When it comes to improving your interior walls, you usually have the option to either install plaster or paper them. When properly installed, with professional skills and assistance, these walls can upgrade the entire look of your space. So, what should you do? Should you plaster or paper walls?
To answer this, we’ll discuss both plastering and papering walls and the pros and cons of both. Let’s get into it.
Plaster Your Wall
When walls are coated with plaster – a mixture of lime or gypsum with water and sand – they become, what we know, plastered walls. Plastering is an effective way to strengthen the wall. Here are all the advantages of plastering your walls:
Strong and Durable
A plaster coating, when properly mixed and applied, can produce a strong and durable wall finish. When all the ingredients are mixed in the right proportions and in the right way, water evaporates out of the mixture, creating a strong bond. Plaster is also quite resistant to knock and dents, which only serves to further elevate the wall’s strength.
Note that a modern metal lathe tends to be sturdier than the traditional thin wooden lath strips.
Creates An Even Surface
Another advantage of plastering is that it creates an even surface for painting. This gives an overall smooth appearance to the wall, eliminating all the bumps, cracks, and crevices. And all of this doesn’t take long, either. With a professional’s help, you can easily get a smooth and even wall in no time. While this might seem like a tiny advantage, you’ll be incredibly thankful for the smoothness when you actually begin painting your walls (if you’re doing it yourself). Ever painted a bumpy wall? Yeah, it’s a nightmare.
Speedy and Quick
Unlike most renovation tasks, plastering is easy and speedy. When compared to its popular alternative – drywall, plastering neither produces any dust nor requires sanding. It may need multiple coatings, which are, again, easy to layer on. All in all, when you choose to plaster your walls, you choose the option that saves your time, creates very little in the way of a mess, and also leaves you with a smooth wall that you can then paint later on.
Now that we’ve discussed plastering your walls, let’s talk about choosing to paper your walls.
Paper Your Wall
Wrapping your walls with paper is another great option if you’re looking to add some flair to your home. With your favorite wallpaper, you can take your walls from drab to fab in no time. Some important things to know about papering your walls are:
Higher Aesthetic Appeal
When it comes to sticking paper to your wall, you should know that the visual appeal of paper is a lot greater than plaster. You have a lot of wallpaper varieties to choose from. Depending on your interior décor and design, you can choose a wallpaper accordingly. For example, you have the option to paste vintage newspapers or magazine pages for a unique and creative appeal.
There is also an option to wallpaper old book pages, photocopied family photos, favorite music album covers, or memorabilia – the options are endless!
Takes Time
Unlike plastering, which is a speedy process, applying wallpaper takes 1 – 3 days, depending on the condition of your wall and the size of your bedroom. If you already have an existing wallpaper, then it can take even more time. You will need at least one entire day to get rid of the existing wallpaper. However, if the wall consists of a smaller size paper, it should not take more than a couple of hours to remove it.
Makes for a Great DIY Project
Putting paper on your wall is a task that can be done by yourself. All you need is sufficient time and proper tools to install it. Some common things you will need to apply wallpaper are a pasting bucket, a pasting brush, a good pair of scissors, the wallpaper itself, and if old wallpaper needs to be removed, then a steam stripper will be required.
Help Define Your Space
Paper walls have the ability to enhance an interior like nothing else can. Since they come in so many cool and funky designs, you can pick the one that goes best with your furniture and help define the space more vividly. Wallpapers are indeed an amazing choice to add a bit of personality to your existing room.
Should You Plaster or Paper Walls?
Here’s something you need to know – newly constructed walls may need to be plastered to stay sturdy and strong. Many homeowners go for installing drywall as well, which is a modern alternative to plastering the walls, but they are less durable and comparatively difficult to install. Having said that, plastered walls can be difficult to repair. Even with small cracks and crumbles, it can be tricky to repair the wall. You need to cut and scrape out the intact wall to replace it with new plaster. Moreover, plaster tends to change color as time passes by. New patches are always more vivid and fresh than the older ones. On the other hand, wallpaper is quite easy to replace and can be done without any professional help. Unlike plastering, wallpaper doesn’t deteriorate if maintained well.
So, coming back to the main point of this blog post – should you plaster or paper walls? Well, the best thing is that you probably don’t even have to choose between the two. Plastered walls on their own (if not painted) look quite bare and, well… boring. So after plastering your walls, you can apply wallpaper to really get the best of both worlds – durability and design!
