Non-woven wallpaper: pros and cons

What are the advantages of non-woven wallpaper?

Non-woven wallpaper has a backing of compressed fibres instead of paper. Most of its advantages come from that.

• Stays true to size. Paper stretches from the moisture in the paste and can shrink as it dries. Non-woven does not, so the seams stay closed.
• Paste on the wall. With non-woven wallpaper the paste usually goes on the wall, not on the strip. Intervos states a consumption of about 200 grams per m² for its non-woven pastes. According to the product data sheet, you place the strip into the still-wet paste.
• Dry removal. Unpainted non-woven wallpaper can often be peeled dry off the wall in whole strips.
• Paintable. Paintable non-woven wallpaper, such as renovation fleece, is painted by us after hanging and can be repainted later in a different colour.
• New builds. A new home settles and shrinks in the first few years, and plasterwork cracks with it. Painted non-woven wallpaper keeps small shrinkage cracks out of sight.

What are the disadvantages of non-woven wallpaper?

• It does not hide a poor wall. An open joint, hole or bump in the wall shows through the wallpaper. A thin skim coat of plaster is needed first.
• Once painted, it is more work to remove. The paint layer makes the wallpaper sealed and stiff. Removing painted wallpaper costs €9.75 per m² with us, and renovation fleece and fibreglass wallpaper €10.99 per m².
• Not every non-woven wallpaper can be painted. Wallpaper with a print or a vinyl top layer is not meant to be painted over.
• Not for wet rooms. In a bathroom, plasterwork is usually a more sensible choice than wallpaper.
• Less sturdy than fibreglass. On walls that get knocked every day, fibreglass wallpaper is a better fit.

Prices exclude VAT. For renovation work on a home over 10 years old, VAT is usually 6%; otherwise it is 21%.

If you want to paint non-woven wallpaper, first check that it is paintable. And if a wall takes a lot of wear, choose wall by wall between non-woven or fibreglass.

Can you hang new wallpaper over non-woven wallpaper?

You can, but it is rarely the sensible route. Non-woven wallpaper is attached with paste on the wall and, if unpainted, can usually be peeled dry off the wall in whole strips. That gives you a clean surface within a day, instead of two layers of wallpaper on top of each other.

If you do hang over it, the bottom layer determines the final result. A seam, bump or loose edge shows through the new strip, and when you remove it later both layers come off together. With painted non-woven wallpaper there is also the paint layer, which makes the whole thing sealed and stiff.

That is why we remove the old wallpaper first. Removing painted wallpaper costs €9.75 per m², and renovation fleece and fibreglass wallpaper €10.99 per m². With unpainted wallpaper, removing non-woven wallpaper is often just a matter of peeling it off dry.

How long does non-woven wallpaper last, and how do you maintain it?

On a flat, well-prepared surface, painted non-woven wallpaper stays smooth for around 10 years. Its lifespan depends less on the wallpaper itself than on the wall beneath: on a wall that still moves or gives off dust, any finish will come loose sooner.

Maintenance is minimal. You wipe painted non-woven wallpaper with a damp cloth; Sigma states scrub class 1 for Sigmatex Superlatex Matt according to NBN EN 13300. If you damage a spot, touching it up with the same paint is usually enough.

If you want a different colour, the wallpaper does not need to come off. You simply have it painted again, and that can be done several times. That is exactly the advantage of paintable non-woven wallpaper over wallpaper with a print.

Do the disadvantages outweigh the advantages?

For most living rooms and bedrooms, no. The disadvantages mainly matter in three situations: a wall in poor condition, a wall that gets knocked a lot, or a wet room. In those cases we choose a skim coat beforehand, fibreglass wallpaper or plasterwork.

For renovation fleece, the paintable non-woven wallpaper we hang most often, we also set out the pros and cons of renovation fleece honestly.

Do the advantages justify the price per m²?

Paintable non-woven wallpaper costs €14.99 to €18.99 per m² with us, including the wallpaper, sanding, hanging, filling and one coat of paint in RAL 9010 or 9016. The price depends on the total area: the more m², the lower the price per m². For a whole home, we allow 3 days, from the first strip to the coat of paint.

Prices exclude VAT. For renovation work on a home over 10 years old, VAT is usually 6%; otherwise it is 21%.

A few worked examples quickly show what it costs to have non-woven wallpaper hung in your home.

Whether non-woven wallpaper suits your walls depends mainly on the rows in the table above. The hanging is done by one of our 40 in-house wallpaper hangers, from a team of 97 permanent tradespeople. During the site visit we look at exactly those points: holes and joints, knock-prone spots and damp. If a row says “not straight away”, you hear that before the work starts, not after.

First you receive a free quote within 24 hours; once you agree, the site visit follows.

If non-woven wallpaper suits your walls, the next step is having non-woven wallpaper hung by our wallpaper hangers.