You should use sizing so you can move the border around easily during installation and remove it more easily when the time comes.

The sizing will dry clear, but don't put it where you don't need it. You do not need additional glue. Last time I sized, I used a white product that dried clear - very nice to avoid holidays.

Pete

Sizing is not necessary. Sizing is a term from a long time ago that does not apply because of the advances in materials now. Companies use the term sizing because it is unique to wallpaper and it's a term people know because they have heard it.

What you want to do is to let the paint cure for at least 30 days. A little bit longer than that is better. You don't absolutely have to....but it will make removal easier and clean-up while hanging MUCH easier.

Your pre-pasted border has cellulose powder paste on the back. Don't just dip it in water and go. You want to use a pre-pasted activator or better yet a thinned wallpaper paste. Thin the wallpaper paste down to water consistency. When its good and thin, dip a finger in it and test a small corner of the border (just a drop or two will do). This will tell you if the paste on the border will get slimy or very sticky when you paste it. You can adjust the mix accordingly until you get the right balance of tack to slip.

Because the border is pre-pasted and rolled up...there is powder paste on the face as well. Do one wall at a time and wash very very well. Change wash water often. You are washing the dried paste off the face of the paper. Failure to do this can cause the paste residue to attack the face of the paper. Keep towels handy and dry off the border face and painted wall immediately after washing. This will avoid shiny streaks where the water ran down (another reason why you want to let the paint cure for 30...the surface will not be porous and absorb the water / paste mix).

Cut your inside corners...don't wrap them.

If you're a perfectionist there's some other tips I can mention (like how to hide the start / stop point). No need to include them all here in case it's not that big a deal.

Hope this helps.

When I recommended sizing, I was not referring to putting diluted wheat paste adhesive on the walls...the modern products are really sealers. Homeprotex is referring to the original meaning of sizing, unless I am mistaken. But the new sealers are still called sizing.

Check out Zinsser Shieldz Clear Wall Size/Sealer, as an example. I have hung paper with and without "sizing". They make all the difference IMO.

The link below provides some more info.

Pete

Here is a link that might be useful: Explanation of sizing

Every single day people are in the store here grumbling about having to take paper off the walls...AND that it isn't going well...!!

We'll usually ask if they've tried a steamer, and/or if they know the walls were "sized".

Usually they've tried all the "traditional" means...therefore it means the wall had no PREP/SIZING for paper. Every paper store I've inquired at preaches putting on sizing/similiar-treatments like the Prepz or Shieldz.

I just wish more DIY-ers would listen!!

Faron

If papering an entire room...or even a wall...priming is absolutely required. I've never hung over an unprimed surface and have walked away from jobs because the customer simply refused the step.

This project is a simple border and priming is not needed. Here's why:
** jb stated the wall was primed in oil. There is your sealed surface for later.
** The border has cellulose paste that just needs activation and a small amount of extra tack. There is not a lot of surface tension with a 7 inch wide piece of paper...and we're not talking about removing clay or vov later on.
** Priming for border is much more of a huge pain than priming a whole room. You would have to draw a line where you think the border will end and paint to that line...wiping the drips as you go along.
The line may or may not be where the border will exactly fall. The paper will swell when wet and be 1/8 to 1/4 inch wider that it is dry.
If you adjust the border a little bit to follow ceiling imperfections...then the border can be above the line and you'll have a shiny spot to touch up.

Priming is a very important step in wallcoverings...but in this case you have to look at what's involved to do it versus the return. The payoff just isn't there and it's not needed.

@Faron...
If you haven't yet...look into a remover called Safe and Simple. It's made by another NGPP member in California and is simply amazing. There is no paste or situation where it has not worked. No steamer will ever be needed again. I haven't touched mine in 12 years. Your customers will love you...and love wallpaper again.

Here is a link that might be useful: safe and simple paper remover

Sizing is for plaster, but the term has been used generically for so long that people used it on drywall as well. Even if you use sizing on your drywall before papering, it's not going to come off easily. Read the instructions that come with your wallpaper...they all say to use a wallcovering primer when papering over drywall.

The OP mentioned painting to within an inch of the ceiling, which made me wonder what is up there at that last inch, also.

Pete

Sizing is for plaster, but the term has been used generically for so long that people used it on drywall as well. Even if you use sizing on your drywall before papering, it's not going to come off easily. Read the instructions that come with your wallpaper...they all say to use a wallcovering primer when papering over drywall.

paintguy is right on here

PRIMER, that's the key and it must be a WALLCOVERING primer not paint primer.

Tim Bodine's method for wallpaper prep is interesting. He's totally changed my mind about wallpaper. Anything that saves time and helps the stuff come off is a good thing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hang it with plans to strip it

Yeah FC, that Gardz is some "sweet stuff"!

OP...Yes. Gardz/size where the border will go.
IMO...2 weeks cure-time b4 sizing. New paint isn't fully cured for a MONTH however!

HP...Seems like an interesting product! I'm gonna study it closer!
We go through a lot of CHOMP stripper! We now sell twice as much of this stuff relative to the DIF's!!

Faron

Faron, I just ordered some Safe and Simple. I'm stripping this week - ya know wallpaper, my house. Plenty of food and beverages.

Umm, wait a minute. Let me put that another way. Ahemm...

OFFICIAL INVITE:

I am conducting an on-site demonstration of this wonderful new wallpaper stripping product, Safe and Simple Wallpaper Remover.

Please be my guest as everyone will have ample opportunity to try the product by actually stripping wallpaper! Lots of room for everyone. Please let me know if you prefer to "test the product" in the dining room, the loft, a bedroom, or the laundry room.

Must provide your own transportation. Lunch and an open bar await you.

(( snort :-) ))

I posted too quick...

GARDZ is drippy. Using Tim's method for a border is possible, but challenging. A little roller works better for me than a brush. None of the paper I have to strip is over GARDZ, btw. :-(

As I said a wallcovering primer needs to be used and Gardz is second on my list with Scotch Paint's Drawtite at the top.

jbnimble...
priming is not necessary and I've explained why in detail with information gained from being a professional paperhanger for more than 15 years.

If you do decide to prime because you feel the need...
please do not use Gardz. It's not what the product was made for and will be so difficult to apply for just a border that you'll never want to do anything with paper again.

Use a pigmented primer like Shieldz that has some body to it and won't run down the wall like water.

You have to prime to a line because that's where the border will stop. Gardz will run, you'll get drips, and you'll wind up painting the room over again....for a border installation.