Wallpaper: Textile, s/a, pre paste or paste and best joins?

[Jason Xuereb]

Apply tape where the join will be before applying both panels not to cut into the dry wall. It will make it easier.

[Hugh Band]

Nice one Jason, thanks for that tip. I have some spare pieces and some drywall so will have a trial of that method …..now why didn’t I do that originally! 🙂

[Denise Goodfellow]

we`ve just done our showroom, we printed on a JV3 using hexis material, we pasted the wall and hung like normal paper. We printed 1300 wide. We didn`t go for a complicated design, just our logo.

We trimmed on the bench and tried to butt join but had to settle for an overlap due to our cuts not being perfect.

[Hugh Band]

Hi Denise, how do do you find the hexis – have never used before. any stretch problems when aligning? think pasting wall sounds way to go if it gives you a bit of ‘adjust’. We got a bench cutter last year to help trim pop ups accurately, and hence thought would be good for wallapper butt joins but still not happy with its accuracy.

[Martin Pearson]

Are you sure it’s the accuracy of the trimmer that’s causing the problems & not the wall itself Hugh ? Walls are never that flat & square so the problems with alignment could easily be caused by the wall. One reason why using a cutting tape behind the join as Jason suggested is a good option.
Don’t know what sort of experience you have applying graphics but 1524 wide is a lot to handle on your own no matter what experience you have. Using a substrate that’s not as wide might be a better option & you may find that you will apply much faster as it will be easier to manage on your own.

[John Hughes]

We’ve done quite a lot of wall papering recently using wall paper from Paper Graphics.
We paste the walls first. As with Denise we can’t cut straight enough to butt join so print with overlap. When trimming, put a strip of thin plaatic 50mm wide behind the joint enabling to cut through both layers without damaging the wall. Remove the waste after trimming.

Hope that helps.

John

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[Hugh Band]

Hi Martin

Thanks for the response – trimmer is out (and notified to supplier and mfr)as doing first pop up was going to run full width (i.e. getting 2 drops out and cut down to individual drop on trimmer which would give perfect butt joint on at least every other joint but was out by up to 1.7mm over 2.4m. Doesn’t sound a lot but noticeable. Take your point about walls being out of square – and yes, limited previous wide vinyl application experience – but is growing daily ever since getting the VS640! You’re right – should have cut it down to make it easier but thought it would save joins!

Hi John
Thanks for the response, seems people are ok with overlaps so I’ll give that a go on sample panel. And of course we have plenty of plastic
film in offcut box so will definitely try that!

Went the self adhesive route as in domestic life absolutely hate wallpapering! 🙁

[Martin Pearson]

Hugh, I understand what you are saying about cutting down on the number of joins but if it’s done properly you won’t see the joins so doesn’t really make that much difference :lol1:

I’ve done quite a lot of domestic wallpapering as you call it & you can’t see the joins unless you are stood really close. Haven’t really done very much wallpapering with vinyl but the same thing is true from what I have seen.

[Hugh Band]

Hi Martin
Agreed – think problem was the textile wallpaper is instant grab – so you can’t slide it and yes you can relift and relift but it definitely (in my experience) stretches a little which is bit tricky if doing edge matching!). Probably was a bit ambitious to do full width and apply single handed, but thanks to your responses and others and tips posted I’m encouraged to try again with a) narrower roll widths and b) pastable paper and to try butt joins again and compare with overlaps and c) must get cutter bar/trimmer sorted out as its driving me crazy, and should have sorted it by now!

Anyone else got views over the textile self adhesive vs pasted/pre-paste paper?

Cheers, Hugh

[Richard Daniel]

Sorry for the bump, over the past couple of years we’ve tried loads.

From digimura’s paste option, to straight forward vinyl.

The digimura paste option wasn’t good for us. – you cannot splice the wall covering as the paste ‘contaminates’ the print. – I.e smudges and can remove the solvent print.

We used phototex and paper graphics version of the same product. – we used these products for a fair while, a couple of things to note. – leave the print for a couple of days it’s really tacky within the first 24 hours and you’ll probably end up wearing it. – I did find the prints a little dull too on our solvent, we never tried it on our UV. – the biggest problem for us was that it can’t be overlapped as you can see the overlap clearly. – it’s when you splice it there’s a risk you can catch a small strand and almost Frey it, this is a nightmare for darker images as it turns white.

After this we went for a more PVC product for a more vibrant finish that was specifically for wallcoverings. – it was a decent product from William smith, again you couldn’t overlap the joins as they went darker so we opted to butt it together, we also ran these on our uv printer and the finish was great. – we contacted william smith a couple of months back and they told us it had been discontinued. (I think it was aslan, I’ll find out on Monday)

Finally, we purchased a mactac grey backed Matt vinyl. – it works a charm, we’ve been overlapping joins, and as it’s PVC based the colours nice and vibrant. – the grey back helps hide up any unsightly walls and the sticks great.

One other thing I would suggest, avoid telling the client it’s removable. – it’s not. – if the walls been taped and jointed plasterboard or not keyed properly, this will pull the paint straight off. – another advantage of grey backed it we can just go straight over the top should it need updating a later date

Hope this is of some use

[Hugh Band]

Hi Richard, really useful info and pointers.

Agree on the fabric type being a problem with visual appeal when overlapping due to show through – but then catching a thread when trying to splice. Nightmare!

For the overlaps what size overlap do you think works best? Any customer concerns with overlap? On the Mactac have you found any stretch issues over a drop length when tryng to match drop pattern? Also do you find any need to laminate for durability?

Thanks for sharing your experience – much appreciated. :thumbsup:

All the best, Hugh

[Martin Pearson]

Hugh, being internal there is no real need to laminate from a uv point of view but a laminate or clear covering will undoubtedly increase durability. Something to maybe offer as a higher price option especially in areas where walls may get lent on & scuffed.

[Derek Heron]

have you considered this idea
we use it a lot in exibitions etc
a plastric track is fixed to the wall and fabric attsched
all trimmed nice and neat

derek

this was one of about 12 offices at excel exibition done in a day

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[Richard Daniel]

We don’t laminate ours, we have been running the mactac on our uv so it has been more durable. – we haven’t had any issues with it stretching. We usually pull back around 2′ from the top and work down. It may be an idea to work from the centre out.

We usually go for a 10mm join. – which you can’t see at all, so I haven’t had any complaints yet.

Also, It may be an idea to loosen up the slack on your take up unit when running the print, it’s worked for us in the past.

[Hugh Band]

Martin: thanks for this, agree with the upsell for laminate benefits! Was thinking that lam may be a help if stretching was an issue as well as durability in scuff potential areas.

Derek: Haven’t tried fabric printing on our rolands – ecosol max ink – (other than mesh/canvas/walltex etc). Always thought feed/bleed through would be an issue but always keen to try new substrate -and look at costing implications: do you mean something like this http://www.hexis.co.uk/hexis/Digital_Print_Media_-_Fabric.html PAQ500/BPF 500 etc.
Any other print tips for fabric printing? – like the hanging panels idea very much.

Richard: Going to give it a go! if using the monomeric mactac do you have any experience of it shrinking fractionally over time leaving a glue edge? Guess if indoors and no direct sunlight this should be ok?. Is it the JT5828 PM that you would recommend?.

Thanks for the input guys, All the best, Hugh 🙂

[Martin Pearson]

Hugh, got no experience with the film mentioned but any monomeric (or polymeric for that matter) vinyl will shrink over time, it’s the nature of how it’s produced.
Generally speaking the cheaper the vinyl the more it is likely to shrink which is why you notice it more on cheaper films.