Richard Hostetler is the inventor of the Double Roller Adhesive Applicator, the Water Tray Holder, the Double Roll Dispenser, and other paperhanging products. He also produced the 30-minute video, "Paperhanging Tips and Inventions" which shows him using the equipment he has invented plus additional paperhanging tips. Dick is a 30 year veteran of the paperhanging trade and works the Goshen, Indiana area.
Need need a reliable paperhanger? Contact Dick at rhhost@maplenet.net
Hanging Prepasted Wallcoverings
Most of the wallpaper that I hang is prepasted. Last week I was on a job and was ready to hang what I thought was prepasted paper but discovered that it was an unpasted fabric-backed vinyl. Occasionally I like to hang paper that is unpasted because it allows me to use my double-roller adhesive applicator to do the pasting. However for me, by and large, prepasted is easier to hang than paper that is not pasted. There is nothing much easier than soaking paper in a water tray, pulling it out on my table, rolling it up like a newspaper and then hanging it.
What is very important, as most paperhangers know, is to properly prime the walls before hanging the paper. Sometimes I use a pigmented primer and might have it tinted to match the color of the background of the wallpaper. I like to do this particularly if the paper is a dark color and there might be the chance of the seams showing. When I use a pigmented primer I usually prime the walls one day and then hang the wallcovering the next. In my judgment a clear acrylic primer-sealer doesn't need as much drying time so I may prime the walls in the morning and hang the wallcovering in the afternoon. However, the longer the drying time of the primer-sealer the better it is.
I use a water tray to wet my prepasted paper. I have invented a water tray holder that clamps onto my table and holds the tray at the height of my table. Some paperhangers don't have much respect for water trays but they have worked well for me. It's my opinion that having a water tray holder fastened to the table gives the lowly water tray a certain dignity that it may not otherwise have.
I have a two-bolt wallpaper dispenser that clamps to the end of my table. I usually put two bolts of paper in my dispenser with the patterned side up. Since I have a 4-ft. tape measure on the top edge of my table I can pull whatever length that I need and then run my knife along the straight edge of the dispenser and I get a perfect 90-degree cut. While I don't usually do it I can pull paper from both bolts at the same time and cut both of them at the same time.
After the strips of wallpaper are cut to length I back-roll the paper and then place it into my water tray and usually keep it in the water for 15 or 20 seconds. Then I take it out, book it and roll it up like a newspaper. After a few minutes the paper is ready to hang.
Depending on the circumstances I may add paste to the seams. I do this by taking a brush and then adding paste (like a heavy-duty clear) to the wall along where the seam of the paper comes. I usually like to paste it long enough ahead so that the paste has a chance to dry somewhat so that the seams will stay down when I hang the paper. For me this is still easier than adding paste to the paper since I don't use a pasting machine.
It was about 15 years ago that I began inventing wallpapering equipment. I was working for a builder and was being paid by the roll. I tried to think of ways that I could speed up the process without sacrificing quality of work.
The first item I started working on was a dispenser that would fasten to the end of my papering table and that I could pull from so that I would have better control of my bolts of wallpaper. Thus I began to develop what I called my "Roll Control" wallpaper dispenser. The biggest obstacle that I faced was how to clamp the dispenser onto the end of the table. Then someone told me about an aluminum clamp that is manufactured in a small town not far from where I live. From A & R Machine I get the altered aluminum clamp; the stainless steel rods and a stainless steel plate which makes a straightedge when cutting the paper. The wooden frame for the dispenser is made at a local woodworking shop.
I have a tape measure fastened on my table and so it's easy to measure the paper as I pull it from the dispenser and then I use my Olfa knife and run it along the stainless steel edge, which gives me a perfect 90 degree, cut. I can pull from two bolts at the same time and cut them both at the same time.
Since I use a water tray for wetting prepasted paper I also invented a water tray holder which clamps onto my table using two clamps. A water tray can then be dropped into the holder. The water tray is elevated to the same height as the table. I wet my paper in the water tray and then pull it onto a towel which I have on my table; book it, roll it up and then wait several minutes until it's ready to hang.
What I developed for pasting on my table is a double-roller adhesive applicator. I had it made using two roller frames, cutting, bending and welding so that the rollers are side by side and the handle is on the top. For the roller in front I use a 3/4" nap roller cover and for the second roller I use a 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" nap roller cover. The front roller is the leveling roller and the second roller acts as the feed roller. I have found this to be a fast and effective paste applicator.
Dick Hostetler
1307 Wilson Ave.,
Goshen, IN 46526
574-533-7343