What to apply before wallpapering. Preparing the walls for wallpapering. The nuances of preparing a wall for different types of wallpaper

Wallpapering is one of the most important stages in the renovation process.

In this article we will reveal some: how to prepare a wall, choose, and also paste hard-to-reach places.

- a process that requires careful preparation and cannot be rushed. First of all, you need to prepare the tools, choose the adhesive solution and brand of canvas, and, of course, prepare the surfaces that you are going to paste over. We will talk about this in more detail.

How to prepare walls

Removing old coating

First, the old layer of finishing is removed from the walls. To make the task easier, wet the surface and wait 20-30 minutes. If the canvases come off at the top, pour water inside and wait. Metal scrapers will help you remove paper.

Primer of walls

After removing all layers, thoroughly rinse the surface with a brush dipped in warm water.

After going over the surface with a wide spatula and removing a layer of whitewash or plaster, secure the passage with a brush, obtaining a clean surface without dust or deposits.

Cleaning takes place in two stages: first the vinyl layer is removed, then the paper layer, using the instructions described above.

To clean the ceiling, you can use a sponge on a long stick.

Walls painted with oil paint are washed with soap and sanded.
Plain water will help wash off the adhesive paint.
When covering a wall with mineral paint, its thin layers are washed out with a brush, and thick layers are removed with a scraper.
Enamel paints are removed using soap or soda solution.
The dispersion paint is scraped off with a spatula.

How to treat the walls before wallpapering so that the new canvases stick tightly? You can cover the wall with a bleach solution - the most good decision in the fight against mold. To prepare the mixture, add 200 grams of bleach to a liter of water.

You can also treat the wall with a fungicide. It is advisable to use glue that contains a fungicide.

Sticking canvases to the ceiling

Alignment

Subsequent treatment of the walls before gluing the canvases is leveling. Inspect surfaces for defects. Often walls need to putty cracks and remove irregularities.

You can insulate the wall with sheets of foam plastic, which will also help level them.

If sheets of drywall are nailed to the walls, check to see if the nail heads are protruding. If you do not paint them over, they may subsequently rust.

Priming is the last preparatory stage. Plaster, gypsum, and drywall are primed.

The primer holds together small particles on the surface so that they do not damage the connection of the adhesive to the wall, and also protects against fungus. After priming, wait for the surface to dry completely.

You can check the readiness of the wall quite easily - stick a piece of adhesive tape on the surface and wait. If condensation appears, it is not time yet.

Note! Instead of a primer mixture, you can use a highly diluted solution of wallpaper glue.

Before wallpapering, you can cover the walls with paper. This will smooth out minor surface irregularities and also protect the wallpaper layer from exposure to alkalis.

There is even special paper, but you can always use old newspapers. Such paper is smeared with glue, wait until it is completely saturated and glued with an overlap. All that remains is to smooth it out with a brush to remove unevenness. After drying (which takes about a day) and sanding the surface, you can begin gluing.

Preparation of glue

Remember, the denser and heavier the canvas, the thicker the glue should be.

IN cold water pour in the dry mass and mix thoroughly. Wait 5 minutes, stir again - and the glue is ready to use.

Spreading the canvas with glue

Wallpapering

First, measure the walls, draw a layout diagram directly on the wall with a simple pencil.

Make sure you buy identical rolls and you can start gluing. Unwind a strip that is 5 cm longer than required - this is a reserve for drying and “pulling” of the canvases.

Apply glue to the canvas starting from the middle and moving towards the edges. Pay special attention to the edges; they need to be coated thoroughly, without allowing any glue to get on the front side.

Apply the strip from top to bottom, smoothing from the center and avoiding the formation of bubbles. After all the canvases have been pasted, wait for them to dry and make sure there are no drafts in the room.

After gluing is completed, carefully trim the excess parts with a knife.

Now that you have learned how to perform such a procedure as wallpapering, repairs will now not be so scary. Good luck with decorating the interior of your apartment!

Summing up

We hope our article was useful to you. In order to more accurately understand the technological and practical issue, our website provides detailed photo and video instructions in which you will find useful information on this issue.

Photo gallery

The modern market offers today's consumers a wide variety of finishing materials. But wallpaper, as before, is at the top of popularity. That is why almost every person is faced with a number of questions, and one of them is how to prepare the walls for wallpapering? After all, it is from proper preparation the success of the repair will depend. Fortunately, such a process is not difficult, but quite labor-intensive.

Surface cleaning

Any wallpapering on a wall begins with preparing the surface. The work done will largely depend on appearance rooms.

Walls covered with old wallpaper must be thoroughly cleaned. Even if it seems that the trellises are firmly attached to it, they still need to be removed. If this is not done, the error will make itself felt very soon, but it will be impossible to correct it.

To make the old coating easier to remove, you need to wet it hot water. This procedure should be repeated several times. After soaking, the strips can be easily removed with a metal spatula. Some wallpapers get wet quite badly. In this case, they are cut so that water can penetrate inside.

Now all that remains is to wash off the remaining glue. To do this you will need a wide brush and regular warm water. We carefully treat the surface, and then clean it with a wide spatula.

Mold control

Sometimes mold can appear indoors, especially in damp rooms (kitchen, bathroom). It definitely needs to be removed. Do not ignore the fungus, otherwise it will appear on new trellises. How to prepare the walls for wallpapering in this case?

Areas with mold are treated with lime. To make this solution, take 1 liter of water and 200 grams of bleach. Instead of a solution, you can use a fungicide. By the way, when wallpapering such places, this substance must be added to the glue.

Plaster layer

Before preparing the walls for wallpapering, evaluate the existing plaster layer walls It should not crumble or have cracks. Even if the entire coating looks intact, be sure to tap the entire area with a hammer. “Sounding” places indicate that the plaster has come off the wall. If damaged large plot old layer It's better to remove it altogether.

Primary primer

Preparation of concrete surfaces

Wallpapering begins concrete walls from preparatory work on cleaning from grease stains, dust, and salts that have come to the surface. After all these manipulations, a leveling oil-adhesive putty composition is applied to various cracks, cavities, and multiple irregularities. After drying, it is imperative to apply another layer.

After the wall has completely dried, the surface is sanded with pumice. For these purposes, sandpaper is used. Now concrete surface completely ready for wallpapering.

When the trellises are glued, all the irregularities and defects, which are often not visible on the putty surface, clearly appear. How to fix this and how to prepare the walls for wallpapering? There is a very simple but effective method.

Light a powerful lamp and place it along the wall so that the light glides across the surface. You can use a halogen spotlight. Place it on the floor. Rays of light directed from the side will identify any irregularities. It is this kind of lighting that will clearly show in which places additional cleaning is necessary.

By moving the spotlight along the wall, you will clearly see all the defects, which means you can smooth them out.

The following device makes cleaning walls much easier. Purchase a special mount for sandpaper(silicon mesh), which is easily put on the stick with a rotation angle of 360 degrees. Such a tool will allow you to quickly clean walls even under the ceiling, and it will require much less effort than when working hand grater. In addition, there will be no need for construction scaffolding.

Instead of a conclusion

You can decorate the walls different ways: wallpapering, painting, covering with ornaments, artistic painting, decorative plaster.

The most common decoration method and the least troublesome is wallpapering. Preparing walls for wallpapering includes several stages which should not be neglected.

What is it for?

So that the wallpaper does not peel off, does not become deformed during work, and the canvas was laid evenly on the wall, before wallpapering you need to level the walls.

Wall treatment provides protection from mold, fungal spores and bedbugs.

Many walls have a finely porous structure, which allows air to accumulate in the pores, which promotes unsticking of wallpaper seams. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to ensure maximum adhesion between the wallpaper and the wall.

Wallpaper glued to unprepared walls won't last long and aesthetically unattractive.

What should the surface be?

If done correctly preparatory work before gluing wallpaper, you can observe necessary requirements for the wall for wallpaper:

Features of wall treatment depending on their material

Before achieving the desired wall surface for wallpapering, it is necessary to carry out a number of works that will help bring the surface to perfect condition. The specifics of preparing walls for wallpaper largely depend on what material the wall is made of.

Nuances when processing walls made of different materials:

Drywall It has a smooth surface, but it is porous and not strong enough. Special attention When processing, you need to pay attention to leveling the surface, taking into account joints and screws.
Concrete walls the most durable. Since their structure has minimal porosity, sometimes it is enough to apply only a primer for preparation.
Brick walls They are not strong and even enough, so to process them it is necessary to go through several stages (leveling, puttying, priming).
Chipboard walls have screws and joints. They need to be covered with oil paint. Next, the surface is treated in the usual way.
Treatment OSB walls under wallpaper is practically no different from preparation brick walls. Only the first stage is sealing the seams with the mixture and covering the wall with serpyanka.

Almost any coating can be prepared for gluing in such a way that it depends on the wall material the quality of the wallpaper will not depend.

Read also about how to glue ceiling plinth from polystyrene foam onto wallpaper with your own hands.

How to do everything with your own hands?

At first glance, preparing walls for wallpapering seems like a fairly easy task. However, there are nuances, which a lay person may not always know about.

Removing old coating

If the walls are covered with old wallpaper or paint, then before pasting the wall, it is necessary to remove the old decor.

Old wallpaper can be pasted in several layers, so before eliminating it, you must first spray the wall with water. Then use a spatula to remove the old layer.

Old paint is much more difficult to remove from walls. Exists three removal methods old paint coating:

Mechanical. The paint is knocked off with tools (an axe, an electric drill, an angle grinder, a spatula, a chisel).
Chemical. The procedure consists of repeatedly applying it to the wall. chemical composition and wait until the paint begins to bubble and peel off the wall.
Thermal. This method involves removing the paint using construction hair dryer.

Plaster

Plastering walls is done to level the surface and eliminating its gross defects. Modern gypsum plaster can be applied to the wall in a layer of up to 7 mm, which is very convenient for leveling.

Prepare the mixture and spatula for work. Fill in the depressions and cracks with putty, knock down protrusions and protrusions as much as possible, and smooth out the remaining unevenness with the compound.

If the wall is uneven (has a slope), then you can level it using beacons, a level and rules.

After complete drying walls, you can proceed to puttying the surface.

putty

Puttying - one of mandatory stages, which must be done when preparing walls for wallpapering. A putty solution is produced with a consistency that is easy to apply to the surface.

Using a spatula in a circular motion, apply the mixture to the wall in several stages, while the layer should not exceed 4 mm. Hard to reach places(radiator, pipes) must be puttied with a rubber spatula.

Final layer of putty applied most carefully so that there are as few irregularities as possible.

Getting rid of mold, fungi, bedbugs

It is necessary to treat the walls against fungi, mold and bedbugs before wallpapering. without fail, even if there are no such defects on the wall.

Eat several preventive and effective recipes for treating walls against mold and similar formations:

bleach - 200 g of bleach is dissolved in a liter of water and applied to the wall;
the fungicide, like lime, can also be diluted with water and the resulting solution can be used;
chlorine solution (white) effectively fights fungus and its spores;
hydrogen peroxide solution copes well with mold spores and fungus;
solution copper sulfate and water (100 g per 10 liters) also effectively attacks areas of mold and fungi and protects walls from bedbugs.

If mold has appeared through the plaster, then you need to clean this piece of plaster down to the base. Treat the wall with any of the solutions. After surface treatment, It is recommended to apply a primer with an antiseptic.

Important! When working with solutions, it is necessary to use protective equipment: gloves, respirators, goggles.

Primer

By priming the walls adhesive consumption is reduced, and priming has a number of properties that have a positive effect on the final stage of finishing.

Priming result:

the quality of gluing the wallpaper to the wall improves;
cracking of the putty does not occur;
ensures moisture impermeability into the wall;
the formation and development of fungus is prevented;
The adhesion of the wallpaper and the wall is enhanced, thereby increasing the service life of the wallpaper.

To ensure that the priming process is carried out correctly you need to know some subtleties:

the primer is applied only to completely dry putty;
Wallpaper should only be glued onto a completely dry primer.

Since the porosity of the wall may not be uniform, in this case the primer must be applied unevenly to the wall. A more porous surface is needed process with large amounts of mixture.

When all stages of wall processing were completed correctly, then the final result of the work will meet expectations: smooth walls, perfectly laid wallpaper, no problems with mold or bedbugs.

In the following video, see what needs to be done before wallpapering the walls:

With all the variety of modern finishing materials, wallpapering walls remains the simplest and most in an inexpensive way update the interior. Vinyl and paintable, photo wallpaper, glass wallpaper and liquid wallpaper - the choice is yours. Preparing the walls for wallpaper is the most important step. Do not be tempted to stick new wallpaper on the current one or on a painted wall: the old coating will inevitably crack, swell, and ruin the appearance of the room. In old housing stock, the walls are not perfectly even, and the angles are far from straight. Invest a little money and effort in preparing the surface, and you won’t see how the new wallpaper deforms along with the old ones, or repeats the curvature uneven walls. Preparation is divided into several stages.

Dismantling old material

If you are going to update the interior where wallpaper was previously pasted, then you need to remove it. Turn off the power to the room to avoid electrical injury: when removing wallpaper, you will use sharp tools and wet the walls. Lay newspapers on the floor, remove furniture, or cover it with film. Removing old flooring is a messy and time-consuming process, but it can be made easier by knowing a few tricks.

Find a section of the wall from which the wallpaper separates well. Pry the canvas with a spatula or knife and gently pull. There is no need to pull sharply, the old coating has become fragile. It’s good if you can remove the finish in entire strips, but most likely you will come across areas of the surface where the wallpaper is held very securely.
Firmly glued wallpaper can be removed by first soaking it. Treat the surface with warm water from a spray bottle or roll with a roller soaked in hot water. Remove the soaked coating with a wide spatula.
Before soaking washable or vinyl wallpaper, roll it with a roller with metal spikes, this will destroy the moisture-resistant film. If you don’t have such a tool, make cuts on the surface with a sharp knife.
If the old coating was glued to PVA, you can remove it using laundry soap. Grate the block, add three liters of water and bring to a boil. Treat the walls with a roller or sponge; after 20 minutes you can remove the wallpaper.
Vinegar dissolved in hot water will cope with both PVA and construction glue. Dilute a crushed piece of laundry soap and 400 ml of vinegar in a bucket of boiling water. Treat 1.5-2 m 2 of wall, after 20 minutes start working. If some areas do not lend themselves, they will have to be cleaned with a wire brush or moisture-resistant sandpaper.
After removing the wallpaper, wipe the wall with a sponge soaked in clean water, this way you will wash away small particles of paper, residual glue and detergent.
If old glue turned out to be of very high quality, treat the surface with steam. Place a wet cloth on the wall and iron it maximum power. An iron with a steam generator or a household steamer will cope with this task even better. After removing the coating, dry the walls to prevent mold from appearing.
You can buy a special remover in hardware stores. Apply it to the walls, leave for 2-3 hours, then remove the wallpaper with a spatula or wide knife.

Removing old paint

Oil-based paint forms a smooth surface with poor adhesion, while water-based paint will begin to bubble under the influence of wallpaper glue. Oil paint can be removed using a hair dryer and spatula, or washed off with a special solvent old paint. The water emulsion can be soaked soap solution and peel off with a spatula.

Surface priming

After removing the old coating, the walls need further processing. Regardless of what the next stage of work will be, you need to prime the surface, which will allow you to:

Reduce wallpaper glue consumption;
Increase the service life of the finishing coating;
Give the surface uniformity;
Improve adhesion.

Select a primer that matches the wall surface. Acrylic is intended for putty and plastered walls, alkyd for wooden ones. The primer is applied using a construction roller; in the corners you should use a brush. After the first layer has completely dried, apply the second. Walls coated with primer are smooth and slightly sticky.

Plastering the surface

It is necessary to carry out in cases where there are significant unevenness of the walls. Inexpensive plaster mixtures are produced on the basis of cement or gypsum. It is easier to work with gypsum compounds, they are more plastic, have a fine grain, but are not intended for rooms with high humidity. Acrylic and latex compounds can be used in any room, but they are quite expensive, so they are used as putty to smooth out small irregularities.

Operating procedure

Install level construction beacons on the pre-primed wall. Follow the manufacturer's instructions - the packaging indicates the minimum and maximum layer thickness and complete drying time.

Use a trowel to spread the plaster mixture between adjacent beacons.
Using smooth movements from bottom to top, and from left to right, using the rule, stretch the plaster.
Add the mixture to the resulting voids, and remove the excess with a spatula.
After the walls have dried, remove the beacons and plaster the places where they are installed. It is impossible to leave beacons in the thickness of the plaster; over time they will rust and stains will appear on the wallpaper.

If smoothing and glossing were not carried out during the plastering process, the surface will be grainy and uneven; wallpaper cannot be glued to such walls.

Puttying the surface

After the plaster has dried, prime the walls and start puttingty. This procedure is carried out in one or several stages, depending on what wallpaper is chosen for covering the walls. Fat vinyl wallpapers with a clearly defined texture do not require a perfectly smooth surface. For gluing walls with thin and smooth wallpaper, you will have to carry out both base and finishing putty. The finely dispersed structure of the putty mixture evens out the grain size of the plaster layer.

To work you will need a long and standard spatula.

Scoop the mixture with a short spatula, spread it evenly over the long one, and apply the putty forcefully along the wall using smoothing movements. After the solution has completely dried, sand the surface with 240 or 320 grit sandpaper. During sanding, dust is generated, which must be removed with a vacuum cleaner, and if it is very dusty, wipe the wall with a damp cloth. Be sure to prime the walls after sanding. Wallpaper can be glued to a dry surface.

Preparing walls in a new building

Apartments in a new building can be rented with plastered walls or “in concrete”. In the first case, check the quality of the plaster. Knock on the walls. A poor-quality solution applied in violation of technology may crumble or crack. You need to get rid of such finishing - it will continue to deteriorate. When the strength of the plaster is beyond doubt, check the walls with a building level. If the walls are “filled up”, they will have to be leveled with a plaster compound.

If the surface passes the level test, take a two-meter strip and apply it to the wall in different directions. An error of 1-3mm does not need to be equalized. Depressions and bulges within 5-7 mm will have to be puttied. More significant differences require plastering. If your apartment has concrete walls, then you can use it for additional insulation. The sequence of work remains the same: plaster, putty, sanding. Priming is done after each stage.

Preparing walls before applying liquid wallpaper

Liquid wallpaper is a dry mixture of cellulose and silk fibers, decorative inclusions, pigment and glue. Before applying to the wall, the dry components are diluted with water and applied to the wall with a spatula. Liquid wallpaper has a three-dimensional structure that will hide minor errors in the walls, but it is a fairly expensive material, so preliminary preparation of the walls will help save money and allow you to obtain a high-quality coating.

Surface preparation is carried out by analogy with preparing walls for pasting. regular wallpaper, but has several features:

Make sure that the wall is free of nails, screws and other metal inclusions that could rust over time. Rust stains will appear through the decorative layer, ruining its appearance.
Cover the leveled surface of the wall with 2-3 layers of light water-dispersion paint to avoid spotting of the decorative layer.
Concrete wall needs to be puttied gypsum putty, it will give the wall an even White color and will hide all the imperfections. After the putty has dried, apply a primer in two layers, then water-dispersed paint in three layers.

Even inexperienced craftsmen can prepare walls for wallpapering.

Follow the instructions for the selected materials, follow the sequence of work and remember: an attempt to save time or money on preparatory stage, will turn into a necessity complete rework repair.

Wallpaper – modern finishing material, allowing you to get a beautiful and attractive wall surface. Today, manufacturers produce many modifications of such products, differing in design and strength of the base. The painting is applied using special adhesives allowing to obtain strong adhesion between the material and the surface. But this condition is also affected by the quality of the walls to which the products are fixed. Therefore, it is important to learn how to prepare walls for wallpapering.

What are the problems?

Wallpapering is one of the most simple ways change the design of a room or home as a whole. A variety of materials allows you to create universal interiors, adapted to certain styles. But to get a similar effect, you should pay attention to the condition of the walls before applying the paintings. This determines how long and well the wallpaper will stay on the surface.

Treating walls before applying wallpaper is necessary to solve several main problems:

Uneven surfaces. It is theoretically possible to glue paper sheets onto curved walls, but this will not allow you to get the desired effect. The joints between the sheets will be uneven, forming overlaps or significant gaps. Therefore, in order to apply wallpaper efficiently, you should first repair the base.
Unstable foundation. The walls in many apartments are already covered several times with plaster, which can peel off. This can lead to the wallpaper not adhering tightly to the surface and quickly falling off. Small cavities may appear inside such bases, leading to the formation of drafts and other unpleasant phenomena.

Fungus. Mold often develops humid environment. If it appears on the wall, it means that the surface quickly absorbs water and does not dry out. In such cases, it is necessary to treat the walls with special substances, as well as additional plastering of the base. In some cases, to get rid of this phenomenon, you will need to remove upper layer wall decoration in which spore pathogens are located.
Dirty base. Wallpaper adhesive is intended for processing only certain types of materials. If there are greasy, oil stains or paint on the surface of the wall, it will simply not be possible to fix the canvas. After a certain period, the substance will simply peel off and fall off.

It is necessary to do surface preparation, even if there are none of these problems. But at the same time the wall is affected special compounds, which only improve the quality of adhesion between the material and the base.

Required Tools

Finishing walls before applying wallpaper is a complex procedure that requires patience and accuracy. In this case, a person has to use many additional building substances that he applies to the surface.

To simplify and speed up this procedure, you should stock up on several basic tools:

Several types of spatulas. They allow for better surface treatment when leveling or dismantling the old coating. You will need both metal and rubber tools of various sizes.
Construction mixer. The mechanisms allow you to quickly and efficiently mix solutions that will be used to treat the walls.
Individual protection means. This should include everything from rubber gloves, glasses to protective respirators.

Roller. Use it to apply primer or other liquid substances.
Skins various sizes.
Level or plumb. If the walls are being leveled, then care should be taken to have special beacons to facilitate this procedure.

If you plan to remove old coverings or clean walls, then for such purposes you will need:

Construction hairdryer. It is used to heat the paint to make it easier to remove from the surface.
Grinder with several types of attachments. It is used for mechanical removal of paints or auxiliary leveling of surfaces. During operation of this device, a lot of dust is generated, so it is important to protect not only indoor furniture, but also the human respiratory system.

Mixtures

Wall preparation is a complex, complex procedure that includes the use of many auxiliary products. To solve such problems, you should often stock up on several types of mixtures:

Plaster. Similar products are used for leveling walls. Today there are many types of such substances that differ in the structure and quality of the components. The most popular are gypsum-based mixtures, to which a fine fraction of sand is added. They are intended for final leveling of walls, but are not used if thick layers need to be formed. Cement-sand materials are used as primary plasters. They can often be found during the initial finishing of walls in new buildings, where they are not yet covered with anything.
Primer. Use it immediately before wallpapering. These substances are liquid mixtures, which should not be prepared as in the previous case. These solutions contain many different components that increase adhesion between surfaces and, if necessary, act on harmful microorganisms. Therefore, they are very often used in the fight against mold, which is impossible to remove physically.

Primers can be divided into several main types:

Acrylic. The mixtures are universal, since they can be used to process almost all types of wall materials. Among the advantages of the product are minimal odor and quick drying.
Alkyd. This type of mixture is perfect only for wooden walls, so their use today is limited.
Mineral. The main components of this solution are lime, gypsum and cement. Designed for covering surfaces made of concrete and brick. Some types take a long time to dry.
Deep penetration primers. The main direction of this product is to increase the strength parameters of walls. Mixtures can penetrate to a depth of up to 2 cm, which also makes it possible to influence the development of mold and fungi from the inside.

Many primers are made with the addition of a coloring pigment, which is important for some types of wallpaper.

Stages and order of work: what to consider?

The technology for preparing walls before wallpapering depends only on their initial condition and the material that will be attached to them. This procedure can be divided into several successive steps:

General preparation. This may include preliminary cleaning of the walls from dirt or old protective materials. This process can vary dramatically depending on what was previously applied to the wall. If it's just regular old wallpaper, then you should just remove it. Preparation of painted surfaces is considered more difficult. Today, many argue that such walls are perfect for gluing. You just need to make a few cuts on the paint in several places, which will increase the adhesion between the glue and the wall. But it is best to completely remove the paint from the surface. This can be done mechanically using a grinder and grinding wheel, and special chemical liquid solutions.
Pre-primer. Impregnating the wall will degrease it and slightly strengthen the adhesion between the remaining components. For such purposes they use different kinds mixtures that can be purchased at construction stores.

Puttying. This process is complex and also depends on the condition of the surface. If the walls or ceiling were leveled earlier, then preparing them for gluing involves removing small irregularities and sealing cracks with putty. Newly plastered surfaces, which have already been processed without the use of putty, are also susceptible to minimal impact. A more common case is when the geometry of the walls in the room is not respected. Therefore, it is important to properly prepare such planes for the application of materials. The procedure begins with aligning the corners, which must meet strictly at an angle of 90 degrees. This will allow you to get smooth joints without cracks and differences. After this, they begin to level the walls themselves. To do this, a thin layer of plaster is applied to them in places where there are significant differences.

It is important to create a smooth transition in order to obtain a completely flat surface. If the differences are significant, then only a new screed on the entire plane will help to level out such a defect.

Padding. Finishing with primer mixtures is always carried out before gluing almost all types of wallpaper.

Surface material

Wallpaper today can be applied not only inside apartment buildings, where the walls are made of concrete or plastered. Similar materials are perfect for other substrates.

Therefore, it is important to prepare them correctly depending on the type of surface:

Concrete walls. Wallpaper is not glued to this material, as it absorbs moisture well, which will affect the operation of the sheets. Therefore, experts recommend that concrete be finished. This procedure begins by cleaning the surface with fine sandpaper. It is important to remove all dust after this and coat the wall with primer. To prepare the concrete, the wall should be completely covered with putty. This will not only level the surface, but also minimize moisture absorption. A similar algorithm can be used for brick walls that require additional plastering.
Drywall. Walls made of this material are ideal foundation for applying wallpaper. When preparing them, you should pay attention to the joints between the sheets, where cracks form. Many experts recommend covering drywall with a thin screed, which will hide all defects and make them invisible after gluing. After this procedure, the material must be primed to increase adhesion.

Plywood, chipboard and other wood boards. These substances are also very common as wall surfaces. Theoretically, you can fix wallpaper on them without preparation. But this approach is not always optimal, since wood quickly swells and fails. To improve adhesion, experts recommend completely filling the slabs or additionally covering them with special paper, which will act as an intermediate layer.
Clay. Clay walls are not so common, since this material is used as a building material only by lovers of environmentally friendly technologies. If the clay walls are fairly smooth, then they do not need additional preparation. But this does not exclude priming them, since this step is necessary for all types of bases.

What kind of wallpaper do we put up?

The type of wallpaper also affects the algorithm for preparing the surface for attaching it.

It is important to take into account a few simple nuances:

Paper ones are thin, so even small irregularities will show through. Therefore, the walls underneath them must be perfectly smooth.
Treatment of the base should be carried out only with the use of reinforcing mesh. This applies to those areas of the house where there is a risk of cracks that will lead to rupture of the material.
The surface under vinyl wallpaper or non-woven materials may have small irregularities that they will hide. The peculiarity of these types is that they do not allow air into the wall structure (non-woven only after painting). This, in turn, can lead to the development of fungus. To exclude this, the bases must be impregnated with special antiseptics.
Liquid wallpaper represents a certain layer decorative plaster, which allows you to hide significant irregularities. But it is still recommended to level the walls for them, since when replacing them with other types, this will allow them to be applied faster and with better quality.

Electrics

The electrical network is often located directly on the surface of the walls or inside them. If your cable is simply nailed on top, then it is advisable to place it in special grooves, which are small channels.

The process of preparing walls for wallpaper also includes several operations with electrical appliances:

Dismantling external elements. Before applying primer or putty, remove the switch and sockets. At the same time, their insides should be carefully protected from dirt and foreign materials.
Replacing the cable. Almost all wiring today is hidden under wallpaper, which does not allow its repair to be carried out efficiently and in a timely manner. Therefore, if your network is quite old and cannot withstand the load, replacing the wallpaper is an opportunity to completely replace all the wiring with new one. This operation is optional and depends only on the state of the electrical network.

Please note that all the operations described above should only be performed when the electricity is turned off. The safety of the builder who will prepare the walls depends on this.

Wall covering color

The peculiarity of any wallpaper is that it consists of several layers. This, in turn, can affect not only the strength, but also the transmission of the color of the base. Today, after hanging many types of wallpaper, a dark base or various types of stains appear through them. This feature applies only to thin sheets, and also liquid materials. To exclude this, you should glue them to walls of light shades.

Before wallpapering, it is recommended to paint the base light colors using lime or special primers. A similar approach is required for concrete and clay surfaces, which have significant contrast.

Please note that if you use thick wallpaper, stains will not show through. They can only be noticeable if the wallpaper has a transparent structure, which allows you to see the darkening under the main layer of wall covering.