It is important to remember the basics of film, adhesive, and liner, as well as how to accommodate common wall surface types. Photos courtesy General Formulations
By Jay Kroll
On a Monday morning, you receive a call from a key contact at one of your bigger clients. They tell you about a side project they would like you to work on, which involves printing and installing a wall mural for the guest bathroom in their home. They have a great idea for how the print will work with their design scheme and provide a description that gets you just as excited as they are. This is someone you have worked with for years, whose information on every graphic or print job you have done for their office is spot on. While they offer you information on the dimensions and artwork, you start doing some basic calculations. They send you the artwork and confirm it is going to be applied to smooth, painted drywall. The paint is dry, and the walls are ready. Perfect. You prepare the image and load up a roll of your go-to standard wall vinyl, then you print it, trim it, and get ready for the job.
You agree to come by on Wednesday morning, and you are greeted at the door of their home and ushered towards the guest room off the entry. Even in the foyer, the first thing you notice is the smell of paint. Conversationally, you comment and ask, “This looks really nice. How long ago did you finish the remodel?”
They respond, “We just finished everything up last weekend and we’re excited to get the finishing touches in here once the mural is up.”
You try to stifle a sharp exhale, because you know dry paint is not the same as cured paint. You can already picture the vinyl bubbling within hours of installation, as the paint is still outgassing. However, you smile and walk on, already trying to figure out how you can postpone the job to give the paint more time. Then comes the room reveal, where you see the walls have an odd, bumpy, stucco texture. It looks a bit smooth, but it is definitely not a flat, sheetrock finish. You have your doubts about whether the film you selected is the right material, and now you have to figure out how to tell your client without adding tension to the situation—especially since you already have a printed and cut mural, representing a few hundred dollars in material and labour. How do you move forward?
Ultimately, the print service provider (PSP) community has some of the most tenacious, gifted problem solvers, who need to understand and juggle everything from colour management to carpentry, electrical engineering, and International Color Consortium (ICC) profiles, as well as have an expertise in all types of materials and substrates. Sometimes it is easy to rest on your experience or take someone else’s assessment or measurements at face value. However, for every graphic installation to be successful, it is important to remember the basics of film, adhesive, and liner, as well as the common wall surface types and how best to accommodate them.
