Types of wall backing, properties, characteristics, description

Background for wallpaper: reviews of masters, types, how to choose and glue?

Wallpaper underlay can be used to reduce noise levels and improve thermal insulation.

Soundproofing underlay improves living conditions in a room by reducing noise levels in rooms.

From the text you will learn how to choose and how to glue the backing under the wallpaper.

Basis purpose

Basis purpose
Installation of the substrate
Types of backgrounds for wallpaper

Wallpaper bases have been around for a long time. About 30 years ago, old newspapers were used for this, and then special paper came to replace them.

Modern foundations for wallpaper are high-tech materials that can not only facilitate the process of wallpapering walls, but also perform the functions of insulation and sound insulation.

Wallpaper backing is wall coverings with insulating qualities.

Typically, wallpaper backings are made of polyethylene foam, finished with paper sheets on the back and front sides.

Instead of polyethylene foam, cork or interlining can be used to make the backing. The underlays can be glued under any type of wallpaper.

This finishing material has the following advantages:

high strength - it is difficult to break it;
environmental safety;
prevents condensation;
serves as soundproofing.

The underlay for wallpaper is a soft roll finish, but despite this, it has a high strength.

There are reviews on the background under the wallpaper, saying that it can withstand several wallpaper re-sticks. New wallpaper is simply glued onto the old backing without removing it from the wall.

The material prevents the appearance of mold on the walls, provides silence in the room. In addition, with a wallpaper underlay, you can even out unevenness on the walls.

Professionals are increasingly advising to stick wallpaper not on bare walls, but on substrates, since the level of sound insulation in modern apartments leaves much to be desired.

Despite the fact that wallpaper substrates are a versatile material with a lot of advantages, they also have disadvantages:

not suitable for wet rooms;
not suitable for thin wallpapers - in this case, the substrate may shine through;
will not be able to isolate the room from extraneous sounds with a strong noise level.

Installation of the substrate

How to glue the backing to the wall:

the surface is freed from wallpaper;
remove water-based paint or whitewash;
the grooves are leveled with putty or alabaster;
the wall is primed with PVA glue
24 hours before the sticker, the backing is cut and allowed to rest on a flat surface.

When working with a non-woven substrate, the glue is applied not to it, but to the walls.

Tip: Immediately remove excess glue from the joints with a napkin.

Pasting starts from the window and moves in a circle. At the junction of two walls, the sheets must be butt - it is not allowed to paste over the corner with one sheet with a fold.

During the gluing, the sheets are coated on one side, kept for up to 10 minutes and glued end-to-end.

For gluing the substrate, polystyrene foam glue or an adhesive for massive wallpaper is used. The substrate is glued in the same way as the wallpaper - in a butt-joint method.

Air accumulations are removed by ironing the glued sheet with a plastic spatula or a piece of dry, clean cloth. Seams are sealed with adhesive masking tape.

The sound insulation must hang on the wall for at least a day before the wallpaper itself can be glued onto it.

Glued to the wall, the backing does not deteriorate for decades. The material of the leading manufacturers is guaranteed for 50 years!

The soundproofing and insulating effect of pasting the walls with a backing under the wallpaper will be especially noticeable in rooms, one of the walls of which goes into the entrance.

The concrete walls of panel houses have poor thermal insulation, and the apartment loses a lot of heat through the walls that open into the cold staircase.

Important: the material must not be glued if the room temperature is below 10 ° C and the humidity is below 70%. In such conditions, the sheets will not be able to adhere with sufficient strength.

After pasting the walls during the day, drafts should not be allowed in the room.

Key manufacturers of finishing materials in Russia and the CIS countries produce substrates under the following brands:

Ecohit - produced by the Izhevsk Plastics Plant, removes cold radiation from walls, reduces noise levels. Ecohit does not absorb moisture, is not afraid of dampness;
Polyform - protects walls from condensation, improves sound insulation, and reduces heating costs. Polyform is odorless, as it is made without freon and butane. The material does not crack when the foundation of a new house shrinks, is not damaged by molds and bacteria, does not collapse for 50 years;
Penolon - insulation with a thickness of 7 mm. The closed porous structure makes it durable and warm. Decorating on both sides with paper allows you to stick the foam on any walls. It can be used for internal insulation of houses made of timber, concrete, brick, cinder blocks.

The listed manufacturers produce material in rolls 0.5 m wide, 14 m long.

Sticking tips:

do not use the substrate in rooms with humid air;
walls damaged by fungus are cleaned with antifungal chemicals before pasting;
if gaps appear after pasting, then they are sealed with narrow strips of paper using PVA glue.

The soundproofing effect of the backing sticker will not allow you to protect the room from strong noise - in this case, other, more effective soundproofing methods will be required.

The material is environmentally friendly and can be used in bedrooms and children's rooms.

The PE foam backing is easy to cut and the paper backing makes it easy to stick to the wall.

Despite its small thickness, the material helps to save heat - the total effect of its use throughout the entire heating season can be quite significant.

Types of backgrounds for wallpaper

Substrates can be made from the following materials.

Polyethylene foam - in the trade network, this material can be sold under the name Polypom or Isolone.

All these names belong to one material - foamy, lightweight, capable of withstanding extremely high and low temperatures (from -60 ° C to + 90 ° C).

Heat-insulating specialists argue that polyethylene foam replaces a half-brick wall in terms of its thermal insulation qualities.

Polyethylene foam is used to insulate walls made of materials with low thermal insulation capacity.

For example, concrete freezes quickly at sub-zero temperatures, and foamed polyethylene glued to it from the inside will retain heat and increase the comfort of being in the room.

The cork cover is environmentally friendly, natural. It not only retains heat, but also has high sound insulation.

Cork backing is used in recording studios, that is, where it is especially important that extraneous sounds do not penetrate from the outside.

In a room whose walls are covered with cork under the wallpaper, you will not be disturbed by the barking of a neighbor's dog, crying of children, playing musical instruments, street noise and other unpleasant acoustics.

As a heater, cork is inferior to polyethylene foam, but only slightly. The weak point of the roll cork is the complete lack of water protection.

The material easily absorbs moisture, therefore, in case of flooding, it will definitely come off.The cork is sold in sheets, as it is too stiff and hard to roll into a roll.

Heat-insulating non-woven backing for wallpaper or repair non-woven linen appeared on the market of finishing materials recently, but professionals have already liked it.

Unlike polyethylene and cork, repair non-woven fabric has an important feature - it is vapor-permeable, so it can be used in rooms with high air humidity.

In addition, the material has increased elasticity and is excellent for leveling walls.

Repair interlining can be used to decorate any living room, it has one hundred percent environmental safety.

The disadvantage of this material is the high price - repair non-woven fabric is more expensive than foamed polyethylene and even cork.

Rigid materials such as drywall or plywood can play the role of a wallpaper backing. Their disadvantages include more complicated installation than roll materials and a decrease in the volume of the room.

The layer of air trapped between the sheets and the wall surface serves as an insulating cushion, but it does not protect against sound.

In addition, cold and warm air meets in such a gap, which means that condensation forms, which leads to mold and rotting of wood and paper finishing materials.

Before starting work, you need to read the instructions. Products from different manufacturers may differ in the way they are glued.

Some types of underlays need to lie flat on the floor to even out. Other materials do not need this, since according to the technology, before gluing them, it is supposed to soak them with glue, after which they will become heavy and level off on their own.

Foam insulation installation steps

Installation technology depends on the scope of use of the material. It is glued to the walls like ordinary wallpaper. The main stages are surface preparation, leveling of significant defects and drops, priming. Insulation can be applied after the base is completely dry. To do this, you can choose wallpaper glue, PVA and other compounds.

During the construction of buildings, the material is used to seal and seal joints, seams formed between slabs and structures. Installation work is based on void filling and subsequent finishing.

Laying products under laminate or parquet flooring practically does not differ from pasting walls. A similar list of works is carried out here, starting from leveling and preparing surfaces, ending with gluing insulation. It is important to choose the right material in terms of thickness and structure, which depends on the characteristics of structures, weather and climatic conditions, and other factors.

Penolon - background for wallpaper. Expert Reviews

In any house, no matter whether it is built of brick, concrete, wood, it is important to create good heat and vapor barrier. It depends on these works how warm the room will be, and what the climate will be like there. In big cities and apartment buildings, sound insulation is also important. Not everyone is ready to hear the noise of cars, neighbors talking, crying children, etc. all day long.

In general, work with sound-thermal insulation materials is considered by engineers even at the stages of creating a house construction project. But not everyone manages to take into account all the nuances, and in the houses that were built decades ago, these materials did not fit.

Therefore, now, in order to ensure complete silence in their home and to preserve heat in it, they acquire heat and noise insulation materials for interior and exterior wall decoration.

Scope of use of Penolone

Penolon will provide the room with complete isolation from extraneous noise, cold and moisture. Thanks to him, the most comfortable microclimate is created in the house. It can be laid in the form of a substrate under laminate, parquet and other floor coverings, and it can even be laid under wallpaper.Often this material is used to seal and insulate various joints between the slabs of the house, to seal existing joints, etc.

Penolon has excellent water-repellent and vapor barrier characteristics, which is why it is actively used in the installation and repair of plumbing equipment, windows, loggias, basements, etc.

Despite its functionality and the fact that it is considered one of the best heat and sound insulators, its cost is more than moderate.

What is Penolon and what is it for

Penolone (expanded polyethylene) is a versatile polymer material. It has a paper base and a porous structure. It is lightweight, as it consists of many air bubbles. It is produced in various colors and thicknesses. Penolon is available in different rates of foaming, lamination and embossing. It is produced in the form of a polymer sheet, chips, plates and rolls.

Specifications

The unique properties of Penolone have expanded its use in various directions. That is why this material can replace several others at once, performing their functions. It is produced in various thicknesses and is light in weight.

Penolone properties:

environmentally friendly;
does not rot;
does not emit odors;
there is no release of harmful substances;
low coefficient of thermal conductivity - 0.037 W / m · K;
vapor-tight - 0.001 mg / (m · h · Pa);
reduces noise by 35-40 dB or up to 60%;
operating temperature - from -60 to + 120 ° С;
slight deformation, easily restores its original shape;
has excellent water-repellent properties;
easy to use, easy to cut;
reduces impact noise;
high chemical stability.

It is also compatible with various building materials: concrete, brick, wood and others.

Scope of use

Penolone, due to its excellent qualities, is used in many areas. It is used in technical industries and light industry.

Automotive

Since Penolon is lightweight, has good performance in noise and heat insulation, it is used in the manufacture of cars. This material is suitable both as a seal for doors, and as insulation, sound protection for the interior. Even when the air in the car is very hot, it does not emit hazardous substances and unpleasant odors.

Building

Penolon is used in the construction or repair of any buildings, as a heat and moisture insulating material for walls inside and outside houses, floors, roofs, and is also used under a concrete screed. To protect against noise, substrates with Penolon are produced under wallpaper and various floor coverings. Tiled Penolon insulates loggias, balconies, basements, garages and attics.

Packing material

Elastic Penolon is used as a packaging material for the transportation of valuable and fragile items, household and medical equipment.

To avoid chips, scratches, moisture and dirt, easily damaged building materials and furniture are packed with slip sheets during transportation.

Since Penolone is non-toxic and has high thermal insulation properties, it is used to protect products from temperature extremes during delivery.

Related article: Cork backing for wallpaper for noise insulation

Food industry

Thanks to its environmental, heat-retaining qualities and high water resistance. Penolone is used in the manufacture of products used for storing and eating food. It does not emit hazardous substances when combined with various liquids, therefore, seals, caps, bottle caps and thermal products are made from it.

Light industry

Penolon is used to make substrates or bottoms for bags and backpacks, as it is resistant to low temperatures. Also used in the manufacture of covers for musical instruments.

Installation features

The use of Penolon as a heater for houses and other buildings requires compliance with the following installation rules.

Floor insulation

Installation of thermal insulation under parquet or laminate flooring:

The substrate is laid on a clean surface in 1 layer; it cannot be folded in several layers.
The material is laid end-to-end and glued with tape.
A gap is left between the laminate and the walls so that the sound from the floor does not pass to the walls, and the parquet board can expand freely with increasing humidity.

Thermal insulation of walls

If the room is insulated with foil-clad material, then the metal side is placed inside the room, then the heat will be reflected back into the room. Thermal insulation based on the sandwich principle is carried out as follows:

A layer of foamed polyethylene is attached with a stapler or glue.
The joints are sealed with tape.
Mineral wool is laid (a frame is required), foam or extruded polystyrene foam.
The second layer of Penolon is laid and the seams are glued.
A lathing is mounted for lining or other finishes.

Combination with wallpaper

An important point to pay attention to is the correct way of gluing wallpaper. It is here that the most dissatisfied with this lining under the wallpaper can be found. When pasting wallpaper on a non-woven basis, as well as paper and photo wallpaper, many had problems. They consist in the fact that when the wallpaper dries, it "runs off" and at the same time there are cracks at the joints. But these troubles can be avoided.

To do this, you need to glue the wallpaper a little overlapping each other. Also, do not iron them too much. If we take this moment into account, then the result will be almost perfectly flat walls.

Testimonials

When living in a corner apartment, new buildings are faced with the problem that cold blows from the corner wall in winter. It sometimes feels like the window is open. We decided to try to fix it with penolon, especially since we still wanted to change the wallpaper. We are satisfied with the result !, although for such a price the manufacturer could have made the material of higher quality so as not to scare away buyers with its appearance. I do not know about sound insulation, but he definitely copes with moderate thermal insulation in the corner room! Therefore, I give him a confident 4. Alexey, Yaroslavl
I used this material for two purposes: soundproofing and leveling concrete walls with various irregularities, potholes, chips, etc. For this purpose, I purchased insulation in rolls 5 mm thick and 14 meters long. The calculation was made based on the area of the surfaces. The material is light, the roll weighs 1.2 kg. The installation is simple: it is glued either on PVA or on “liquid nails”. Soundproofing characteristics are certainly low due to the thinness of the material, but the decrease in external noise is noticeable. And in matters of leveling the walls, a good result was achieved. Of course, the deepest holes and chips in the wall were previously repaired with a repair compound. After that, I easily glued various types of wallpaper, including “heavy” ones, onto the foam rubber. The only point that must be taken into account is that vinyl or non-woven wallpaper, after drying, "shrinks" and on this material the joints may be loose, small gaps appear between the sheets of wallpaper. To prevent this, it is necessary to overlap the wallpaper for a couple of millimeters. Also, do not pull and press the wallpaper too much when smoothing. Wallpaper glue used according to the type of wallpaper. After drying, I can note that the walls became almost perfectly flat, I did not have to do laborious work on their preliminary leveling. Alexander, St. Petersburg

How to glue foam rubber at home

The foam material is polyurethane foam, foamed in such a way that many air cells are formed. This allows the material to have high levels of elasticity, sound insulation and thermal insulation.

Mold does not form on it, it keeps its shape at different temperature indicators from -40 to +90 degrees. But there are also negative sides to this material, it is highly flammable and quickly loses its technical characteristics. Although a new type of gray foam rubber, most often used for boxing gloves, lasts a long time.

There is a type of this material that is inelastic, but solid.

The features of the material impose separate requirements on how the foam rubber can be glued to each other, or to other materials. The following components should not be present in the adhesive solution:

It is impossible for the composition to contain trichloroethane and toluene, they will dilute its surface;
The glue solution should not be too viscous, otherwise it will be completely saturated with the material, and an increase in consumption will occur, it can lead to a deterioration in properties, long drying.

Therefore, in order to reliably glue foam rubber at home, you must first of all choose the right foam glue, the suitable options will be described below.

The foam material is polyurethane foam, foamed in such a way that many air cells are formed.