Wallpaper record

[Handyman]

Today, I had to hang a length of wallpaper that was a 5m drop in one piece. Fortunately, there was no pattern match, as I dread to think how much it would have stretched by the time got to the bottom edge. What's the longest single drop any of you guys have done?

 

[Third_Eye]

Longest is 8.5 metres, though i had to use the full roll due to cutting and making sure where best to have design of the paper to be positioned on the wall. Also, on a cieling is 7 metres, hehe.

 

[Zampa]

About 8/9 metres with a 48 inches wide vinyl in a stair well..nitemare..needless to say I didnt do it on me own we hung it using a tower...luckily it was a post the wall job and wet the back of the paper..

Biggest ceiling was about 32 feet long...nearly a full roll of paper for each length!...and it was superglypta!...three of us pasted it at a time, I was on a tower with two blokes pushing it..(not recommended!) the weight of the paper was awful..by the time we got to the end I dodnt have any blood left in the top half of me body!..we took it in turns..but it was really hard going..about 14 lengths...luckily no lights to cut round

Most rolls.....30..vinylglypta...which was the forerunner of todays blown vinyls..massive coridoor..cut a load of lengths the day before...had the paste ready...the ceiling was low...so I didnt need a hop up..worked about 11 hours to get it done...

That was the last time the guvna put me on a 'per roll' rate!!!

And the last time I ever hung anthing like that in a day..

Today's average...about 8/10 in a straight room...cant see the point in rushing wallpaper...you only end up ballsing it up..

 

[confidentincompetent]

16' drop is my record so far 28' ceilings duh!! scaffold planks/stagings on workmates, steps and saw horses lol. that was when blown vinyl first appeared ( for me anyhow).
20 roll max in a day. thou they were 14' drops in a ballroom lol.

Nowadays go at a leisurely 8 rolls= 1.5 days. unless the room is empty.

 

[Third_Eye]

Yep, one room a day (i.e. 8 rolls), Though it can be a nightmare and i mean NIGHTMARE and even worse than the movie "American werewolf in London" kind of nightmare and what i mean is the window wall with turning corners into windows (above and sides), with 'cannot be moved curtain rail', with radiator, with curtain wood on wall, with skirting 1cm gap from bottom of radiator to skirting at the bottom, with both walls at each side not level, with an alternate match in flowers and to make it even worse an wallpaper that the client got at a bargain for £1..99 a roll..............A BLOODY NIGHTMARE INDEED.

 

[Zampa]

Does anyone ever get asked to price by the roll?..I do but avoid it, you can do a clear room with blown vinyl...8 rools and be done by1/2 o clock...or have a kitchen..and it takes all day to hang three rools!..

A customer asked me a little while ago for a price but insisted on having it per roll...there was three rolls..but it was a rotton paper, bad walls and loads of cuts..a hard days work...so I told her 40 quid a roll...she nearly fainted..so I said ok..120 for the day..and she said yes straight away!..

Some people!

Two rules I stick to...

Never price ANYTHING over the phone...

Never price per roll...cant see the point..unless you alter the price so it still rounds up to a days work..

 

[Handyman]

How can any wallpapering job be periced by the roll? And for that matter, what possible value or meaning can be given to any claim of so many rolls/day?

I can hang 10 rolls a day no problem - providing it's no-match paper and all straight drops of 7' 6". But the last job I did took me 4 days, and was 12 rolls, but with sizing first, then coping with window frames, corners, recesses, switches, stairs, picture rails, and different paper above and below the picture rail. There was no pattern match which made it a whole lot easier, but even so, there was no way a good job could have been done any quicker. And that assumes all the walls are prepared - right into the corners.

Anyone who asks for a quote per roll clearly has no idea about paperhanging and should be politely refused a quotation until the job has been viewed. On the basis of the job mentioned above, my quote per roll would have been £40 (minimum, in my view), which exactly matches what Zampa quoted.

 

[Zampa]

I normally find its people that are getting prices on a 'whim'...just as a guide so they know how much to bung the brother-in-law when he does it for them!

Ive had people ask me how how it would be to do an outside over the phone!..given that my psyhic powers aint what they used to be I always politey refuse...advising them that tradesmen who does quote over the phone should be veiwed with caution.

I tell them that, ok...spose they get a quote...three quotes...all over the phone..all the tradesmen will have quoted higher just to cover themselves..so they end up with three inflated quotes..they pick the cheapest...have the job done..and still pay over the top.do they honestly think the painter is going to say..." I charged to much to cover myself...heres 300 quid back"????!!!

Years ago I was asked for a daywork quote over the phone..I told the block 80 quid...he said.."ok but I only want a rough job done...how much will it be for that?"...I said er.."80 quid"...he then proceeded to try an haggle...he couldnt understand thay I still needed the same days money..rough job or good job..

He told me to poke it!

Point for people who are thinking of getting seomone in...when they give you the quote, if its in your budget dont say 'oh thats fine...that plus materials is it'...it might have included materials..and the tradesman my bang them on again if he's like that..or isnt fussed about the job.

Just ask..'does that included materials'?...

Ive been guilty of that..once..gave a bloke a price, 700 hundred quid..he said he was thinking of about 500 so HE would meet ME half way (how kind of him)..and call it 600...I didnt like the guy...and frankly if I had said it would have been 50p he would have said he was 'thinking' of 30p!!!.....
So he said.."ok thats 600 plus materials"...(which came to about 200 quid)

You can guess the rest!

 

[Third_Eye]

I personally find professional wallpapering an undervalued skill, due to public acceptance of hanging costs. Cos i have priced for jobs and got them but the customer not accept the wallcoving costs. So then they get someone else to hang paper !, which is the most important part of the job. For then the costomer ask me to fix the wallcovering once it has been done by the handyman, hehe. Though once paper is hung then that is the finished article and to fix it at that stage then u need to strip all off and re-do ! Madness.

 

[confidentincompetent]

I personally find professional wallpapering an undervalued skill, due to public acceptance of hanging costs. Cos i have priced for jobs and got them but the customer not accept the wallcoving costs. So then they get someone else to hang paper !, which is the most important part of the job. For then the costomer ask me to fix the wallcovering once it has been done by the handyman, hehe. Though once paper is hung then that is the finished article and to fix it at that stage then u need to strip all off and re-do ! Madness.

Phew ! cheeky gits lol. Worst is when they say they will strip the walls, actually had this scenario this week. young couple just got this place and they said we will strip the border and 1 room. I got there monday and they had'nt even got the border off properly. But it wont come off she cried!, I felt sorry for em and showed them the basics of SOaking, as they were triing to soak with a sponge I showed em how to saok with the side of a large brush blah blah and told her to make a cuppa. 1/2 hour later it was just falling off (lukily ). Apparently they had been messing about all weekend trying to get paper of by just dabbing with a damp sponge

 

[Zampa]

I'd rather do my own stripping...when the customer doesnt they end up leaving half of it on the wall...all the scabby bits, so you still end up going over it..

Ive had someone ask me to paper a stair well..but didnt want the landing and hallwall done as she had someone to do that, but couldnt do the long drops!!

It was a woman..local..does cheap papering jobs, does it by the hour and spends all day hanging about for rolls!..she leaves more paste on the front of the paper than the back!

 

[confidentincompetent]

I had that once steve. silly gits had started papering downstairs and expected me to drop a 15' length and match perfectly where they had finished I pointed this out to em and cheeky git got READERS DIGEST DIY BOOK and told me I was wrong. Actually that book did say do the small drops first lol On a Staircase which of course is fkn wrong!! I told them to write to r/digest. I don't know if they did cos they didn't get back to me

 

[Third_Eye]

Lol to you all, i i i well i artexed a cieling many moons ago and two weeks later i got a call saying "MY EMULSION IS FALLING OFF THE ARTEX YOU PUT ON YOU FCKN PRCK AND GET UP HERE PRONTO BEFORE I FCKN KICK YOUR HEAD IN RSHOLE ! ! !" So, i went to house (it was like a scene out of Godfather Film) and i asked if could see emulsion and guess what, it was one coat emulsion they used. I said did you read instructions before using the paint you choose to put on the artex i applied on your cieling. Though i still got escorted out of there house even though they were in the wrong, hehe.

 

[Growler]

A woman neighbour came to my house once and asked me could I get her a discount on some wallpaper at local decor shop. I reluctantly agreed, then she said > Can you bring it to my house at 8.00 am monday morning because the decorator is coming at 8.30. <

 

[Zampa]

A woman neighbour came to my house once and asked me could I get her a discount on some wallpaper at local decor shop. I reluctantly agreed, then she said > Can you bring it to my house at 8.00 am monday morning because the decorator is coming at 8.30. <

Third eye wrote:

"MY EMULSION IS FALLING OFF THE ARTEX YOU PUT ON YOU FCKN PRCK AND GET UP HERE PRONTO BEFORE I FCKN KICK YOUR HEAD IN RSHOLE ! ! !"

Sounds like my mrs!