How to prepare walls for wallpaper

A beautiful paper can look terrible on a badly prepared wall. Bumps, old seams and patches of filler all show through, and the paper can shrink, lift or bubble if the surface is not right. Here is the process we follow before we hang a single drop.

1. Strip the old paper completely

Never hang new paper over old. We score and steam off existing layers, then wash the wall to remove all traces of old paste, which can stop the new adhesive bonding.

2. Repair the plaster

Stripping often reveals cracks, loose plaster and holes. We rake out and fill cracks, cut back and patch blown plaster, and sand everything flush. Badly damaged walls may need a skim coat first.

3. Seal the surface

Bare plaster and filler soak up paste unevenly. A coat of wallpaper size or a dedicated primer seals the wall, so the paper slides into position and can be removed in future without pulling the plaster off.

4. Cross-line if needed

On older or uneven walls we hang lining paper horizontally first. It evens out the surface, gives the decorative paper a consistent base and helps stop seams opening up. For expensive or specialist papers, lining is almost always worth it.

5. Plan the pattern

Before cutting, we check batch numbers on every roll and plan where the pattern will fall, centring it on a chimney breast or the wall you see first. Starting in the right place is what separates a professional job from an amateur one.

Good preparation takes time, but it is the difference between paper that looks perfect for fifteen years and paper that starts to lift within a few months.