Align the walls under the wallpaper with your own hands (video)

Wallpapering is the final step in wall decoration. This is the most visible part of all finishing work, therefore, special attention is paid to the preparation of walls for wallpapering. Let's consider in more detail, how to align the walls under the wallpaper and how to do it yourself.

How to align the walls under the wallpaper?

The technology of aligning walls for wallpaper is somewhat easier to align for painting, where every imperfection of the wall is noticeable visually.

There are several options for leveling walls:

• putty;
• plaster;
• drywall.

To decide which alignment method is best to use, you need to focus on the curvature of the walls. in the apartment, the necessary speed of finishing work and the amount that you are willing to spend on your repairs.

1. Putty is suitable for initially smooth concrete walls that have small cracks, indentations, and other defects. In other cases, this will be the most expensive leveling method.
2. Plaster allows you to align differences and bumps in a few centimeters. Available at a cost, but the labor involved in applying it is quite high. For self-repair, the plaster is not chosen so often because of the complexity of the process, in addition, this option is not suitable for everyone because of the long drying time.
3. Plasterboard sheets make it possible to level the surface with absolutely any differences. Any novice master will cope with their installation, in addition, sheet material is relatively inexpensive. The disadvantages include the fragility of GCR and the decrease in the room area due to the space occupied by the frame. The latter can be avoided by using the frameless method of installing drywall.

Detecting wall curvature

To determine how to align the walls in the apartment with your own hands, you need to measure the bumps with a vertical plumb. To do this, you need a long cord with a weighting agent at the end. The plumb should be fixed at the top of the wall, for example, on a driven nail. Hold the cord from below and measure the wall differences at three points - above, below and in the middle. Horizontal roughness is checked by level, also for the correct choice of material it is necessary to measure the diagonals of the room.

• If the differences are significant, you will have to use plaster or drywall to level the walls.
• If the irregularities are insignificant, you can proceed to priming the wall under the putty.

Putty leveling

Alignment of surfaces using putty includes the following steps:

• Cleaning the wall of dust, dirt, the remains of the old coating.
• Padding. This step is necessary to improve the adhesion of concrete and the leveling material, as well as to counteract the fungus and to adhere all microparticles of the surface.
• Putty application.
• Grinding. For its implementation, it is necessary to fix sandpaper on a wooden block or use a grinding machine.

Consider in more detail the stage of applying putty.

For work you will need:

• putty starting and finishing or one universal compound;
• spatulas - small, large, angular;
• sandpaper or grinder.

Ready-made putty and dry mix are sold in stores, which will need to be diluted with water and mixed with a construction mixer until a uniform mass is obtained.

Tip: you need to purchase putty at the rate of 1 kg per 1 sq. m surface with a layer thickness of 10 mm More detailed instructions and composition should be read on the packaging.

• Using a small spatula, the putty is drawn from the container and transferred to the large spatula.
• With a wide spatula, a starting layer is applied to the prepared walls.
• The next leveling layer will be perpendicular to the starting layer. Before applying it, you need to wait about 12 hours until the previous one has completely dried, sanded and primed.

Large and small spatulas during operation are washed with water, saving them from the drying mixture.

• Finishing putty is applied in the same way as the starting putty, but with a thinner layer.

To align the inner corners of the wallsIt is best to use a special angle trowel. Correctly form the outer corner will help a special perforated overlay-corner, which is recessed in the solution, set to level, and after drying it is covered with a layer of putty. When grinding the corner, it is important not to overdo it and not to remove the extra layer of putty, otherwise the overlay will be visible.

Better understand how to putty the walls, help step-by-step photos and videos on aligning the walls under the wallpaper.

Stucco leveling

This method is used when it is necessary to level the walls with sufficiently large defects.

• First, the surfaces are cleaned of litter and dust, then primed.
• Lighthouses in the form of metal or wooden slats with an indent of 20 cm from the corners of the room are attached to the walls using gypsum mortar. The distance between the beacons should be slightly less than the length of the rule.
• The plaster is applied with a spatula to the area between the beacons from the bottom up and is aligned with a rule that rests on the slats. The movements should be zigzag.

• In places of irregularities and bubbles on the surface of the plaster, the solution is removed and poured again.
• After processing one area, the rule is stretched from top to bottom to remove excess solution.
• Actions are repeated until the entire gap between the two beacons from floor to ceiling is filled, now you can move on to the next.
• Beacons at the end of work must be removed from the wall, as they may appear rust, which appears on the wallpaper. The recesses from them are sealed with a solution.
• The last stage of the work is to grout the plaster that has not yet dried out with a solution of a more liquid consistency, which allows you to make the surface even and smooth.

If high-quality gypsum plaster was used for leveling, it will be enough to sand the surface well before gluing the wallpaper. In another case, the wall must be puttied.

Drywall Alignment

Using drywall is a good way to align your walls with your own hands. It is used in rooms with very uneven walls or to save repair time, since the installation of GKL is very fast.

You can use two methods of leveling with drywall:

• wireframe method, involving the installation of a frame made of a metal profile;
• frameless methodin which drywall is attached to the wall with a special glue.

It is necessary to determine in advance the places of sockets and switches and mark them on drywall sheets.

Regardless of the chosen method of installation of gypsum plaster, the joints between the sheets must be repaired with a special gypsum putty for joints, reinforce with a special tape or net-sickle, putty recesses from wood screws.

Since some types of wallpaper have little transparency, it is strongly recommended to putty the entire surface of the drywall. In this case, the wall must be primed before and after the putty is applied. If you decide to refuse to putty the entire surface of the drywall walls before gluing the wallpaper, they must be primed, otherwise wallpaper glue will soak the surface of the sheets. In addition, with subsequent repairs, it will be almost impossible to remove wallpaper from untreated drywall.

The cost of work

If you decide to entrust the alignment of the walls for the wallpaper to specialists, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the approximate prices for repair work.

• In Moscow and Moscow Region, alignment of walls with plaster will cost from 300 rubles. per 1 m2, drywall with a frame - from 500 rubles. per 1 m2, without frame - from 350 rubles. per 1 m2, putty - from 100 rubles. per 1 m2;
• in St. Petersburg, the cost of plastering on lighthouses starts from 280 rubles. per 1 m2, gypsum plasterboard cladding using the frame method - from 460 rubles. per 1 m2, frameless on glue - from 320 rubles. per 1 m2, putty work - from 90 rubles. per 1 m2;
• prices for similar work in the regions may vary significantly.

Now you know how to align the walls to the wallpaper and you can choose the most suitable method for you, we only We wish fast and high-quality repair with a minimum of nerves expended and with a maximum of savings funds.