How Long is a Roll?

    Most wallcoverings will come in double rolls.  They will be either American rolls or European rolls.  If the product is American, you will usually get 36 square feet to the single roll or 72 square feet to the (packaged) double roll.

    European rolls will be shorter.  Most of the 'Euro' rolls will be about 28 square feet to the single roll and 57 square feet the (packaged) double roll.

    Prepasted European wallpaper is usually 20 ½ inches wide and 33 feet long in a double roll.  The same double roll of American wallpaper would be 42 feet long.  Naturally, if the price is the same, the American is a better deal.

    American wallcoverings come in a larger variety of sizes, but the square footage is fairly constant at 36 square feet to the single roll.  Grasscloth, for example, is packaged in double rolls that are 36 inches wide and 24 feet long.  Prepasteds will be 20 ½" wide and 42' long.  And vinyls can be 24" by 36' or 27" by 32' or even 28" by 30'. No matter. They will all be about 72 square feet to the double roll.  (Sometimes rolls of wallcoverings are referred to as bolts. A bolt can be 2,3 or more rolls. This is a general term and does not have anything to do with the amount of material on the roll.)

    There is very little American size wallcovering left in the market except for grass cloth.  Most manufacturers have converted to the European size rolls.  European rolls provide less wallcovering than the American rolls did, but the patterns were so much more popular than the older American size rolls that they swept the industry. 

     Today most 21" wallpapers are only 33 feet long, sometimes called an 11 yard bolt or the double roll.  27" wide wallpapers are now 27' long, sometimes called the nine yard bolt or double roll. The nine yard bolts can be problematic if they have a large repeat.  Big repeats may only allow two long strips per double roll.  This means you must figure your room for a single roll of wallpaper for every strip width (27").  That can run your costs up considerably.

     Narrow goods (21") in homes that have 8' high walls will get you three strips that are 21" wide and a short piece left over for over the door or window.  This can be more economical if you find a pattern that you like.