How Long Does Wallpaper Take To Dry?
When hanging wallpaper one thing to consider is how long the wallpaper will take to fully dry.
This can be an important factor if you are planning on putting up a wallpaper border or even painting.
So how long does wallpaper take to dry?
Wallpaper is typically dry 24-36 hours after being put up. This time can be affected by a range of factors including temperature, humidity and also how much wallpaper paste was used.
Different Drying Factors
The most obvious condition that can affect how long it takes for wallpaper paste to dry is simply temperature.
If the room is nice and toasty then the wallpaper will dry out a lot quicker than it would in a cold room.
So if you are in a rush then you can turn the heat up. This will help to dry out the wallpaper quicker. Maybe bring in some portable heaters to really crank up the dial.
Then another big difference will be the amount of wallpaper paste used to hang the wallpaper. Thicker wallpaper will be heavier and ideally should have more paste on it.
This will make sure it sticks well to the wall but will also mean it takes longer to dry out.
One overlooked difference-maker can also be the surface that the wallpaper was stuck to. More porous surfaces will suck the moisture out of the adhesive, leading to it drying a lot quicker.
This can be such a dramatic effect that it actually prevents the wallpaper from sticking properly. This is why it is always advised to not wallpaper straight onto bare plaster without sealing it first.
Humidity will again be an obvious factor, but maybe not as large as the others. For us here in the UK we don’t really see huge swings in humidity so this is unlikely to be a huge difference-maker.
The higher the humidity the quicker the paste will dry out.
What Could Go Wrong
If you don’t wait until the wallpaper is fully dry then what is the worst that could happen, what could really go wrong?
If you are putting up a border and the wallpaper underneath is not properly dry then the extra moisture you apply with the border glue could cause issues.
The wallpaper may end up bubbling up or even sliding around the wall.
Similar things can happen if you paint onto wallpaper that is not fully dry. As you could probably guess you are again adding a lot of moisture by painting.
The paper could again bubble up, slip and slide around the wall or even worse it could rip.
Related Posts
Doing some wallpapering? You will find these articles interesting.
