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Wallpaper Seams Lifting
The joins between lengths of wallpaper are curling open, or a gap has appeared where two lengths meet.
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What's happening?
Seams are the weakest line in any papered wall, because they are the one place where the paper has an unsupported edge and the least paste. Two different faults get described the same way. A curling seam is an adhesion failure — the edge has dried before it bonded, usually from paste run dry at the edge, over-rolling that squeezed paste out, or an unsealed absorbent wall. An open gap is shrinkage — the paper expanded with paste, was butted tight while wet, and pulled apart as it dried. That is why the manufacturer's soaking time matters: paper hung at the right expansion stays butted, paper hung too wet shrinks away from its neighbour.
What usually causes it?
- Not enough paste taken right out to the edge of each length
- Over-rolling the seam, squeezing the paste out from under the join
- Paper hung too wet and still expanding, so it shrank back as it dried
- An absorbent wall that pulled the moisture out of the paste before it could bond
- Lengths butted with a slight overlap that has since lifted at the ridge
- A draught, a radiator or direct sun drying the seam faster than the body of the length
- Moisture from a shower, a kettle or a cold external wall creeping into the open edge
Is it dangerous?
No. A lifted seam does catch, though — a curled edge near a doorway or a bed head gets picked at and torn, which turns a five-minute repair into a full length replacement.
Can I fix it myself?
A single curling seam is straightforward. Lift the edge gently, work a thin overlap or seam adhesive under it with a fine brush, press it back and hold it for a minute, then wipe the face clean. Do not use a seam roller hard — that is what pushed the paste out in the first place. An open gap of a millimetre or two on a plain paper can be filled and touched in; on a patterned paper it usually needs the length replacing.
When should you call a painter and decorator?
Call a painter and decorator when several seams are lifting, when the gaps are wide enough to see plaster through, when the paper is a heavyweight, grasscloth or wide-width product that tears easily, or when the seams are lifting on a wall that is cold or damp. Multiple failing seams point at the wall preparation, not at the individual joins.
What will the painter and decorator actually do?
- Identify whether the seams are curling from lost adhesion or opening from shrinkage
- Test wall absorbency and check whether the wall was sized or cross-lined
- Re-adhere individual seams with an overlap adhesive and set them without over-rolling
- Replace or re-hang affected lengths where a gap cannot be closed
- Cross-line the wall before rehanging where the substrate has caused repeated seam failure
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