Guide

Think of grade as insurance proportional to the delicacy of the finish. A painted, lightly cracked wall taking a standard vinyl or printed paper is well served by a mid-weight liner. The moment the finish is a thin, unforgiving material, step the grade up.

Silk, natural grasscloth, mica, and metallic foils are the least forgiving surfaces in the trade because they reflect light and show any bump beneath. Under those, the heaviest grades earn their cost by flattening the ground completely, so the material shows its own texture rather than the wall's.

New drywall is smooth but porous and its joint compound absorbs differently than the paper facing; a liner or at least a good primer evens that out. Old plaster is the strongest candidate for lining because of cracking and variable suction. Freshly skim-coated walls should cure before anything goes on.

Glossy or previously enameled paint is the trap. Liner will not bond to a slick surface, so scuff-sand and prime with a bonding primer first. Skipping that step is the most common reason a liner lets go weeks later.

Order of operations protects the whole install. Prep and prime, hang the liner horizontally, then wait. Rushing the top layer onto a damp liner is how both layers end up bubbling, because two wet paste films cannot release moisture through each other fast enough.

When the liner is bone dry and its seams are tight and flat, size it lightly if the finish material calls for it, then hang the finish vertically with staggered seams. The payoff is a surface that behaves predictably and a finished wall with no telegraphed cracks or shadow lines.