wallpaper spots

[painter1]

I am a small contractor in Ontario Canada with a question if anyone can help. I have a customer that has small round marks on their wallpaper about the size of a dime,looks like it has been bleached out. They were told it was mites eating the paper and I have never heard of this.Any info would be appriciated.

[Chris Murphy]

That's a new one, but then again, Canada, eh?
Coming up with "mites" was highly creative, but almost certainly wrong. Roaches or termites possibly, but not mites; it's probably another bug called "human error."

[Isenberger]

Murphy (& the Canadian) You say no Mites! Not so Fast!

I've seen a similar happen. It was a 'mini print', green background with a tiny ivory colored flower (1/4" size) on the dado in a kitchen. The lady said she thought the color was washing off at the bottom. On closer inspection, only the green disappeared from the lower 6 inches of the paper, leaving the ivory flower. Even though it was 20 years on the wall she said she had only washed it 2 or 3 times. Luckily, She didn't want an explanation, just new paper. I did it, she was happy! But I always wondered, "Could the green have been eaten off by bugs, germs, or mites?".

My guess is that there were 2 different inks used, the green wore off or washed off, and the ivory did not. But, why was the wear so even on 2 walls and not the other 2? The wear was like an even stripe 6" above the base board. BTW, she was a good house keeper - clean.

Bob Isenberger