Repairing Wallcoverings Part Two
In order to set in a patch over a piece of existing vinyl you should always have some vinyl-over-vinyl (VOV) adhesive on hand. Sometimes especially over foils it is easier to do what I call a skin graft patch with VOV than to try to double cut a covering that is completely dry and well adhered to the wall. (For those of you that are students and have our course you can actually watch the demonstration on skin grafts on tape number twenty-six and doublecut patches on tape twenty-one.)
The first step is to take a left over roll end of the wallcovering you are going to repair. Locate the part of the pattern that is the same as the damaged wallcovering on the wall. In other words, if you have a hole banged in the middle of a red flower in the foil wallcovering on the wall locate that same red flower on your roll end.
Carefully cut out the area from your roll end that you are going to use to patch your wallcovering. It is important that you cut along a strong line in the pattern. For example, going back to our red flower, I would cut along the outside edge of that flower rather that cutting out just in the inside of the flower. Using the strong lines of the pattern to cut along will hide your patch once it is applied to the wall. In fact, it will make it almost impossible to find except with a magnifying glass.
Next, drop the patch you've cut from the roll end into a sink of hot tap water. Let the patch stand in the water for a few minutes. Then rub the backing off with your thumb. You will probably be able, with care and finesse, to remove all the backing down to the protective barrier between the foil and the backing.
One caution: DON'T remove this coating all the way to the foil. If you do the adhesive is likely to tarnish the foil and turn it gray or black after a few days. The manufacturers apply this barrier to prevent the adhesives used at the factory to laminate the backing onto the foil from tarnishing or oxidizing the metal foil.
After removing the wallcovering carefully apply your patch with a small amount of VOV. Be sure to remove all excess VOV because these adhesives generally work by "etching" the surface of the existing vinyl. If any residue of VOV is left it will leave a dull finish that will never wash off.
I used this "trick" once when I was called back to a job on which I had papered, about three weeks before, in a large master bathroom which used about 30 single rolls. This master bath was in a new house and was being done by one of the interior design houses for which I did a great deal of work.
Just before the client was ready to move in the builder sent his cleaning crew in to clean the tile floors and to generally get the home ready for occupancy. In this process the cleaning crew accidentally splashed muriatic acid in the very expensive handscreened foil. They had no idea they had caused a problem until the next day when the home owner noticed black spots all around the bottom of some of the walls.
The interior designer decided that it would take at least a triple roll of this expensive handscreened wallcovering to replace the pieces that were damaged. So the wallcovering was ordered at the builder's expense and when it arrived I was called in to repair the damage.
When I saw the damage I decided that I might be able to save the new triple roll of wallcovering by trying the skin graft trick. I had the client bring me all the left over roll ends from the job and using the technique I explained above I was able to successfully cover up the dark spots.
The customer had like new wallcovering, and a triple roll of this expensive paper that she could either return for credit or save. Everyone ended up happy and I was well paid for my repair efforts!
This Repair could be a Symptom
If you are called back to a job because the wallcovering has come loose around a ceiling or in a bathroom you must realize that the loose wallcovering may really be a symptom and not the disease itself. It is important to determine if there is some abnormal moisture present. The wallcovering could be loose because there is a leak in the roof or, in the case of the bathroom, steam buildup from showering.
If you do have abnormal moisture the loose wallcovering will probably reappear until the moisture problem is solved. The roof must be repair and all bathrooms should have vent fans to remove steam.
Gouged wallcovering?
Sometimes the wallcovering is gouged by a children playing with their toys or, even more often, by people rearranging or bringing in new furniture. In this case the drywall is usually dented or gouged as well as the covering. In repairing this kind of damage an assortment of putty knives is invaluable. I keep every size from less than one inch to a common six inch knife.
If the gouged wallcovering has a nonwoven or cloth backing you will need to cut it with a new blade along a predominate part of the pattern. Turn the wallcovering back hold it out of your way with a small piece of masking tape. Now the gouge is visible and you can repair it with some spackle. You must, of course, sand this repair and this calls for pulling another "trick" out of your bag.
Wet sanding takes all the mess and worry out of this type of repair. This type of sanding is done with a specialty sponge called a "sanding sponge". After applying the spackle as smoothly as possible and allowing it to dry dip the sanding sponge in warm water and lightly wipe over the spackle. The water will smooth any ridges down without the usual dust mess. This is so easily done that the one caution I must give you is not to remove more filler than absolutely necessary while sanding. So be careful and go easy on your rubbing.
Another great trick for "sanding" these small spots is a new single edge razor blade. Stand it up perfectly straight (perpendicular to the wall) and lightly scrape the spackle. This works as well on small spots as sandpaper but doesn't scratch the surrounding surfaces.
With either one of these repairs look closely to see if a second coat of spackle is needed. Don't think because it's a small spot that a dent caused by spackle shrinkage won't show. It will.
Now that your wall is smooth it is time to paste down those turned back edges and finish the repair. Since this is a strippable wallcovering it is a candidate for a double cut patch. When making a double cut patch always cut it again along a strong line in the pattern even if it makes the patch larger than it otherwise might have been. You must use those strong lines to hide your patch and make them invisible to the client's eye.
Patches and repairs of wallcovering are a profitable add-on to your business. They give you fill in work for those times between installations. They also can add substantially to your customer base because you can repair the work that other less skilled installers are unable to do.
I once even offered to repair a job for free in a Chinese restaurant where I was eating and later got a good deal of work from the owner when he opened other facilities and also when he did his large home. On the front of one of the marketing books that we give our students is this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson and I think it is an important one to remember: "If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hardbeaten road to his house, tho it be in the woods."
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