Modern manufacturers of wall coverings produce the widest range of wallpapers of different types, manufactured using a wide variety of resources and on different bases. What kind of glue should be used for the quality installation of certain wall-paper on the walls depends on their substrate and severity. The most popular and common today are 3 types of adhesives: cellulose, flour and vinyl. In this article you will learn all the useful information about them.

Cellulose Adhesive

Methyl cellulose ether is obtained by treating cellulose prepared from wood or cotton with alkali (such as, for example, sodium hydroxide) and methyl chloride. The product obtained is a powder or solid granules from a white to a yellowish hue, soluble in cold and insoluble in hot water.

This material is widely used throughout the world not only as an adhesive, but also as a thickener, a substitute for natural resins and an emulsion stabilizer. The pH of the solution of this substance in water lies in the range from 5.5 to 8.0 (the hydrogen value of the adhesive is a very important characteristic and when gluing light wallpaper, you need to choose adhesives with a lower pH, so that there are no divorces).

Cellulose Adhesive является гигроскопичным материалом. Он набухает и медленно растворяется в холодной воде, причем его вязкость увеличивается с повышением концентрации и уменьшается с повышением температуры от 50 градусов по Цельсию.

Methyl cellulose adhesive for wallpapering is characterized by the highest water content of all general-use adhesives - up to 97%. It is perfectly suitable for reliable installation on walls of light materials, such as paper, silk or interlining. Being a substance of mechanical adhesion, it penetrates into the pores of the base of the wallpaper and the wall surface, firmly adhering them in this way to each other. In this case, cellulose glue does not come to glue hard, smooth, non-porous materials, as well as heavy wallpaper, which require the adhesive to have a stronger tack and ability to hold.

Flour (wheat) glue

Conventional wheat flour, available for any region of the planet, has long been the most commonly used resource for making wallpaper paste. Every person today can go to the store, buy a sufficient amount of flour and easily prepare an excellent adhesive. Just add the powder to warm water and stir slowly, getting rid of the lumps.

Wheat glue is an environmentally friendly product and, like cellulose, has a very high water content in the solution - from 90 to 95%. In addition to flour for making "homemade" wallpaper paste is also often used potato starch, and many masters claim that its use is much more effective.

Despite the fact that for centuries glutinous adhesive was the most popular adhesive in the world, the introduction of vinyl in the 1950-60's in the wallpaper industry ultimately led to the dominance of different types of vinyl glue in the modern market. Nevertheless, cellulose and homemade adhesives are still best suited for the installation of products such as:

1. natural wallpaper grasscloth;
2. cork wallpaper on paper basis;
3. paper uncoated wallpaper;
4. wallpaper of silk.

Tip: For best results when making home-made or commercially available soluble adhesives, use distilled water from the store, since ordinary tap water can contain a wide variety of impurities, which sometimes give an unexpected effect when the wallpaper is stained (stains, stains, etc.).

Clay-based vinyl adhesive

Vinyl glue of gray color, which includes clay, dextrin, small amounts of cellulose, biocides and other additives, was developed specifically for gluing vinyl wallpaper. Such adhesives have the lowest water content (40-50%) and provide excellent adhesion to the wallpaper.

One of the advantages of vinyl adhesives is that they are already sold in ready-made form - in plastic buckets. Do not need to dilute the powder and wait until the solution has the right consistency: with the finished glue, you can start the process of installing the wallpaper immediately.

Clay-based vinyl adhesive является отличным выбором для поклейки флизелиновых обоев и виниловых обоев на тканой основе.

Pure vinyl adhesive

This kind of vinyl adhesive is made on the basis of natural (such as wheat and corn starch) or synthetic (anthropogenic) polymers. Polymers are prepared with the help of heat or chemical reactions that change the structure of molecules from long-chain to short-chain. In addition to polymers, pure vinyl adhesive can include cellulose particles, biocides, etc. The water content of such an adhesive is typically in the range of 60-70%.

This type of glue is universal and can be successfully used for gluing a wide variety of wallpapers, from very light vinyl to the heaviest varieties. However, it is necessary to exercise some caution when using it with delicate paper wallpaper - it can irretrievably spoil their surface.

Vinyl adhesives are especially recommended for gluing such types of wall coverings:

1. vinyl wallpaper on a fabric basis;
2. vinyl or acrylic coated paper;
3. jute wallpaper;
4. textile wallpaper: without substrate, on paper or acrylic base;
5. non-woven wallpaper.

There is also a number of unpretentious wall coverings, for gluing which on the walls you can use absolutely any kind of glue:

1. vinyl wallpaper on paper and non-woven basis;
2. foil wallpaper on a fabric or paper basis;
3. Mylar wallpaper on any substrate.

They are quite dense and at the same time not too heavy, and therefore, when choosing an adhesive for them, you can safely make a choice either in favor of environmental friendliness and cheapness of some types of glue, or in favor of the availability and ease of use of others.