Hanging and removalPattern matchedWalls sized first
Wallpaper installation and removal in Toronto
Paint Toronto hangs wallpaper and takes it off again. Both halves of that live on one page because they are the same skill: understanding what is behind the paper and preparing the wall so the next finish has something sound to hold on to.
Walls sized so paper can be repositioned and later removed cleanly
Pattern repeat calculated before cutting, seams matched by hand
Old paper steamed and scraped without gouging the board underneath
Get a wallpaper estimate
Tell us the wall area and whether you are hanging or removing.
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What decides how wallpaper looks in a year
The wall under it
Wallpaper telegraphs every ridge and seam beneath it. The wall has to be skimmed flat first, not just wiped down.
Sizing
A sized wall lets the paper slide into position while hanging and release cleanly when it is eventually stripped. Skipping it costs the next owner.
Repeat and drop
Pattern repeat decides how much paper the room needs. Getting the calculation wrong mid-job means a dye-lot mismatch on the last wall.
Our Process
How a wallpaper job runs
1
Measure and calculate
Wall area measured, pattern repeat and drop worked out, and roll quantity confirmed with a margin from the same dye lot.
2
Prepare the wall
Old covering removed, damage filled, the surface skimmed flat where needed, then primed and sized.
3
Hang to a plumb line
First drop set against a struck plumb line, not against a corner, because no Toronto corner is square.
4
Match, trim and roll
Seams matched by hand, edges trimmed at ceiling, baseboard and openings, and seams rolled down.
Removal
Wallpaper removal from a plaster wall
Removal is the harder half of this job in the older central Toronto stock. Paper hung directly onto unprimed plaster or unprimed drywall bonds to the surface itself rather than to a coat of size, and steaming it off pulls the face paper of the board away with it. Where that happens the wall needs skimming before anything else can go on, and we would rather tell you that at the estimate than discover it with half a wall stripped. We test a small section first so the quote reflects what is actually behind your paper.
What a wallpaper scope covers
Most of this job happens before a single drop is hung.
Wall tested before quoting
A small section lifted at the estimate so the price reflects what is actually behind your paper.
Repeat calculated before ordering
Pattern repeat and drop worked out, with a margin ordered from a single dye lot.
Hung to a struck plumb line
The first drop set against plumb rather than a corner, because no Toronto corner is square.
Walls sized
Sizing applied so the paper positions cleanly now and releases cleanly whenever it next comes off.
Wallpaper Installation specifics
Preparation is most of a wallpaper job
Paint hides a mediocre wall to a degree. Wallpaper does the opposite: it stretches a flat film across the surface and lights every ridge, seam and dimple beneath it from the edge. A wall that looks acceptable painted frequently needs skimming before paper goes on it.
That is the line item people are surprised by. The hanging itself is a day or two. The preparation, particularly in older Toronto houses where walls are neither flat nor plumb, is where the hours go.
Hanging wallpaper where corners are not square
No corner in a pre-war semi is square, and very few in a 1960s bungalow are either. That is why the first drop is hung to a struck plumb line rather than to the corner, and why paper is wrapped a small distance around a corner and then overlapped rather than butted into it.
Hanging to a corner as though it were plumb means the pattern runs progressively off level around the room, and by the fourth wall it is visibly tilted against the ceiling line.
Where wallpaper earns its cost
Wallpaper is more expensive than paint per square foot and it is worth it in specific places: a powder room, where the area is small and the impact is large; a dining room or bedroom feature wall; and stairwell walls, where a pattern reads well across a tall uninterrupted run.
It is a poor choice in a bathroom with a shower and no extraction, and in a kitchen behind a cooking surface, because steam and grease both attack the adhesive at the seams first.
Wallpaper questions
Can you hang paper over existing wallpaper?
We do not recommend it. The new adhesive re-wets the old paper and both layers lift together, usually within months. The one exception is a sound, single layer of lining paper installed for that purpose. Otherwise the old covering comes off first.
How much paper will my room need?
More than the wall area suggests, because of the pattern repeat. A large repeat can waste a foot or more off every drop. We calculate the repeat and the drop before ordering and add a margin, all from the same dye lot, because a later top-up in a different lot will not match.
Will removal damage my walls?
It can, and the risk depends on what the paper was hung onto. Paper hung over a primed and sized wall releases cleanly. Paper hung directly onto unprimed drywall or plaster often takes the surface with it. We test a section before quoting so you know which situation you are in.
Can you do a single feature wall?
Yes, and it is the most common request. A feature wall needs the same preparation as a full room, so the price is not a quarter of a four-wall job, but it is the cheapest way to use an expensive paper.
What about peel-and-stick wallpaper?
It works on a flat, fully cured, low-sheen painted wall and it fails on textured walls and on fresh paint. If the wall is new, it needs several weeks to cure before anything self-adhesive goes on it.
