PAPER HANGING.
To Remove Wall pre pare a wall for fresh treatment, whether by painting, calcimining, or hanging fresh paper, first remove any paper that may be on the walls. Never lay one paper over another. The germ of disease, eggs of ver min, and other obnoxious matter are not to be gotten rid of by this. proc ess. Wet the walls with boiling wa ter applied with a whitewash brush, and remove the paper with a hand scraper or a large case knife or wide-bladed putty knife. Do not al low the scrapings to harden on the floor, as when dry they are very dif ficult to remove. After the paper is off, wash down the walls with pure water or strong soda water or vine gar and water applied with a large sponge or brush. Let them dry thor oughly before treating.
To Repair Plaster. — To repair cracks formed in plaster by the set tling of new houses, the sagging of old houses, the decay of ceilings and floor timbers, and accidental breaks in the plaster, first cut away the edges of the cracks or breaks with a sharp knife. Make the edge straight or slightly slanting in. Then fill with plaster of Paris mixed with water, to which may be added vine gar, flour paste, or sand.
Or fill with paper pulp moistened with glue.
To mend small breaks, mix plaster of Paris with cold water and apply quickly with a case knife, smoothing the plaster as you apply it. Mix a small quantity at a time and work quickly, as the plaster hardens very fast.
Or to prevent plaster of Paris from hardening quickly, when repair ing larger breaks that take more material and more time, mix 1 table spoonful of plaster of Paris with 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of fine sand and dilute with vinegar. The more vine gar used, the slower the plaster will set.
Or mix plaster of Paris with an equal quantity of cold flour paste.
Or to mend large cracks and breaks, soak bits of wall paper to a pulp with water, squeeze out the water, and mix to a stiff paste or jell with thin size or glue made by dissolving 1 ounce of good glue in 1 pint of hot water over a slow fire. Pour the
whole on cheese cloth to remove the excess of water. Press the paper pulp into the cracks and holes in the plaster with a putty knife. But do not quite fill the crack to the surface of the plaster, as the pulp does not admit of a smooth surface. When nearly dry, smooth the surface with plaster of Paris and let dry before tinting or repapering. The paper pulp when hard is as strong as wood, and cracks filled in this manner will never reopen.
Size for Paper Hanging.—To pre pare walls for paper hanging, first remove old paper, mend cracks and breaks, and wash down the walls with a cloth or sponge wet in warm water. Then apply with a whitewash brush a solution of 4 ounces of com mon glue dissolved in 1 gallon of boiling water over a slow fire. Or apply a good shellac size.
Paste for Paper Hanging. — See " Adhesives " elsewhere in this vol ume.
To Hang Wall Paper.—First trim close to the pattern the plain strip on one edge of the paper, but not the other. Next measure the height of the room by holding an end of the paper up to the ceiling and marking along the baseboard with any blunt instru ment. Cut along this mark and use the first strip as a pattern. Cut a sufficient number of additional strips for the plain walls, making allowances for doors and windows. Lay the strips face down on a large table, or make a suitable bench by laying old boards across a couple of chair backs or bar rels. Apply the paste with a white wash brush. If the paper is heavy, let it lie after pasting until it is slight ly soaked with the paste, or until the surface is sticky rather than wet. Commence at a door or window and place the close-cut edge against the frame. First press the upper end against the ceiling and press down ward with a clean cloth. Place the next strip so that the close-cut edge will overlie the half-inch strip left upon the first strip, and so proceed until the room is finished.