Ceiling Wallpaper

2023 Author: Douglas Hoggarth | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-06-06 02:30

As a rule, the repair of the ceiling begins with the words of the foreman of plasterers Petrovich:

“Mistress, don't be afraid, everything will be ok”!

We, of course, do not believe any of their "OK". And prepare for the worst. And we are doing the right thing, because then there is dirt and debris, we scrub for a week, we clean and wash windows, doors and walls …

And, what a shame, in the end, the ceiling in my apartment always looks disgusting anyway. That whitewash for no apparent reason pours directly into the plate. Then a crack will appear on the freshly painted surface. And in general, to call this surface a perfectly flat tongue does not turn - the plates in our houses walk, God forbid, how. Visible to the naked eye. And no whitewash can hide this.

How have we not tried to "bring to life" our ill-fated ceiling! I refused immediately and flatly from oil paint: knowledgeable people said that it quickly turns yellow. Water-based emulsion and water-dispersion paint seem to serve well. But my heart still does not lie with them. I don't like painted ceilings, and that's it! Plus those minuses, I apologize for the pun, which I have already spoken about.

It was necessary to look for a fundamentally new solution. For example, there is such a thing - plasterboard plates. In general, our builders respect this material very much. And it is understandable. A metal frame is attached directly to the floors, and gypsum plasterboards are screwed to it. Then he putty, painted - and smoke. For my humpbacked ceiling, that's what I need. But, alas, everything in the world has a downside: such plates “eat up” up to 5 cm in height. In my undersized "Khrushchev" this is an unaffordable luxury. For the same reason, they had to abandon suspended ceilings. However, to be honest, the height has nothing to do with it. For me personally, it's just expensive. The circle is complete.

As always, help came unexpectedly. An ad came across that offered wallpaper for the ceiling. I called. I found out: yes, indeed, there are special ceiling wallpapers on sale today. You just need to understand how they differ from ordinary ones. And are there a lot of headaches with them?

Plus and minus equals …

The following details were revealed. Firstly, compared to whitewashing, gluing ceiling wallpaper is a pretty clean occupation. Secondly, it is beneficial. For example, Russian ceiling wallpaper is inexpensive - from 28 to 70 rubles per roll. Firms charge an average of 55 rubles / sq.m for gluing wallpaper, and 20 rubles / sq.m for removing old ones.

Ceiling wallpapers retain their original beauty and whiteness for three to five years (if we are talking about domestic ones). Another joy - once and for all, I will get rid of all these seams and cracks that annoyed me so much.

Now about the disadvantages. Of course, it is more difficult to glue wallpaper on the ceiling than on the walls. There are two options here: either call a basketball player you know, or work on a ladder. Better both. But I repeat: you only need to glue on the ceiling special wallpaper. Ordinary, for walls, are not suitable.

But ceiling ones are also different.

Problem of choice

German wallpaper for painting is in no way inferior to domestic ceiling wallpaper.

But you can't paint them.

Attention, patriots of everything that is domestic, now I will tell you the good news. It turns out that special ceiling wallpapers are made only in Russia. True, it is not yet clear why? Either we are alone gluing wallpaper to the ceiling, or the bourgeois have some kind of trick.

But the fact remains. The largest manufacturers of wallpaper for the ceiling are the Moscow Wallpaper Factory and OJSC Mosstroyplastmass (Mytishchi). They are also produced in other cities - in Tula, Rostov-on-Don … The color is only white, but the texture is different - about 200 options. One roll contains 10 meters of 53 cm wide wallpaper.

How are they different from the rest? To begin with, they are denser than wall-mounted ones: two layers of thick paper are glued together and embossed. By the way, on the labels it says: “Embossed wallpaper. Designed for pasting walls and ceilings of residential and public buildings. Due to their thickness and relief, they hide all the unevenness of the ceiling and do not require a perfectly prepared surface. Which, in fact, was what I needed.

And all would be nothing. Yes, it was not so. Because such wallpaper will “live” on the ceiling for only five years. And that's all. Then you need to re-glue. Because during this time, dust will settle on them, cigarette smoke and other will be absorbed. Moreover, this situation cannot be remedied in any way: Russian ceiling wallpaper is not intended to be washed and painted.

Imported paintable wallpapers are sold in rolls of different lengths and widths and have a wide selection of textures

And what to do? There are two options here. Well, first of all, you can still stick it on. Because for five whole years you will not have any problems with the ceiling (if the upper neighbors do not flood, of course). And secondly, you can choose imported ones.

However, what am I saying! After all, foreigners do not produce special wallpaper for the ceiling! This I know for sure. But they have one wonderful thing called "paintable wallpaper" (we wrote about them in detail in No. 5 of our magazine). So, they may well pass for the ceiling. At least in the West, they are great at gluing them to the ceiling.

In our stores, wallpapers are sold by the German firms AS Creation, Erismann, Erfurt. So take them.

For example, the Erfurt firm advises to use the Raufazer series wallpaper as ceiling wallpaper. They are made from recycled paper filled with sawdust. Outwardly, they are very similar to domestic ones. Also two-layer, dense, have a porous structure. But they differ from ours in that these wallpapers can be painted. They are painted with water dispersion paint. And you can easily do this more than ten times. Wanted - made a blue ceiling, wanted - peach or red, for example. And so ten times, paint at least every year, until you get bored.

If you don't feel like fiddling with paint, you can buy wallpapers from the Raufazer Color series. They are exactly the same as "Raufazer", but already painted in different colors - from light yellow and pink to pale blue. However, they can also be repainted. Beauty!

Imported paintable wallpapers are not only paper-based, but also non-woven (non-woven is a dense cloth that is used in sewing). Non-woven wallpaper is also suitable for the ceiling. And it's even easier to glue them than paper ones, because you need to spread glue not on the wallpaper, but on the ceiling.

The only negative is the price. You will have to pay from 180 to 440 rubles per roll, depending on the width and length of the roll (see table). But, on the other hand, personally in my character, it is better to spend money once, but then for fifteen years to spit at the ceiling. Not afraid to get it dirty. Repainted - that's all. Think for now, and in the meantime we will tell you how to prepare the ceiling for work.

Surface preparation

They are also good because they greatly simplify the process. You don't need to rinse off paint or remove whitewash to prepare your ceiling. True, if your ceiling looks like a camel's back, you still can't do without putty. Still need to figure out how horizontal it is? This is done with the simplest plumb line, measuring the distance from floor to ceiling in the corners of the room. If it turns out that there is still a slope, putty is again needed. And if the slope is small, there are no problems at all.

It is not necessary, but advisable to treat the ceiling with an acrylic primer. On a primed surface, wallpaper sticks much better than on an untreated one. The primer, which looks like milk, does not contain solvents, dries quickly, the surface "breathes" and does not create the so-called greenhouse effect. It is applied simply with a brush, without any additional tweaks. I advise you to use the primers of the German firms "Henkel" and "Pufas" or the Russian "Eurolux" and "Monolit". A five-liter bottle is enough for 50 sq.m. After a few hours, wallpaper can be glued to the ceiling.

How to stick them correctly?

There are some subtleties here. Imported do not need to be impregnated with glue. Or they spread the ceiling with glue - and sculpt the wallpaper, or the canvases already coated with glue are quickly glued to the ceiling. If bubbles have formed, then they are smoothed very carefully. And in no case with a rag, but with a rubber roller, from the middle to the edges.

The situation with domestic wallpaper is different. Before gluing them, be sure to soak them with glue. Just be careful. The label says that the wallpaper "should be soaked for 10-15 minutes." But I was warned: 10 minutes is the limit. Otherwise, the embossing will disperse, the wallpaper may tear, and there will be nothing to glue.

Yes! Another important detail. Under no circumstances should you use your favorite Soviet method - wallpapering newspapers. Firstly, now, as in all civilized countries, they take a primer as a basis. And secondly, after a couple of years, yellow newspaper spots will appear on the wallpaper, and you will be able to read Moskovsky Komsomolets while lying on your bed and staring at the ceiling. Although, maybe for someone this is a plus? You lie to yourself, read about the oligarchs and their difficult life … Well, I was distracted, I'm sorry.

Now about what kind of glue is needed. Experts advise using special wallpaper glue or Moment-Extra glue from Henkel.

Tearing old wallpaper from the ceiling is a piece of cake. You need to pick up the wallpaper from the edge and pull slightly - they will fall behind by themselves. True, this will only happen if the correct adhesive has been chosen. The glue is washed off with warm water and soda. Do not worry about the primer - it is waterproof, nothing will happen to it.

So what have we decided?

Still, one story haunted me. I was told how one company had so much fun on New Years, so actively celebrated the millennium, that they also got a "full millennium" on the ceiling. When they woke up in the morning, they found their ceiling looking like it was being fired at by heavy artillery. Of course, I am a balanced person (and my guests are also sane people). And we are unlikely to have fun so radically. But anything can happen … And if we also get a champagne cork into the freshly glued ceiling? What then?

With imported wallpaper it is easier: the stain can be painted over again, the dent over time, according to the instructions, "self-destructs". As for domestic wallpaper, there is nothing to be done: you have to roll up your sleeves and re-glue a couple of canvases. But, I emphasize, this is easily and simply solved if it is a special ceiling wallpaper, and not the first ones that came to hand. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to tear them off from the ceiling later.