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House Cleaning: Paper

Size for Paper Hanging. To prepare walls for paper hanging, first remove old paper, mend cracks and breaks, and wash down the walls with a cloth or sponge wet in warm water. Then apply with a whitewash brush a solution of 4 ounces of common glue dissolved in 1 gallon of boiling water over a slow fire. Or apply a good shellac size.

Paste for Paper Hanging. - See "Adhesives" elsewhere in this volume.

HOUSE CLEANING To Hang Wall Paper.-First trim close to the pattern the plain strip on one edge of the paper, but not the other. Next measure the height of the room by holding an end of the paper up to the ceiling and marking along the baseboard with any blunt instrument. Cut along this mark and use the first strip as a pattern. Cut a sufficient number of additional strips for the plain walls, making allowances for doors and windows. Lay the strips face down on a large table, or make a suitable bench by laying old boards "Lay the Strips on a Table." across a couple of chair backs or barrels. Apply the paste with a whitewash brush. If the paper is heavy, let it lie after pasting until it is slightly soaked with the paste, or until the surface is sticky rather than wet.

Commence at a door or window and place the close-cut edge against the frame. First press the upper end against the ceiling and press downward with a clean cloth. Place the next strip so that the close-cut edge will overlie the half-inch strip left upon the first strip, and so proceed until the room is finished.

But remember that all heavy-weight papers in solid colors, as ingrain, duplex, or cartridge papers, and most cloth or fabric wall coverings, must be "butted" rather than overlapped.

That is, the edges must be placed close enough together to cover the wall, but without overlapping each other.

To fit around doors, window casings, and other jogs, cut and paste a full strip, apply it to the wall at the ceiling, and press with a cloth down to the top of the door or window frame and along the side of the adjacent wall. Press carefully up to the frame and cut along the edge with a sharp knife to take out the section of paper which comes over the door or window. It will assist to clip diagonally with shears toward the corner of the opening, taking care not to clip too far, although the diagonal clipping, if it extends into the paper on the wall, may be concealed by carefully bringing the edges together.