How To Waterproof Wallpaper Using Varnish and Polyurethane?
Wallpapers can break or make your room’s aesthetics. Also, you get to see it every day at home. This makes it even more crucial to buy good, beautiful wallpaper and preserve it to save costs.
Wallpapers can be placed anywhere like your bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living room or just anywhere. Some of these places are more prone to moisture or dust than others. Wallpapers at these particular spots must be waterproofed to protect them from damage.
There can be different types of wallpaper like vinyl, grass paper weaved, non-woven, acrylic and glass cloth prints among others. Vinyl wallpapers are the most preferred for their great water resistance and durability.
On the other hand, grass paper wallpapers are considered to be the most delicate and non-washable ones. For the same reason, it’s generally advisable not to use grass paper wallpapers in the kitchen or washrooms.
How To Waterproof Wallpapers?
As I mentioned before, vinyl wallpapers are the most durable ones. However, to increase the life span of wallpapers whether vinyl or grass paper, waterproofing sure is the best way ahead.
Also, vinyl wallpapers aren’t much abundant in terms of design and aesthetics. You might find your choice once, it’s unlikely to get repeated.
You can waterproof your wallpapers using varnishes and polyurethane. The methods are almost similar for both of them. You can choose to continue with varnish because it has time and again proved itself as the belt alternative for waterproofing wallpapers.
Here’s a toolkit you must have for your wallpaper fixtures:
Both of these methods have the same initial preparation. So, whichever method you choose, do the following steps to ensure a good application:
Common steps:
1. Clean
Before starting with anything, please clean the surrounding space. Get rid of dust, debris so that it doesn’t stick to the wallpaper when the sealant will be applied.
Also, clean the wallpaper itself. Use mild soap and warm water to take dirt off the wallpaper. This provides a clean surface to the varnish/polyurethane application.
2. Repair
Now, as the next step, repair the wallpaper for cracks. Also, make sure, it is firmly attached to the wall. If the walls are not repaired before waterproofing then, especially the varnish, would damage the wall, wallpaper and cause discoloration by seeping through the layers.
3. Apply paper tapes
If there are spaces where the wallpaper isn’t there or the wall corners, where you don’t want to have splashes of varnish or polyurethane, temporarily seal them with paper tapes. This would prevent them from unnecessary waterproof sealing and discoloration.
4. Dry
Let everything dry thoroughly, before moving to sealant application. It’d greatly depend on the kind of atmosphere you have, but generally, it shouldn’t take more than 6-8 hours.
How to Waterproof Wall paper using Varnish?
Varnishes are waterproofing and sealing materials that are used to seal a number of things including wallpapers.
Varnish is a mixture of:
- resin like polyurethane and others,
- solvents like mineral spirit,
- driers and
- oils like Tung oil or linseed oil.
For wallpapers, three major kinds of varnishes are available. These are glossy, satin and plain or flat. Water-based varnishes would be your go-to option as they do not leave stains on the wallpaper.
The glossy and satin ones add varying degrees of sheen and gloss to your wallpaper, whereas, plain ones are just flat- no sheen nothing.
So, if you want to add a bit of shine to your wallpaper, you can opt for glossy or satin finish varnishes. Otherwise, go for the matte ones. Alternatively, you can mix the different varnishes to create a varnish that would carry your desired shine.
Below is a flat Decorator’s varnish:
Here’s the satin Varnish:
Required Material:
Procedure [Step by Step]:
1. Ensure Clean, Repair, Apply paper tapes and Dry
Ensure that you’ve done the steps mentioned under “Common steps”. This would provide a good base for the next steps.
1. Prepare and apply the varnish
Open the varnish and please DON’T shake it. Slowly stir the mix to prevent bubbling and even consistency in the mixture itself.
Then using a brush, apply it to the wallpaper. Here’s a thick brush set:
2. Let it dry
Now, let the varnish dry for at least 12 hours. This would ensure enough time for the varnish to settle and dry.
3. Repeat
You can add another layer of varnish to the wallpaper once the first one has dried. This would just add to its safety and your peace of mind. The main layer is the first one; hence make sure to get the first layer done correctly.
Precautions:
While the varnish is drying, don’t let anything especially water splashes get on it. This would mar your efforts.
How to Waterproof Wallpaper Using Polyurethane?
Polyurethane is a plastic-like substance, which when applied over anything renders it waterproof. It is also a part of varnish.
For polyurethane, you must opt for water-based polyurethane. The oil-based polyurethane slowly turns yellow which would ruin your wallpaper’s design.
Here’s polyurethane for you to try:
Polyurethane also prevents (to some degree) the wallpaper from heat.
Required Material:
Procedure [Step by Step]:
1. Ensure Clean, Repair, Apply paper tapes and Dry
Ensure that you did the steps mentioned under “Common steps” for a smooth and fruitful waterproofing solution application.
2. Apply
Apply a thin layer of polyurethane to the wallpaper using the brush.
3. Dry
Let this coat of polyurethane dry. Since the polyurethane you’ll be using is water-based, it’d take relatively less time to dry. It would dry up in around 3 hours.
4. Smoothen it
Next, use sandpaper to smoothen out the texture and dust off the excess.
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5. Repeat
In all, you should at least put up three layers of polyurethane.
Apply a layer, wait for at least three hours, sand it off and repeat.
Precautions:
- Whichever method you try, first apply the same on a sample wallpaper to test it out, especially for non-woven and paper wallpapers. This would test your wallpaper’s reaction to the specific waterproofing method.
- Do wallpaper waterproofing when it’s not humid, i.e., in a dry weather.
Final Words:
You might wonder, why don’t we simply paint the wallpaper? The reason is, the paint would cover the fine artistry of the wallpaper. Also, if your wallpaper has some texture, it’d become see-through.
When wallpaper gets wet, the wall underneath, especially wooden, would get affected too. The wall gets wet and gradually turns brown. These can be effectively ruled out by using waterproofing solutions on beautiful and artistic wallpapers.
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