Painters and Decorators in Merstham (RH1)
Wallpaper is unforgiving in an old house, and Merstham has plenty of old houses — listed cottages along the conservation lanes, and Victorian and Edwardian terraces through the middle. What is behind the paper decides whether the finished wall looks right, or looks like a wall with paper on it.
Getting off what is already there
Old walls rarely carry a single layer. Under the current paper there is often woodchip, under that another paper, and somewhere in the stack a layer that has been painted over. Painted paper is the difficult one, because the coating stops steam getting through, so it has to be scored before it will lift at all, and when it does come away it can bring the face of the plaster with it. That is not a disaster, but it does change the job, which is why nobody sensible quotes papering as a fixed price without knowing what is underneath. A small area stripped at the survey answers it. What is found there decides whether the wall gets made good and lined, or whether it needs replastering before anything else happens.
Lining, and why old walls want it
A wall that is not flat shows every seam in the finish paper, because light runs along the surface and stops at the join. Wallpapering an old wall properly therefore starts with lining paper, hung the other way to the finish paper: it evens the surface out, gives the top paper something consistent to stick to, and takes the small movement old plaster makes without opening the seams. On a wall that is genuinely poor, lining is not the answer at all. A skim is, and it is worth the extra week.
Pattern, chimney breasts and where the last drop lands
A patterned paper has to be set out before the first length goes up, not worked out as it goes.
The chimney breast is normally the wall a room is arranged around, so the pattern is centred on it, and the sequence is then planned so the awkward join — the one where the pattern cannot meet itself — ends up in the least visible corner rather than beside the window. Pattern repeat also decides how much paper to buy, because a long repeat wastes a good deal off the top of every drop. The larger interwar houses on the streets above the village and the post-war estate to the east are flatter and simpler to hang, which makes them a fair bit cheaper to paper properly.
More in Merstham
Everything we do in Merstham is on the Merstham area sheet, and the full detail of how we approach this trade is on the decorating page.
Common questions
Q.01Can new paper go over the old paper?
We would not do it. Water in the new paste softens the old paste underneath, and the whole lot can lift or bubble. It looks like a saving and it usually turns out not to be one.
Q.02Do we need lining paper?
On an older wall, almost always. It evens out the surface, gives the finish paper something consistent to grip, and keeps the seams closed as the wall moves. The plaster repair and skimming underneath is our own team's work, and the stripping, lining and hanging is done by decorators we have worked with for years, brought in and managed by us.
Q.03How much extra paper should we order?
More than the roll calculator suggests if the pattern has a long repeat, because a lot gets cut off the top of each drop. We work it out from the actual paper before you order it.
Q.04Can the woodchip come off?
Yes, though it is slow going, and what is underneath it is the real question. We strip a test area first so the price reflects the wall rather than a guess. We are a short drive away at 27 High Street, Godstone, and have been building since 2005.
Thinking about decorating in Merstham?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.