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Colour Republic wrote:Cheers Alex

It's a low tack masking tape - Kleenedge, it is as you imagine to protect the walls and ceiling from paste, you can of course wipe the paste off but sometimes you'll leave a bit which hasn't quite come off and is only visible at certain times of the day when the light hits it, or you wash the paint too much and you end up buffing it up.

It really doesn't take any time at all and costs next to nothing, it's an insurance policy more than anything else. It stems from hanging delicate wallpapers where getting water anywhere near them stains it, meaning you can't wash walls and ceilings to rid them of paste, so now I just do it with most paper hanging

Top tip - never thought of that - seems flipping obvious now! Exactly like you say, when you just get that little hint of shine on the ceiling, normally in a particular light, it drives you mad . In most cases, I've normally been fine with being ridiculously clean regarding water and sponges - change the bucket every hang, and several new sponges per room - again cheap. I've hung a lot of expensive papers, however, I've still never been brave enough to hang 'don't get any paste on the front' paper as I just can't see how it is possible. Recently, I saw a post here with you describing how to do it, but I still couldn't see how it was 100% safe. You've now answered my question about the ceiling situation, but I still can't see 'it' with the seams! Worst case scenario, and if you don't mind me asking, do you remove excess with a dry cloth? Surely you still get staining? Or, have you got to be so precise on the edge that literally nothing squeezes out from the seam?

Cheers,
Julian

It really depends on the wall covering Julian. Some papers are so prone to staining the slightest bit of moisture will stain them. With any paper prone to staining it's best to use a paste with low water content such as a ready mixed PVA based, or a heavy starch, the Americans have heavy clay/starch adhesives. This way if paste finds it's way on to the front it will hopefully sit on top of the wall covering rather than soak in, leave it to dry fully and with a bit of luck it will flake off with the gentle touch of a scalpel

There are other ways with these papers, such as those that require double cutting on the wall. Hang your first drop then place low tack wax masking tape on the edge, place your next piece nect to it, then double cut (or triple cut if you include the masking tape) remove excess of paper and masking tape, then seam. This way it doesn't matter if a small amount of paste gets on the front whilst pasting as you are just about to trim it off. And of course the low tack wax masking tape doesn't allow the transfer of paste from the back of one drop to the front of the other

These papers do cost more to hang, not because the paper itself is so much more expensive, just that you can't rush it and takes longer. If you are good at hanging most other types of paper then you stand chance of achieving a good finish with these. Some real high end papers come with no instructions at all and in that case it's always advisable to take a sample and see how it reacts to different types of paste. Sometimes the warnings that come with the papers can all seem a bit scary but if you're scared on a paper you have already failed

Thanks for your reply CR. It all makes a bit more sense to me now. However, I think I'd still advise someone that for the top end stuff, its well worth leaving to pros such as yourself.

Can i just say colour republic you give out such good little tips that make a huge difference.Recently i did a small bit of tiling in my kitchen with mosaics on a big tile that you grout after.I recalled your bathroom job in the show case gallery and how you used 1mm spacers for 2mm grout lines.Well i followed that tip and since putting the tiles up no one has sussed they are big tiles as you cannot see the joins.Everyone is impressed but it was your small tip that made that job look the way it did.

Many thanks for your contributions.

That's great news!! Glad I could help but I suppose that's what this site is all about