Getting the Mural to Stick

My last couple of posts have been about hanging this mural in a garage.

http://muralsuperstore.com/catalog/tobago_sunset_pr98097_5221594.htm

Before I could hang the new mural, I had to remove the old one.

Photo murals are generally hung with a cellulose paste, which is about the lightest paste you can get. And with the hot humid conditions of a west-facing garage in Houston, you could assume there would be some interaction between the paste and the climate, over time. Indeed, the 8 panels of the old mural came off easily, by simply pulling up one corner and then the whole thing came off in one sheet.

This left behind a loose, gritty, sandy substance that was probably paste residue. BAD, because the new mural would never stick to an unstable surface like that. The loose sandy parts would simply seperate from the wall and the new mural would fall to the floor.

So I sanded the wall to remove all the loose old adhesive. Then I went back and wiped it with a damp sponge, to be sure there was no sand or powdery residue left. Once that was dry, I primed the wall, to further ensure a stable surface, and to seal any paste residue that could bleed through the new mural.

Then I was finally able to hang the new mural!

Sunset Mural – Size Matters

Yesterday I hung a photo mural depicting a Caribbean sunset
http://muralsuperstore.com/catalog/tobago_sunset_pr98097_5221594.htm

The owner had had another mural in the same place, and this was to replace it. The size of the original mural was 12′, 6.5″ wide, and that is the width listed on the package of the new mural. Perfect, because there was moulding on either side where the mural was to be placed, and so the new one had to be the exact same size.

Only – it wasn’t! The new mural measured only 12′ in width. Luckily, I had checked measurements before starting to hang it, so I was able to bring the homeowner in to make a decision about where to place the mural on the wall – or even not to hang it.

She elected to center the mural in the space, and would find some 4″ wooden trim to fill in on either side.

Interestingly, when I look at the pic of the mural on the Mural Superstore website, the width is listed as 12′, 1″, which is about what it actually was. But the box it came in clearly said 12′, 6.5″