Toile de Verre ceiling/wall covering..

[mmaddock]

Has anyone used this stuff before?  It's like rolls of fibreglass that you put on the ceiling/walls.  I laid my first strip on the ceiling, 5m long, and had to apply the special 'glue' 3 times before the damn stuff finally stuck!!  2nd and 3rd times I mixed it with 20% water to stop it drying out almost instantly!  At 10 euros a pot (and I used an entire pot for a 5m strip, and have another 20m to lay!) I'm not that impressed!  I reckon I could have used slightly watered down PVA with better effect, and unless anyone can advise me otherwise I think that is what I will try on the next strip.

Any advice much appreciated!

Cheers,

Matt

[Chancer]

Have you used a sous couche platre de platre?

If not it will swallow loads of adhesive and destroy the plasterboard if you try to remove it.

In fact the "special" glue you used probably just is watered down PVA, it is what I always use on commercial vynl wallcoverings unless they are being placed on a sealed gloss painted surface where they would take forever to dry in which case the "special" adhesive contains a fungicide to prevent mould during the drying period.

In my experience the only times the special adhesives attain the advertised coverage is over just such a substrate (under laboratory conditions) where they should not actually be used.

Try your PVA on the next strip but with much more water than you think the first time, you can always wait for it to dry or refresh prematurely dry areas with a plant sprayer like I do.

[mmaddock]

[quote user="J.R."]

Have you used a sous couche platre de platre?

If not it will swallow loads of adhesive and destroy the plasterboard if you try to remove it.

In fact the "special" glue you used probably just is watered down PVA, it is what I always use on commercial vynl wallcoverings unless they are being placed on a sealed gloss painted surface where they would take forever to dry in which case the "special" adhesive contains a fungicide to prevent mould during the drying period.

In my experience the only times the special adhesives attain the advertised coverage is over just such a substrate (under laboratory conditions) where they should not actually be used.

[/quote]

No, I didn't use a sous-couche.  To be honest it is only a way of rejuvanating the tired ceiling so I don't care about it ever coming off neatly - in reality I should be pulling the whole lot down, but I have a lot more essential things to do with my time right now than the nightmare job of pulling down an old slatted wood/plaster ceiling!!  The immobilier who sold us the house came round to see the place and he suggested this stuff rather than a new ceiling.  The tub said 12.5m2 coverage, I managed 5!  Glad I bought the small tub as a tester and I didn't waste my money on the huge 75m2 tub.  Will give PVA a go tomorrow evening - I've got bucket loads of that!  What sort of concentration would you suggest?

[quote user="J.R."]

Try your PVA on the next strip but with much more water than you think the first time, you can always wait for it to dry or refresh prematurely dry areas with a plant sprayer like I do.

[/quote]

LOL - I thought I was the only one who ran around with a plant sprayer full of PVA!!

[Charlotte3]

JR is right, you really need to use an undercoat to seal the old surface. If you don't want to go to the expense of buying a dedicated product, you could use any thinned oil based paint - any old thing will do, but remember if you use a strong colour it will be harder to cover later!

You could even try using a coat of thinned down PVA, if nothing else it would provide some slip.

He is quite right about the adhesive as well, it is just a form of PVA...in fact any (cloudy) decorating adhesive, glue etc. is actually a form of PVA.

A little tip for you....when hanging toile de verre, use a large size metal scraper and press very firmly, the stuff is virtually indestructable. I hope you have help, it's really difficult to do a ceiling singlehanded!

Well done JR,  and good luck M Maddock,

Aly

[Gluestick]

[quote user="Charlotte3"]

Well done JR,  and good luck M Maddock,

Aly

[/quote]

Oh wow! Go to the top of the class, JR! [:D]