The difference between vinyl and non-woven wallpaper: consider in detail
Making repairs in the apartment another 15-20 years ago, the complexity of choosing wallpaper was limited only by the color and density of the paper from which they are made. Today everything is much more complicated, and wallpaper is no longer just a roll of paper with a pattern, but a whole work of art, and you should choose it with all scrupulousness.
In this article, we will talk about how non-woven wallpaper differs from vinyl, and why it is important to know about it when choosing them for your home.
The content of the article
Such different wallpapers
The first and most important difference between vinyl and non-woven wallpapers is, of course, the material from which they are made. In the first case, it is polyvinyl chloride, and in the second - tissue non-woven. As a result, each species has its own set of positive and negative qualities.
If you don’t want to dive into the question, you can trust an experienced master who is familiar with all types of wallpaper. It will help you choose the wallpaper that is suitable specifically for your room, calculate the required amount, as well as high quality glue.
In this article, we will not give advice on choosing or advertising some wallpapers, but just talk about how to distinguish non-woven wallpapers from vinyl, but first things first.
Vinyl
In fact, the name vinyl wallpaper is a common abbreviation, in fact, they are called vinyl wallpaper on a non-woven basis, that is, they have one base with their brother. They do it by chance, since pure plastic is very difficult to stick to the surface, while the fabric base is simply impregnated with glue and has high adhesion to all surfaces except metal ones.
Today, vinyl wallpapers are considered the most popular, and this is explained quite simply - such a coating can be used in any room, since it is not afraid of moisture or temperature extremes.
It is possible to describe all the characteristics of polyvinyl chloride for a long time, so we list the most significant advantages:
- Vinyl wallpapers are plastic and dense, so they can overlap the irregularities of the walls.
- They are absolutely not afraid of humidity, so they can be used in the bathroom, and if necessary, even washed with strong detergents.
- Vinyl does not fade in the sun and does not lose the beauty of the picture.
- A huge variety of colors, patterns and textures.
- Low price, which is lower than that of non-woven.
- Resistance to abrasion and mechanical stress.
Of course, you can not do without the minuses, which in vinyl wallpapers are mainly associated with the density of the material:
- The large weight of the wallpaper, which must be taken into account when choosing glue and gluing.
- Lack of vapor permeability. Vinyl is a dense material that not only does not let moisture in, but also does not let condensate out, which can lead to the formation of mold and mildew on the walls.
- Poor quality vinyl wallpapers may have a persistent plastic odor that will be very difficult to eliminate.
- Despite the use of non-combustible additives in the production, vinyl melts toxic fumes during melting, which are very harmful to health.
Advice! If the wallpaper is glued in a room with constant temperature fluctuations, porous models should be chosen that are equipped with micro-holes that prevent the formation of condensation under the surface.
As you can see, the ratio of negative and positive aspects is almost the same, the main thing is to remember them when choosing in a store, so as not to subsequently get a musty room with a strong plastic smell. Well, and since the topic of our article is how the non-woven wallpaper differs from vinyl, it is necessary to consider in detail the competitor.
Non-woven
As mentioned above, the main difference between non-woven wallpaper and vinyl is the top decorative layer, and if in the case of vinyl it turns out to be two-layer, then non-woven wallpaper is a uniform coating consisting of one hundred percent thick fabric.
Of course, such material is more environmentally friendly, but it also has a number of drawbacks that you have to put up with when choosing non-woven wallpaper:
- Less resistant to abrasion and mechanical stress than vinyl counterparts.
- They are afraid of water and moisture, such wallpaper can not be washed, and it is only possible to wipe with a slightly damp cloth.
- The choice of colors and patterns is not so diverse.
- May absorb odors.
- Cost more than vinyl.
From the above it turns out that such wallpapers can not be used in the bathroom or kitchen, but they are ideal for the living room or bedroom, especially since the appearance of the non-woven wallpaper is very presentable.
In addition to this, there are some more advantages of this material compared to vinyl:
- Full environmental friendliness and safety for health.
- Simplified wall gluing, which will be discussed below.
- They do not burn on their own, and when burning do not emit toxic fumes.
- Resistant to ultraviolet radiation.
It turns out that the main difference between non-woven and vinyl wallpapers is their resistance to moisture, while non-woven looks more respectable. Accordingly, this should be the starting point when choosing wallpapers for your home, and everything else is a matter of personal taste and preference.
Well, in order to put everything in its place, we give a small table that shows all the rooms in the house where it is possible or undesirable to use one or another type of wallpaper.
| Rooms in the house | Types of Wallpaper | |
| vinyl | non-woven | |
| bathroom | + | – |
| kitchen | + | – |
| hallway | + | undesirable |
| living room | + | + |
| children’s | undesirable | + |
| bedroom | undesirable | + |
Wallpapering
To the question of how vinyl wallpapers differ from non-woven ones, there is another answer - by the way of gluing on the wall. Despite the fact that both of these species have the same basis, they are glued in completely different ways.
Important! Each type of wallpaper has its own brand of glue, which you need to use, as this is not just an empty name. They have one glue base, but the speed and force of setting with the surface are different.
Having decided to make home repairs with your own hands and understanding the question of how to distinguish non-woven wallpaper from vinyl, you can come to the conclusion that their weight is very different. Accordingly, the method of sticking them to the wall is different, so the vinyl wallpaper needs to be spread on the floor and carefully smeared with glue, then wait five minutes and you can glue it. Each segment is glued back to back, and in no case overlap, as in this case, the seams will be visible.
With non-woven wallpaper, the situation is somewhat simpler, since in their case glue is applied to the surface of the wall and a segment of wallpaper is already glued to it. We will not dwell on the technology of gluing, so more detailed instructions are shown in the video in this article.
Some useful tips
So:
- To understand how to distinguish vinyl wallpapers from non-woven, just look at their edges, vinyl wallpapers will have a pronounced multilayer structure, while non-woven ones will be uniform.
- If there are a lot of children and pets in the house, then it is better to give preference to vinyl wallpaper, since they are more durable.
- Before gluing vinyl wallpapers, the surface must be treated with impregnations in several layers to prevent the formation of fungus and mold, in the case of non-woven one layer of soil will suffice.
- As mentioned above, non-woven fabric absorbs smells well, but if you take wallpaper for painting, then this problem will not be even when used in the kitchen.
Conclusion
We figured out the question of how vinyl wallpapers differ from non-woven ones, the whole variety of which is shown in the photo above, but which ones to choose is a matter of taste and financial capabilities. But it is worth noting that natural non-woven wallpaper, by definition, cannot cost the same as artificial vinyl, so if the manufacturer puts a low price on non-woven fabric, this is an occasion to think: is there some kind of catch?
