools.

Chemical method is based on the ability of special chemical mixtures, for example, “Prestige” gel, “Antikras” remover, etc. to dissolve all types of paints. Wherein:

the drugs are quite expensive;
remove only one layer - if you paint multiple times, you will have to dissolve each layer separately;
a pungent odor lingers in the room for a long time;
Remnants of flushes should absolutely not be flushed down the toilet - special disposal is required;
the worker must be dressed in a chemical protection suit;
upon completion of work, mandatory water procedures.

Conclusion: the method is effective, but has a whole bunch of negative side effects, which is why it is better to abandon it.

The conclusion drawn applies to purchased washes. You can prepare them yourself and not have these problems. Several recipes:

0.25 l ammonia(10%) poured into 1 l cold water, add 2 kg of construction chalk and mix thoroughly. The resulting mixture is evenly applied to the paint and after 2 hours they begin to remove it (the composition does not destroy the paint layer, but disrupts its adhesion to the wall surface - it is removed in layers);
Mix 1.2 kg of quicklime and 0.4 kg of soda ash until thick sour cream forms. Apply to the wall and let it soak through the paint. After half a day, the paint layer can be removed;
Apply a thin layer to the wall liquid glass. After drying, the silicate film is removed, and the paint is removed along with it.

Thermal method is based on the ability of paint, under the influence of high temperatures, to transform into a semi-amorphous state - when it is no longer solid, but not yet liquid. This layer of paint can be easily removed with a spatula.

You can heat it with a hair dryer, blowtorch, with a simple iron through a newspaper, or even better - food foil. The method has been known for hundreds of years, has been tested and has never failed. The only thing is that you need to be careful when using heat near electrical wiring, switches, sockets and other plastic items - they can ignite or melt.

There is only one downside to this method: when heated oil paint, caustic substances are released into the air.

Mechanical method removing paint from the base was born at the same time as it. The method is labor-intensive, but not harmful to health, does not pose a fire hazard, and allows the use of any available manual tools. percussion instruments(trowel, axe, chisel, hammer) or power tools with various attachments. Therefore, it can be used to remove paint in the kitchen, nursery and bathroom.

How to remove paint from walls manually? Using a spatula, the paint is removed in places where there are cracks in the paint layer or swelling. Tightly adherent paint can be removed either with a chisel, hammer or axe.

The process can be mechanized and using power tools (drill, hammer drill) with special attachments.

How to repair cracks

After removing the plaster and old finish, the walls are carefully inspected for chips, cracks, damaged masonry joints, etc. Identified defects require elimination, especially cracks.

Cracks in the wall are the scourge of new residents in panel houses. Living-in apartments suffer from this to a much lesser extent - even in old “Khrushchev” apartments you rarely see them. There is a simple explanation - cracks appear mainly due to shrinkage of the building. They must be sealed in any case.

You can repair the crack yourself. For this you will need:

set of spatulas;
brush;
sponge;
primer;
sandpaper;
putty;
fiberglass mesh (in some cases).

Attention: before starting work to repair a crack, you must make sure that its growth has stopped. Otherwise, all the work will be in vain - you will have to redo it after a certain time.

We will describe the whole process step by step:

plaster 2-3 cm wide along the crack;
use a spatula to widen the gap; if necessary, you can use other tools (chisel, hatchet, chisel);
the edges of the wall near the gap are cleaned with sandpaper;
Dirt and dust are removed from the recess and around it (this can be done with a vacuum cleaner or brush);
the crack itself and its edges are primed (it is most convenient to perform this operation with a sponge);
the gap is sealed with any putty (you can also use acrylic paint sealant);
after the repair mixture has dried in the wall gap, a serpyanka (a strip of fiberglass) is applied to the recess and covered with gypsum putty or the same repair compound that was used to seal the crack;
Using a wide spatula, level the mixture into a thin layer;
the dried solution is sanded manually or with a grinder ( sandpaper with grain 100-150).

For information: the polymer putty is rubbed into the crack with a narrow spatula, the acrylic sealant is squeezed out from the tube with a pneumatic gun.

Chips and irregularities are initially moistened with “cement laitance” or primer, then sealed with a special solution developed for these purposes.

Potholes in the masonry mortar are deepened by 2.0-2.5 cm, followed by priming and sealing with cement-sand mortar. Cement mixture can be replaced with a very effective polymer-based repair composition. But it all depends on the price of the material - cement-sand mortar is much cheaper.

Before finishing the walls, they must be leveled. Plaster or drywall will come to the rescue. The material “” will tell you what exactly to choose. Let's consider both options.

Leveling by plastering

The most common option for leveling walls is to plaster them with a mortar of cement and sand. In order for the solution to adhere well, the surface under the plaster needs to be primed.

How to prime walls

They begin to plaster the walls after applying a primer to them. This operation allows you to:

saturate the wall material with moisture, which will not allow it to take water from the plaster mortar;
create a film with strong adhesion to the wall (the primer penetrates up to 1 cm deep into the material), which in turn provides good adhesion to the plaster;
increase the strength of the surface of the wall material - the absorbed primer protects the wall from chipping, the formation of small cracks, etc.;
bind dust particles that actively counteract any connecting processes.

The primer must be selected according to the wall material and type of plaster. For example, primer for concrete and gypsum plaster not suitable for cement-sand plaster mortar.

The repaired wall is primed with a paint roller or brush in 2 layers. In this case, the next layer must be applied after the first has dried, although there are recommendations to apply the second layer after the first after 10 hours. It is impossible to unequivocally evaluate such advice - there are no studies on this issue.

Plastering a wall

The next stage of preparatory work is the installation of beacons. The operation is described in detail in the work "". Let us briefly recall the entire technological process.

In the upper corners of the wall, at a distance of 10-15 cm from the adjacent wall and 20 cm from the ceiling, holes for dowels are drilled with a hammer drill or drill and screws are screwed into them - 2-3 cm of hardware are left above the surface.
A plumb line is hung on the head of each self-tapping screw, and a hole is drilled for the second hardware at a height of 20 cm from the floor. After this, the heads of the hardware are brought into one plane (you need to screw in or unscrew one of the screws with a screwdriver).
The wall surface is being hung. To do this, a fishing line or twine is stretched between the screws horizontally and diagonally.
Using a construction square along a stretched fishing line, measurements are taken of the distance from the surface of the wall to the plane formed by the tensioned fishing lines.
Add 3 cm to the point of the wall most curved towards the room and form a new plane - the plane of the plaster.
Beacon guides are installed from the PS profile.

The process of plastering with cement-sand mortar is described step by step in the material “”. The stages consist of:

from spray;
soil;
covers.

They are performed in strict sequence after the previous layer has dried.

Splash is produced to create good adhesion of the plaster mortar to the wall. Apply up to 5 mm thick. The solution must be prepared with a high content of binder (cement, gypsum, lime) and be similar in consistency to liquid sour cream.

If a decision has been made not to prime the surface of the walls, then they are moistened with water so that the wall material does not take away some of the moisture from the solution and thereby disturb the chemical process of formation of cement (gypsum, lime) stone.

Professionals advise starting work from the bottom left corner and going up between the beacon profiles. Having finished the first row, move on to the second, etc.

The second layer, builders call it “primer”, is applied after the spray has completely dried- this is the plaster layer of mortar that levels the wall. Its consistency should resemble bread dough. Thickness - about 2 cm. Work is carried out in the same order as spraying.

Third layer the wall surface is leveled to almost perfect condition. Some specialists are able to perform this part of the operation at such a high level that finishing (finishing) finishing - putty - is not required.

Leveling with plasterboard

How to level walls for wallpaper with “dry plaster”, by which builders mean plasterboard sheets, can be read in the materials “” and “”.

The fastest, easiest and cheap way level the walls with gypsum plasterboard - use glue. But this option is only available for small, up to 3-4 cm, height differences on the wall surface. If the curvature is greater, it is imperative to install a sheathing.

If the wall is uneven up to 4 mm, glue is applied to the wall surface and the first sheet of drywall is pressed firmly against it. Subsequent sheets are applied to the wall surface, but are not pressed into the glue. Using a level and a rubber hammer, the plasterboard is brought into the same plane with the already glued sheets (they are tacked to the wall).

If the unevenness is significant, strips of plasterboard come to the rescue, which are glued to the wall, and only then drywall is attached to them. Surprisingly, there are often cases when apartment owners who do the work themselves use a lot of glue instead of strips. The result is the same - when the glue dries, it shrinks strongly and either comes off the gypsum board, or pulls the sheet along with it, causing it to burst.

Primer before wallpaper

Modern wallpapers are made from a variety of materials. It is very difficult to select an adhesive for the combination of wall material and the back side of the trellis. This will require more than a hundred types of adhesive mass.

Manufacturers of wallpaper and glue found a simple way out of this situation: they developed special primers that serve as an intermediate link between wallpaper glue and the material from which the wall is made.

Therefore, you need to choose a primer for wallpaper under the surface of the wall (to different types glue it is already adapted). Apply a rough coat of primer with a roller, and hard to reach places- with a brush. The second, finishing layer is applied after the first has dried.

For reinforced concrete, the first layer is applied with a diluted primer - it is necessary to saturate it with moisture as much as possible. Re-prime after the already applied primer has completely dried.

Priming walls for wallpaper is discussed in detail in the material ""

The nuances of preparing a wall for different types of wallpaper

Wallpaper can be heavy or light, dense or translucent. This makes some adjustments to the process of preparing walls for taping trellises.

Liquid wallpaper

Liquid wallpaper easily tolerates various uneven surfaces of the walls, but bright spots shine through well and look gray on a dark surface. Therefore, the walls under them do not need to be puttied, but they must be painted with white water-based paint, if they are not light-colored.

Non-woven wallpaper

Lightweight non-woven wallpaper can be glued over old paper trellises and over paint, which simplifies the entire process of preparing walls. The only thing that needs to be controlled is how well the previous finish adheres to the walls, and whether they are translucent bright colors(old wallpaper or wall painting) through wallpaper cloth. If in one of the cases the condition is not met, then full cycle preparing walls for wallpapering.

Photo wallpaper

The ability of photo wallpaper to emphasize the slightest convexity of the walls while simultaneously distorting the pattern requires mandatory puttying of the surface, followed by sanding by hand or using a sander.

Conclusion

It is problematic to obtain a high-quality wall pasted without careful preparation when using modern wallpaper. It is necessary to perform a cycle of work:

remove old finish;
repair walls;
level the surface with plaster or sheets of drywall;
putty;
treat with wallpaper primer.

Some types of wallpaper require additional operations:

photo wallpaper - sanding putty;
liquid - painting walls with white water-based paint.

Video on the topic

The most popular way to decorate walls is to use wallpaper: they are inexpensive, easy to install, and do not require special care. Before carrying out work on gluing wallpaper with your own hands, you should prepare the wall surface for this process, since in order to hang wallpaper, the wall surface must meet certain requirements: be smooth, without flaws and obvious flaws. That is why the preparation of walls for wallpapering must be done efficiently.

As a rule, a wall is not an ideal surface for conducting repair work: it may have obvious flaws, glue residues from previous wallpapering, protruding fittings and other defects. What to do in such a situation? In order for the result to be truly high-quality, you should carry out some preparation of the wall surface before carrying out the work of wallpapering the wall with your own hands.

The process itself consists of several stages:

Puttying. During the puttying work, the wall is leveled, you need to cover up all the unevenness: this is all done so that later, it will be much easier to apply a wallpaper layer to the putty wall. If, for example, the wall itself is dark, then if you stick sufficiently light wallpaper, the unputtyed wall will show through under the wallpaper. To make the wall color lighter, you also need to putty it.
Primer. The priming stage of the wall ensures better adhesion between the wallpaper and the wall. In addition to making the wallpaper stick better, the primer protects the wall surface from fungi and mold. Some special thick types of primer can even level the wall.
General preparation. General preparation of walls for wallpapering with your own hands involves dismantling old wallpaper, glue residues, nails, screws, and so on. When performing such work, you should be as careful as possible: you should remove any objects that could subsequently interfere with you. If you follow the correct order of the stages of wall preparation, then general training should be started before all subsequent work.

Preparing walls for wallpaper is much more difficult than finishing the wall itself: therefore, you should pay attention to this stage Special attention, and properly prepare the wall surface before covering it with wallpaper.

How to level a wall using putty (video)

How to treat walls before wallpapering yourself

It doesn’t matter what surface you are going to glue the wallpaper on: it should still be treated with putty and primer. The very first stage is putty. Putty is applied to the entire wall, making it suitable for wallpapering. The putty mixture should be selected based on the surface on which the wallpaper will be applied. The most common type of wall putty is acrylic putty. It is the most universal, suitable for almost any surface. With acrylic putty, the wallpaper will stay on the walls for a very long time: therefore, there will be no need to carry out complex repair work in the future when the wallpaper comes off.

In addition to putty, the wall must be treated with a primer.

It was previously stated that the primer provides better adhesion of the wallpaper to the wall, and also protects the wallpaper and the surface of the wall. As with putty, acrylic primer is suitable in most situations: it does not have a bad odor and dries quickly (up to 5 hours). This type of primer is not suitable only for priming metals because they can become corroded over time.

For wooden surface An alkyd primer is better suited: although the type of primer mixture mentioned earlier can be applied to wood, an alkyd primer is much better suited for a wooden base.

Unlike acrylic primer, its alkyd version dries in about 15 hours. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to prepare walls for wallpapering or what materials to use: therefore, you should study the building materials market and choose the most preferable option for yourself.

Should I glue wallpaper before laying the floor?

Many people face this question: is it necessary to wallpaper a wall before laying the floor? It should be said that it all depends on the coating you decide to cover the floor with. If you are going to lay laminate flooring, then before doing this, you need to put up wallpaper. Firstly, if the laminate has already been laid, then during wallpapering, you can simply contaminate the laminate, since gluing wallpaper to the wall is a process during which glue or other mixture may simply spill out, and you will have to clean the laminate. As you know, during renovation work on wallpapering, you need to leave a few centimeters of wallpaper as a reserve. If you glue the wallpaper before laying the laminate, then this margin of a couple of centimeters can be easily hidden.

In the case of parquet, the situation is diametrically opposite: first you need to lay the floor, and only then - gluing the wallpaper layer.

The fact is that laying parquet is much more difficult than laying laminate, and while laying parquet you can ruin the wallpaper. If the wallpaper is damaged, you will have to buy new wallpaper and re-glue it. To prevent this from happening, you should first lay the parquet.

Preparing concrete walls for wallpaper

Experts do not recommend preparing walls for wallpapering on a concrete surface. The fact is that concrete is not entirely suitable for wallpaper. Firstly, such a surface is usually uneven, there are obvious irregularities. This problem can be corrected with putty. By the way, there is a second problem, which can also be solved by plastering the wall. As you know, a concrete wall has a dark color. If you hang thin, light-colored wallpaper, it will not look good, since the concrete surface will show through under the wallpaper.

The greatest attention should be paid to puttying a concrete wall, since it is quite difficult to make such a surface sufficiently even.

If it is possible to choose another surface, then you should abandon the concrete wall.

How to prepare walls for painting after wallpapering

To get rid of dust and other imperfections that could interfere with painting the wall, you should prepare it. In order to level it, you should plaster the surface of the wall. The next steps are fairly standard: primer and putty. To prepare the wall before painting it, you should choose an adhesive primer: it improves the adhesion of the wall and paint. If the wall is not strong enough, then you can use a deeply penetrating primer mixture. The primer leaves the wall clean and ready for painting.

Many people do not pay much attention to the preparation of the wall: this is fundamentally wrong. It is the condition of the wall that determines whether the subsequent wallpapering will be successful.

How to putty walls before painting (video)

It is advisable to do everything yourself to be confident in the future result. The main thing is not to give up after the first failures: even bad experiences bring benefits. Good luck wallpapering and preparing the walls for this process!