Wallpapering in Rowley Regis, Oldbury. Old paper stripped, walls lined where they need it, and new paper hung with the pattern matched and the joins tight.
Wallpaper shows the wall underneath it more than paint does, and in the older houses around Rowley Regis the walls are rarely flat. That is why the first question is always what is behind the current paper.
Stripping comes first, and it is slow work done properly: scored and soaked or steamed, with care taken not to gouge the plaster underneath. Where the plaster has blown or cracked, it gets repaired before anything else happens.
Lining paper is the step people skip and regret. Hung horizontally across a wall that has seen a few decades of repairs, it evens out the surface and gives the finishing paper something consistent to grip. On a feature wall with a bold pattern it is almost always worth it.
Feature walls are the most popular wallpaper job in Rowley Regis at the moment - a chimney breast in the living room or the wall behind the bed - and a Rowley Regis house with its original plaster usually needs lining before a bold paper goes up.
Then the hanging: the wall plumbed so the first drop is true, the pattern matched from the most visible point, joins butted rather than overlapped, and the cuts at the ceiling and skirting done with a sharp blade so they look deliberate. Heavy papers and vinyls get the adhesive they need rather than a general-purpose paste. Flaking paint, damp patches that keep coming back, or cracks that reopen are worth looking at before anything new goes over them.
Steamed or soaked and scraped carefully, so the plaster underneath survives.
Blown or cracked plaster made good before any paper goes up.
Cross-lined on uneven walls, so the finishing paper hangs flat.
Set out from the most visible point, with the first drop plumbed true.
Butted, not overlapped, and rolled so they stay closed.
Heavy papers, vinyls and paste-the-wall papers each hung the way they are meant to be.
Send a photo or a quick video of the room on WhatsApp, or get a free fixed quote — no obligation, and we’ll tell you straight what it needs.
A typical bedroom is a day to strip and prepare and a day to hang, more if lining or plaster repairs are needed.
On older walls, often yes - especially for a bold pattern or a heavy paper.
Yes, and it is one of the most common jobs. Setting out matters even more on one wall.
Tell us the room and the pattern repeat and we will work out the rolls, with a spare from the same batch.
For walls that are hard to get perfectly flat, it can be a sensible choice. We will talk it through with the wall in front of us.
Rowley Regis, Blackheath, Oldbury and nearby.