“Sweating” Wallpaper – ?

Digital Image

Digital Image

See the sheen on that wallpaper? After the paper was pasted and booked (folded for a few minutes with pasted-side-to-pasted-side), it began to feel somewhat clammy on the surface, as if moisture from the paste were seeping through. In some parts of the room, this seemed to leave a residue on the surface of the paper, and it didn’t disappear, even after the paste had dried. You can see this in the second photo. It was more prominent along the seams, and could possibly be exacerbated by pressure from my smoothing tool against the surface of the paper, or by gentle wiping of the seams with a damp cloth. (Somewhat curious, because I mostly “work clean,” meaning, keep paste off the surface, and avoid wiping the wallpaper at all.)

The vertical lines above the left edge of the fireplace did not disappear as the paper dried. These were the only seams that looked like this. (Some other seams exhibited this, but to a much lesser degree.) I was disappointed, because this was a really expensive wallpaper.

I really didn’t like it, and, after checking that we had enough paper, I stripped off the effected strips and rehung with new, making extra sure to not get any paste on the surface, nor to press too hard with any tool. The three new strips looked fresh and clean and wonderful. 🙂

Tags: booked, paste, strips, wallpaper