Preparing Styrofoam for Wallpapering

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

How to stick on foam

Is it possible to glue wallpaper on polystyrene foam? Very often, corner rooms in apartments of multi-storey panel buildings require wall insulation. If one of the walls of the room faces the north side, it is practically impossible to warm it up.

The way out is wall insulation with sheet foam from the inside, which requires finishing it for aesthetic reasons only. Before you stick the wallpaper on the foam, you need to carefully prepare the surface before you start laying the insulation. The article will tell you how to do this.

Features of foam wall decoration

Expanded polystyrene or regular polystyrene is the most popular material for warming rooms.

The minimum price and fairly good thermal insulation characteristics allow this material to be used very often for insulation:

• Walls indoors.
• The ceilings.
• Sexes.
• Facades of buildings.

Despite the rational use of the material, expanded polystyrene is not the best choice for wallpapering.

This is due to the fact that:

• The foam does not have sufficient rigidity, which can lead, even with a small external impact, to rupture of the wallpaper.
• Polyfoam is a plate material, therefore, for proper wall insulation from the inside, you will need at least a five-centimeter layer of insulation, and the existing joints of the foam sheets, after wallpapering, may too stand out under them.
• If necessary, make a cosmetic repair of the room, with the replacement of wallpaper, along with them it will be necessary to change the insulation - tearing the wallpaper from the foam surface without damaging the latter will fail.
• According to SNiPa, the foam should be isolated with a layer of non-combustible material.

How to prepare polystyrene for wallpapering

Before wallpapering with your own hands, it must be professionally and correctly laid on the wall.

For this:

• The working wall is cleared of old wallpaper, glue, paint and all excess layers to the very bottom: concrete or brick, which depends on the material used in the construction of the building.
• The base is dried from moisture residues with an industrial hairdryer, dust is removed from it, examined for the presence of fungus and mold. If they are, defects are cleaned off with a grinder.
• Lugs of more than three millimeters are removed or sealed with plasteruntil a smooth and clean surface is obtained.

Tip: If you want to insulate the walls with polystyrene from the inside of the house, for subsequent gluing of wallpaper on them, you should sheathe the surface with drywall or cover the insulation with a reinforcing composition of plaster using fiberglass plaster meshas shown in the photo.

The use of reinforcing mesh for plastering foam

• The walls are primed (cm.Primer for wallpaper: which one to choose and how to use), possessing water-repellent and antibacterial properties. Absorption and drying of the primer should occur for at least 24 hours.
• The calculation of the area for the purchase of polystyrene and wallpaper is performed, the thickness of the insulating material is selected and the wallpaper is selected.
• The brand of glue for installing foam on the wall is determined, which should retain its properties, regardless of temperature extremes and high humidity. This is due to the porous structure of the material.

How to prepare wallpaper canvases and glue

Any wallpaper can be glued to the foam wall - they will all be pretty reliable.

Tip: When calculating the required number of wallpapers, you should take into account the openings of windows and doors. Excess pieces of wallpaper will not be. In any case, allowances and material leftovers are needed just in case.

Preparing wallpaper for sticking

Further:

• The desired number of strips is cut from the roll. In this case, the length of each should be 10 centimeters longer than the height of the wall, even if it is absolutely flat. After cutting the rolls into strips, it is necessary to mark the sequence of their stickers, and mark the direction with the arrow next to them. This is especially important when using wallpaper with patterns.
• Wallpaper glue gets divorced. Indicator is best suited: it is easier to apply - it is possible to see the missed spots or not.

Tip: After insisting the glue, before starting to apply it, the floor should be covered with large cellophane.

• For better gluing, two strips are immediately smeared with glue, which are then folded so that the front side remains clean - with the wrong surfaces facing each other.
• While the canvases are impregnated, which is of particular importance for heavy with hot embossing non-woven wallpaper and duplex type, the wall surface is primed in one layer (see Primer for wallpaper: which one to choose and how to use), this will improve the reaction of setting surfaces.

Tip: For any wall wallpaper of any type, except for thin paper, you need to glue butt. Otherwise, the problem of hanging edges may appear.

Butt-paste wallpaper

How to stick wallpaper on polystyrene foam

The question is whether it is possible to glue wallpaper on the foam.

To perform work, you can apply several options:

• The easiest way, without special preparation of the foam surface, using standard glue for wallpaper with the addition of PVA glue.

Instructions for the implementation of the work does not differ from gluing wallpaper on a concrete wall.

This option can be suitable for cottages and houses in rural areas, where there are no high requirements for the texture of decorative coating:

• After preliminary preparation of the foam surface. For this:

1. the surface of the insulation is leveled by applying a putty mass, which may be foam adhesive;
2. after the putty dries, as can be seen from the change in the color of the surface - it becomes lighter, the primer is processed. It can be ordinary, or with an antifungal effect, to prevent the formation of mold under the wallpaper;
3. using wallpaper glue, a substrate is applied under the wallpaper. It can be tissue paper or old newspapers.

This method is more complex and labor-intensive, but the result and the quality of the coating are incomparably more effective.

Tip: To level out possible irregularities that are caused by polystyrene irregularities, more dense wallpaper should be used.

• This option of sticking for those who doubt whether it is possible to glue wallpaper on polystyrene foam?

Wallpapering on Drywall

• The prerequisites for the appearance of such an option are:

1. the need to insulate the northern corner room;
2. polystyrene has the highest ratio of efficiency and cost;
3. just mounted;
4. You can’t leave the inner wall of the room without wallpaper.

To solve the problem you need:

1. sheathe the wall to be insulated, sheathed with sheets of drywall, laying between metal profiles, for attaching drywall, foam sheets;
2. wallpaper will be glued on drywall in the usual way.

The disadvantage of this option is a significant decrease in the usable area of ​​the room. Which method is better to use and how to stick wallpaper on the foam, the video shows.