Wallpaper, Wallcovering Adhesives

The evolution of wallcovering adhesives through the years is making things a lot easier for wallpaper hangers, and new products formulated for specialty applications are being introduced all the time.
by Susan Brimo-Cox

Specialty adhesives to the rescue
Vinyl-over-vinyl adhesives are true adhesives, observes Glen Climo, technical director at U.S. Vinyl Manufacturing. “They have true bonding polymers in addition to the clay or starch bases in order to adhere vinyl over vinyl. …There’s no penetration bonding.”

Extremely high in solids and having little moisture, these products are very sticky. And VOV adhesives are permanent when they dry.

wallcovering Russo emphasizes that VOVs were specifically designed for sidewalls and vinyl borders over vinyl paper, not for prepasted borders or for applying borders on painted walls. If you use VOV with prepasted borders, “the prepasted material will absorb the moisture, dry out and you’ll have gaps in adhesion.” That’s why border adhesives, which have a higher moisture content, were developed, he points out.

Infrequently a paperhanger may use prepasted paper or borders. In such situations a professional will rely on prepasted activators — eliminating the need for water. These activators are rolled onto the backing. They are designed to increase slip, increase open time and add to the adhesion properties. What they don’t do is swell the paper, thus eliminating gaps in the seams when the paper dries.

Man vs. machine?
Enhancing your bottom line may be simply a matter of time — how much time you spend on the job, that is. Not all specialty adhesives are available in hand-roll or pasting machine formulas, but you can certainly find clay or clear adhesives for both techniques. For large commercial projects — especially if you have crews involved — pasting machines will be a must.

It just doesn’t make sense to hand-paste 54-inch wide goods; you can’t afford to do it, says Jerry Russo, president and CEO of Roman Decorating Products Inc. “You can easily hang 40 percent more when you use a pasting machine.”

On the other hand, when you get into fabric and vinyl wallcoverings, hand pasting can be a better method so you have better control, advise the experts at U.S. Vinyl Manufacturing Corp. When you desire greater control or hand-application of adhesives is the only option, be sure to account for that when you work up your estimate.

Hold that mold!
The mold and mildew issue is a hot button in many construction-related industries — including wallcoverings. Just about all wallcovering adhesives today contain biocides, but there are some recently introduced extra-strength systems that guarantee against mold and mildew growth on the primer or adhesive. Zinsser Co. Inc.’s Plus System (which teams a special primer and a special adhesive) has a guarantee against mildew for up to five years. Other manufacturers are also offering or developing new residential and commercial products for extreme humidity environments.

With mold and mildew a major concern — particularly for the hospitality industry — Linda Mitchell, category manager for wallcovering products for Zinsser in Somerset, N.J., says “this technology will help wallcovering manufacturers sell more commercial projects because it’s a problem solver.”

Russo reports that in commercial applications he is seeing more and more jobs specifying mildewcide systems specifically for the 5-year warranty against mold and mildew growth.

Prospects for the future
Blasko observes that the commercial market is where the main focus for wallcoverings is right now — predominately in the hotel industry. Residential use of wallpaper is soft — even use of border papers isn’t as strong as it used to be. “Faux finishing has probably taken over some of that market,” he says. Or it might be psychological, he suggests. People who have grown up having bad experiences with wallpaper removal may not be ready to try it again. But that may all change as word about the new nonwoven wallpapers spreads.

Nonwoven wallpaper is the latest trend in wallcoverings. Russo explains that this new wallcovering category has a polyester and cellulose substrate that is stronger than paper alone. All the major wallcovering manufacturers are coming out with their own designs in 2004, he adds. One of the highly-lauded characteristics of these new wallcoverings is that they are very easy to strip — they peel away in sheets.

Of course, new wallcovering adhesives are being introduced to use with these new products that also are extremely easy to hang: You paste the wall and dry hang them. Because the paper is dimensionally stable, there is no seam splitting. According to Russo, “It is absolutely the future and savior of the industry.”

What else is on the horizon? It’s anyone’s guess. Russo recalls hearing a story about a former director of the patent office saying more than 50 years ago that they should close the patent office because everything had been invented. Well, Russo says, “The patent office needs to stay open. There are more innovations in the making.”

For more information about wallcovering adhesives, visit these Web sites:

The Wallcoverings Association
National Guild of Professional Paperhangers
Gardner-Gibson
Roman Decorating Products
U.S. Vinyl Manufacturing Corp.
Zinsser
Roos International

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