Wallpaper Symbol List

The following symbols can be found in your wallpaper pattern book or on product labels on your rolls of wallpaper. Use this guide to help you identify the various characteristics of the rolls to ensure the best possible results.

Spongeable: Either printed with water-fast colours or thinly coated with PVA. Paste on the surface can be safely removed by gentle use of a damp sponge.

Washable: As spongeable but with more protection. Will withstand more wiping after light soiling.

Super Washable: As spongeable but well protected with PVA. Suitable for wet areas such as bathrooms and kitchens.

Scrubbable: Normally only applies to vinyl wallcoverings used in areas with heavy wear.

Good Light Fastness: This means that the wallcovering should retain its original colour for a considerable amount of time, but can't be guaranteed on any permanent basis.

Moderate Light Fastness: Beware!! This product may well fade or discolour in areas of direct sunlight.

Adhesive to Wallcovering: This needs to be pasted as this is not a ready pasted or paste-the-wall product.

Ready Pasted: To be hung by immersion in clean water according to instructions.

Paste the Wall: Applicable only to Novamura, some textiles and some wide-width wallcovering. Always check the type of adhesive and the method of application.

Strippable: Should peel cleanly from the wall in a dry state.

Wet Removable: This will not dry-peel.

Overlap & Double Cut: Where edges cannot (or should not) be butt-jointed in the usual way, they are lapped and the two thicknesses sliced through, usually with straight edge and knife. The subsequent two strips of waste are pulled away leaving two edges to stuck down as a perfect butt joint. Often applies to contract materials and thicker wallcoverings.

Peelable: The top skin of the decoration should peel cleanly away, leaving the backing (if still secure) ready for further decoration.

Offset Match: This is sometimes called a Half Drop - the match is obtained by halving the repeat.

Straight Match: The pattern matches straight across the width.

Free Match: No matching required; lengths can be cut straight from the roll without wastage.

Design Repeat Distance Offset: The circumstance of the printed rollers, half of which represents the wallcovering drop (where applicable). This is very important information for calculating the number of lengths available from a roll and this will give the total quantity you will need.

Direction of Hanging: This can be found (but rarely), on the shelvedge of wallcoverings that have been untrimmed or it may be on the reverse of some products. In other respects, on a label it will mean Don't reverse the lengths.

Reverse Alterative Layout: Mostly applicable to plain effects and necessary to minimise the risk of side to side shading.

Co-ordinated Fabric Available: This does not necessarily mean a matching fabric and even when your design is the same, your colours may often vary because of some different techniques in printing.