Hiding seams in textured wallpaper

[Todd]

Years ago I watched a professional installing nonpatterned wall paper. After pasting, he overlapped two sheets then cut them ceiling to floor in a wavy pattern. Then the cut sections were removed from both sheets leaving absolutely no observable seam. Could someone describe this process? Thank you.

[Cliff Hayes]

It's called double-cutting, and it's best done with a straightedge, not wavy-style. It's how virtually all commercial vinyl is installed.

[Todd]

Thank you for the explanation, Cliff. My wife and I are beginning the process of getting estimates and will specify "double cutting". The covering we have now shows every seam and looks terrible.

[Chris Murphy]

Find a good installer, and don't specify anything other than wanting a good job & service. Each material and the installer's skill sets determine what method is best. And many wallcoverings can't be seamed well by any earth-bound being.

[Eunice, PRS Reporter]

If you want invisible seams, have 54" vinyl installed (commercial goods). It can be used in homes, and a lot of it is very fashionable. It costs <$20 and up. It's not an option if you want a multicolor pattern however - the designs tend to be more neutral.

[Bill Archibald]

Todd,

as one of my fellow hangers in the Boston area says, "Wallpaper has seams". If you want invisible seams, ask your professional installer which products in his experience produces the least noticeable seams.

Double cutting as a course of action is not necessarily the answer, and with the wrong paper and wrong wall prep will cause other problems and can actually cause bigger seam splits and popping - when not done correctly. :banghead:

I've had the best results (in general) with pulps, not tissue quality pulps, but good sturdy substrates. Wm Morris patterns by Sanderson is a good example. With the busy patterns and quality of substrates, the seams are invisible until about 8" inches away, and even then hard to find with my reading glasses on. But then again, some cheap pre-pasteds have given me invisible seams. As another paperhanger once said, "Everything depends on everthing else" :lol:

-Bill

[Eunice, PRS Reporter]

A lot of the new non-wovens seam up invisibly too; they'd be a good choice for seam phobics.

[Mark Sutherland]

As a decorator in the UK I have experienced many varieties of wallpaper from the cheap and nasty to the $200+ per roll stuff.
Although good preparation is a great starting point it is not the final factor in the finish.

Many runs of wallpaper suffer from the "swaying" cutting at the production plant from where he paper comes,so a common problem is when the paper fits perfectly only to suddenly have a gap an equal distance away.
This is caused by the machine cutting to paper being of balance and swaying it will clear as the distance is equal to where it matches and doesn't throughout the roll.

I believe making your own seams (aka double cutting) is the best solution but it cannot be applied in all cases,try double cutting a pulp paper with a pattern,unless you want mismatched flowers etc it won't happen.

I always suggest to my customers to see me first before buying wallpaper,this way i can advise them what will look good (as I have hung it before).
No matter how skilled,how muvh you play with it some papers are basically fit for toilet use only but the unsuspecting public are easily swayed by the "latest" designs,which tend to be the ones which are poorly manufactured.

Lining paper with pulps is a very good base,from there it's down to the skill of the hanger and the paper itself.

I prefer commercial wallcoverings they are so easy to hang.
Not a diy paper though,a skilled hand will make it look easy but unless you know what you are doing it can prove difficult for the novice to get acceptable results.

In the end unless you ask someone who is a professional installer what is best you're in a lottery,btw the wavey method of double cutting is actually a simple trick,you expect a seam to be straight so you don't see the wavey seam as your eye is not looking for it,you expect to see a straight line.

It's a skilled show off technique if done right as double cutting done properly with the right paper is invisible wethe rit's a wavey or straight cut.

[ProWallGuy]

Great post Mark!!! Thanks for joining in. :2thumbs:

[Chris Murphy]

As a decorator in the UK I have experienced many varieties of wallpaper from the cheap and nasty to the $200+ per roll stuff.
Although good preparation is a great starting point it is not the final factor in the finish.

Many runs of wallpaper suffer from the "swaying" cutting at the production plant from where he paper comes,so a common problem is when the paper fits perfectly only to suddenly have a gap an equal distance away.
This is caused by the machine cutting to paper being of balance and swaying it will clear as the distance is equal to where it matches and doesn't throughout the roll.

I believe making your own seams (aka double cutting) is the best solution but it cannot be applied in all cases,try double cutting a pulp paper with a pattern,unless you want mismatched flowers etc it won't happen.

I always suggest to my customers to see me first before buying wallpaper,this way i can advise them what will look good (as I have hung it before).
No matter how skilled,how muvh you play with it some papers are basically fit for toilet use only but the unsuspecting public are easily swayed by the "latest" designs,which tend to be the ones which are poorly manufactured.

Lining paper with pulps is a very good base,from there it's down to the skill of the hanger and the paper itself.

I prefer commercial wallcoverings they are so easy to hang.
Not a diy paper though,a skilled hand will make it look easy but unless you know what you are doing it can prove difficult for the novice to get acceptable results.

In the end unless you ask someone who is a professional installer what is best you're in a lottery,btw the wavey method of double cutting is actually a simple trick,you expect a seam to be straight so you don't see the wavey seam as your eye is not looking for it,you expect to see a straight line.

It's a skilled show off technique if done right as double cutting done properly with the right paper is invisible wethe rit's a wavey or straight cut.

Nice to have join in here. We in the Guild, and on listservs, and I through my website, have had contact with UK hangers, but it hasn't been sustained. Stick around, we're have a lot of discussions on UK pulps, and as a matter of fact have had one long one for months in the Members Only section. Most of these pulp discussions revolve around a central fact: the UK papers call for a "tub paste," which here in the US is confused with our pre-mixed pastes, and all sorts of problems occassionally ensue. I say occasssionally because it doesn't happen every time, but when it does it can be a disaster for the hanger. Now, US & UK co.'s have "non-woven" papers that direct the hangerr to paste the wall; again, different pastes can produce different results, along with the fact that hangers don't always follow directions since most of the time the directions cannot be followed for a successful installation.
Anyways, welcome, post often.