Hiring a professional wallpaper installer the right way

Because you will trust expensive materials to an installer, these tips to help you choose the right person for your project.

We’ve found some common ground among installer troubles and want to share with you the things we've learned along the way. 

A real wallpaper installer, or a handyman?

Cheap can be very expensive, be careful!

If you just need someone to install your wallpaper make sure your wall is appropriate, your wallpaper material is the right one for your project, require them to follow instructions provided, watch and supervise closely everything.

A handyman may have the skills to align a few panels but will probably lack technical knowledge about wallpaper.

One time a customer told us her installer had 20 years experience painting walls. He painted the wall and right after sealed it with a nice peel and stick wallpaper. Wet paint fumes lifted the whole thing and permanently damaged the adhesive. 

Hire a professional the right way

If you are thinking of an installer, look for the service before purchasing the wallpaper. 

Talk to the installer about the wallpaper you intend to purchase, ask for experience with those specific materials.

Many professionals just won’t touch peel and stick wallpapers, for them we offer traditional options. It’s a great idea to ask before buying.

One time a customer contacted us very worried, after her peel and stick arrived she called 7 companies of wallpaper installation and they all denied the job. While so much denial is uncommon, imagine yourself to be trapped in a similar situation when you could've got the right material for your installer. 

It is also useful to hand them samples of the actual thing so they can check the goods.

Stick to Traditional Materials with a Professional Wallpaper Installer 

Professional installers feel more comfortable around traditional materials. 

Our Traditional Pre-pasted is a great material and can be removed by adding water, it won’t tear in little pieces while trying to remove it (like old school wallpaper) . It the the perfect "removable" wallpaper option for a professional installer.

For sturdy and long-lasting installation our Traditional Canvas Non Pasted is a completely traditional wall-covering that requires wallpaper glue and wall priming for application. 

Wall assessment 

Look for a pro who assess your wall prior wallpapering. Send them pictures, anything that can help determine the requirements of your surface. Your wall might need some repairs or be smoothen out if it’s textured and these steps need to be done and let dry before installing a wallpaper.

Be very careful if your wall is textured. 

What’s a textured wall?? Find a guide below.

Textured Walls

Now if your wall is textured…. When a professional wallpaper installer finds a textured wall will tell you the wall needs to be smoothen out prior wallpaper and this will have an extra cost. This is the right thing to do, if your walls are textured and you want a professional service you need to go all the way out.

If might find this step unnecessary or gets out of your budget, but installation of a wallpaper over textured walls will not render professional results (it can be done though!). Installation might have issues like: misalignments and texture pass through.

To achieve a professional installation you need to smooth out the wall. 

The right wallpaper for the right wall

Read all our documentation, get the right wallpaper for your wall. Your installer can’t do magic either! 

A removable peel and stick does not work or hold over a textured wall or a wall with irregular finishes. You can't expect just because they installed did it will hold, it does not work like that!

Blaming the material

Blaming the material is an easy way out of trouble.

Being a professional wallpaper installer is to have enough knowledge either to say just no - I won’t do it -, or pull up quite a few tricks professional installers have to make it work.

When after making a mess a pro justifies itself saying the wallpaper is not good, that’s not a pro. A pro will deliver the job and after will tell you the material was crappy. 

A professional who can’t guarantee results.

A pro is someone who has made all the mistakes there are to be made and learned how to solve them in order to gain the experience necessary to be called a professional.

A professional Installer who does not know what an Overlap is

It’s not frequent but, it also happens. Overlap and the Double Cut, which is the technique to remove it, is basic knowledge of any wallpaper installer. 

When your installer does not know what an Overlap is, or the Double Cut, be careful, this is a mayor red flag regarding basic wallpaper knowledge. 

Why does true profesional wallpaper installers hate peel and stick wallpapers?

Peel and Stick wallpapers are just recently "accepted" as market valued items by mayor wallpaper manufacturers. Little by little they are gaining fame as they allow DIY installations in less time and with less mess than traditional papers. 

They have become popular among users, but not very liked by profesional installers and the facts are simple: peel and stick films do not allow much deformation: contraction and retraction of the material that happens in traditional wallpapers. For profesional wallpaper installers peel and stick materials are inferior. 

Unfortunately all the knowledge of a very experienced traditional wallpaper installer is useless when installing peel & stick, the rules are different as installation methods defer a lot. An old school traditional wallpaper installer does not necessarily know about peel and stick wallpaper, asking for the right experience is key.

For us peel and stick wallpapers are not inferior in any way, they are just different. They allow an affordable installation: from the start an installer is an option not a requirement. They are removable, if you are a renter you can have your beautiful wall without going out of budget or having to repair the wall after you remove it. 

Our Experience with Peel and Stick as professional and advice for everyone.

We pride ourselves to be almost exclusively peel and stick installers. 

Our favorite is the Long Term Peel and Stick but we do mainly commercial installations so the strongest adhesive is the best in these cases. We have tested it extensively in restaurants, hair salons, office locations and bathrooms. The Long Term is a smooth film with nothing extraordinary apparently, but technically is a very tough material.

Removable wallpapers are best for interior home decoration projects, specifically for nurseries where the wallpaper is going to be updated in 5 years or so (kids will grow) and for that reason needs to be removable so the wall can stay intact and ready for other wallpaper. 

We treat EVERY wall as if it was low VOC, and always wash is with 70% isopropyl alcohol prior a wallpaper install. 

When we install removable peel and stick we always secure the top and bottom edges with double sided wallpaper tape to help it stay in optimal conditions for a longer time. 

Now if you have questions or comments please let us know in the box below!