How to hang wallpaper without bubbles or visible joins

What you need

• Tape measure and pencil
• Plumb line or laser level
• Craft knife with spare blades
• Plastic smoother and a seam roller
• Short-pile roller and a brush for the paste
• Sponge and a bucket of clean water
• Stepladder
• Non-woven or vinyl wallpaper, with an extra roll from the same batch
• Wallpaper paste (Metylan Ovalit, Metylan Normal or a non-woven specific paste)
• Water-based sealer or primer (Bruguer, Montó or Titan)
• Smoothing filler and 120 grit sandpaper
• Masking tape (Tesa 4334 or similar)

Step by step

1. 1

   Prepare and repair the wall

   Take off sockets and wall lights, fill holes and cracks with smoothing filler and sand flush with 120 grit. Remove scraps of old paper, lifting paint and dust. The wall must be dry and smooth: a grain you can feel with your hand will show through the paper later.

2. 2

   Apply sealer

   Roll on one coat of water-based sealer and leave it for 4-6 hours, or as the tin says. This stops the wall absorbing the paste all at once and means the paper can be removed in future without damaging the plaster.

3. 3

   Mark the vertical with a plumb line

   Start to one side of the window or 50 cm from a corner. Hang the plumb line from the ceiling and mark a vertical pencil line down the wall. The drops line up with that line, not with the corner.

4. 4

   Cut the drops

   Unroll the roll and cut each drop with 5 cm extra at top and bottom. Number each drop on the back. Match the pattern before you cut the next one.

5. 5

   Apply the paste

   Mix the paste as the packet says and let it stand for the time stated. For non-woven, roll it onto the wall in a strip slightly wider than the drop. For paste-the-paper types, paste the back, fold it over on itself and wait 5-10 minutes.

6. 6

   Hang the first drop

   Take the drop up the ladder, leave it 5 cm above the ceiling and line it up with the plumb line. Press from the top and work down, sticking it as you go, without pulling it so it does not stretch.

7. 7

   Smooth from the centre to the edges

   With the plastic smoother or a wallpaper brush, work from the centre outwards to push out the air. If a small bubble is left, peel back a little and smooth again. Do not use a cloth, which drags the paste.

8. 8

   Butt the drops together

   Hang the next drop right next to the previous one, butting the edges without overlapping. If the pattern does not match, raise or lower the drop a few millimetres before pressing it down. Run the seam roller gently to seal and wipe off any excess paste at once with the sponge.

9. 9

   Trim top and bottom

   Rest a metal ruler on the edge of the ceiling and the skirting board and cut off the excess with a craft knife and a new blade. A blunt blade tears the paper. Change the blade every few cuts.

10. 10

    Let it cure without draughts

    Ventilate with the window ajar, with no draughts or heater, and wait 24 hours before hanging anything or cleaning. Check the joins after 2 hours: if one lifts, dab on a little paste with a small brush and press it down.

What type of wallpaper you have and how it is pasted

The method changes depending on the backing of the paper, and it is the first thing to check on the label of the roll. There are three families, sold at Leroy Merlin, Bricodepot and decoration shops.

Non-woven paper (TNT) is the easiest: you apply the paste to the wall, not the paper, and hang the drop dry. It does not shrink or stretch, and it comes off whole and dry later. Vinyl on a paper backing is pasted on the back and needs 5-10 minutes of soaking time (booking) before hanging. Traditional paste-the-paper wallpaper needs the same soaking time and is the most delicate, because it stretches when wet.

How much paper you need and how to match the pattern

Measure the width and height of the wall. A standard roll of wallpaper is 10.05 m long by 53 cm wide and covers about 5 m². Work out how many drops you get from a roll by dividing 10 m by the height of the wall plus 10 cm spare. If the pattern has to match (the repeat, the distance between repetitions), add that distance to each drop. Buy one roll more than your calculation, from the same batch, because the shade changes from one batch to another.

Before you cut the second drop, hold the first one next to it and check that the pattern carries on. With plain or textured papers the match does not matter; with a large motif it decides how many metres you use.

Common mistakes when hanging wallpaper

These are the slips we see most, and they almost always show from the doorway:

• Papering over popcorn texture (gotelé) or gloss paint without preparing it. The paper does not grip and the joins open. You have to smooth the wall (see how to cover popcorn texture without removing it) and dull the paint with sandpaper.
• Accepting a damp wall. Damp is invisible under the paper, but it comes out as stains and mould within months.
• Trusting corners and ceilings for plumb. Almost no wall is straight. Mark the vertical with a plumb line and start from there.
• Using too much paste. It oozes out of the joins and stains the paper. Wipe it off straight away with a damp sponge.
• Smoothing with your hand or a cloth. It leaves wrinkles and marks. Use a plastic smoother or a seam roller.
• Closing the windows and switching on a heater. The paper dries all at once and lifts. Ventilate without draughts.

When to call a professional

A plain drop is easy. It gets harder with large-pattern papers, high ceilings, uneven walls, corners well out of square and paper that has to be matched around windows and doors. If you also have to strip an old paper first (we explain it in how to remove wallpaper), repair cracks or apply a coat of primer, the job stretches to a full day.

At Manitas Costa the painters service includes removing and hanging wallpaper, and we have no specific rate per m² because it depends on the wall and the type of paper. We quote by the hour: first hour €35-45 and €28-35 per hour after that, plus materials, with a fixed price before we start by WhatsApp from photos and measurements. If you paint the wall instead of papering it, a colour change costs €10-12/m²; there is more detail in how much it costs to paint a flat. We arrive in 20-45 minutes in Valencia, Alicante, Torrevieja and Benidorm.

Damp, salt air and sun: where wallpaper is not a good idea

On the coast, wallpaper has three enemies. The first is damp: on shaded walls, on the seafront or on the ground floor, condensation behind the paper encourages mould. Do not paper bathrooms without ventilation or walls with stains, and certainly not if there is mould (see how to remove mould from a wall). A washable vinyl paper copes better in kitchens and hallways.

The second is the sun, which fades cheap papers within a few summers on walls that get direct light, for example in Alicante, Torrevieja or Benidorm on a south-facing wall. Choose papers with the light resistance rating shown on the label. The third is sudden changes of temperature: hang the paper with the house at around 18-25 degrees and avoid pasting it in the extreme heat of August.