How to hang lining paper: grade, soak time and joints in 2026

Grade is decided by the wall, direction is decided by what goes over it, and every number that matters is printed on the back of the roll. Butt the joints, do not leave a gap, soak every length for the same time, and give it 24 hours before anything goes over it.

Two of those numbers are contested by the guides that rank for this job, and neither is a matter of opinion. Six current manufacturer labels, covering every grade from 1000 to 2500, settle both of them.

What follows is the order the decisions come on the job: grade, roll size, preparation, direction, soak, joints, drying, and what goes over it.

Which grade of lining paper do you need?

The one the maker puts on the wall in front of you. Erfurt MAV’s professional lining paper range runs 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1700, 2000 and 2500, and it runs one way: the worse the wall, the higher the number.

Anaglypta’s grade descriptions tie each step to a wall condition rather than to a job type, which is the useful way round on site. Homebuilding’s lining paper grade guide sits in the same place and puts 1700 and 2000 on deep cracks, holes and rough surfaces. Trade guides commonly say 1400 is the default on a general job.

Sources: Anaglypta's grade descriptions, Erfurt MAV's professional lining paper range, and the label on an Anaglypta roll for the soak times. Accessed September 2026. The grade number is a trade grading scale in which a higher number means a thicker and heavier paper; no manufacturer source states what the number measures.

One row is short and stays short. There is no manufacturer page for the 800 grade and no printed label for it, so its soak time is left blank rather than borrowed from the grade above.

What size are the rolls?

Three lengths and two widths. A single roll is 10m, a double is 20m and a quad is 40m, and the width is either 0.53m or 0.56m depending on which SKU is on the shelf.

Sources: the label on the roll for the single and double sizes, and Erfurt MAV's professional lining paper range for the quad. Accessed September 2026.

The width is worth reading rather than assuming. Both are in ordinary trade supply, they look the same on a rack, and the coverage moves with them. Once the wide non-woven liners are counted, Anaglypta’s product range takes widths in supply from 0.53m up to 1.00m.

One number that does not belong on this job: 10.05m is the decorative wallpaper roll, not the liner.

What does the wall need before you line it?

Sound, clean and dry. That is step one on the label on the roll, and the instructions under it are specific.

Absorbent surfaces such as new plaster should be sized. Painted surfaces should be lightly sanded. Anaglypta’s technical FAQ gives the test that tells you which wall you are on. Flick water at the wall. If it runs down, no sizing is needed. If it soaks in, the wall is too absorbent and should be sized.

Size is the same paste, weaker. Bartoline’s data sheet puts a 5-roll sachet into 8 pints, 4.5 litres, of cold water for sizing, against 6 pints, 3.4 litres, for hanging, and says to size absorbent surfaces before use and allow to dry completely before papering. How long new plaster needs before any of that is not on a lining paper label: what new plaster does while it dries, and how much it drinks.

Lining paper is not a repair. Trade guides commonly say it is not used to hide an unsound wall, and that the cause of any damp or mould is dealt with first.

One line in the warning block is easy to read past. The label on the roll says surfaces painted prior to 1960 may contain lead pigments, and that special precautions should be taken when preparing them. What those precautions are on an older staircase is its own job.

Do you hang it horizontally or vertically?

The makers do not answer that question. They answer a different one: the label on the roll says lining paper should ideally be applied at 90 degrees to the final wallcovering where it is a base for decorative paper. That makes the answer an angle rather than a direction, and it binds only where paper is going over the top.

Mark Rigby of the Dulux Academy gives the reason in one line: cross-lining stops the seams of the lining paper and the wallpaper overlapping, which may create bumps or creases. Two seams in the same place is a ridge you can feel through the finish paper.

Where the wall is only ever going to be painted, nothing goes over the lining, so the rule has nothing to work against. Trade guides commonly say vertical is the usual choice in that case. The trade splits on it, and a decorator running it horizontally on a painted wall is not doing it wrong.

Orientation is a judgement rather than a law. A decorator may choose a different one to suit the room, the substrate or the wallcovering.

Does it matter which way round the paper goes?

Yes: the two faces are not the same, and every length has to go up the same way round. The label on the roll states that the paper has two different surfaces: the outer surface of the roll disguises brush and roller tracks, and the inner surface is smoother. It then asks that all lengths are pasted on the same side, and that is as far as it goes, because it does not say which of the two faces the wall gets. So whichever way the first length goes up, the rest follow it, and one length turned over on a painted wall reads as a defect in the paint.

How long does lining paper soak, and what paste?

Between 8 and 15 minutes depending on the grade, and the exact figure for the grade in your hand is in the table above.

Most of the guides that rank for this job give a shorter soak than any label does. Anaglypta’s technical FAQ puts the maker’s own range at 6 to 15 minutes across its papers, and every printed label sits inside that. No label consulted here agrees with them, so work to the roll.

The instruction under the time matters as much as the time. The label on the roll says to fold the lengths without creasing them and to soak every length for the same period of time until pliable. The same soak, not enough soak. A wall hung out of one batch with three different soak times has three different amounts of expansion in it, which is the next section’s problem.

On adhesive, the label on the roll asks for a good quality ready-mixed one, on the grounds of superior bond strength. The paste maker and the paper maker then single out the same place. Paste generously, particularly the edges, and do not overspread: that is Bartoline’s data sheet and the label on the roll saying it independently. Trade guides commonly say to run a seam roller over the edges of each length before moving on.

Do you leave a gap between the lengths?

No. Butt them, and the instruction is not ambiguous. It is identical on the 1000, 1200, 1400, 1700 and 2000 labels: butt join subsequent lengths and avoid overlapping. The 2500 label says it again in its own words, butt joint subsequent lengths and do not overlap.

This is the one point where the guides and the label say different things. Some of them tell you to leave a deliberate gap between lengths for expansion. That advice traces to a retailer page and a forum thread, and the same thread carries the opposite advice as well. The labels are the document written by the people who make the paper, and they do not hedge.

The gap is also the wrong tool for the problem it is meant to solve. Anaglypta’s technical FAQ states that lining paper can expand by as much as 10mm when soaked, against 3 to 6mm for most wallpapers, and that this expansion creates tension, especially at the seams. By the time the length goes up it has already done its expanding. From then on the adhesive has to hold the paper firmly in its expanded state while both the wall and the paste dry. A gap does not relieve that tension; it puts a line in the wall before the drying has started.

The rest of the hanging follows from it. Set the first length to a marked line, a plumb line for a vertical run and a spirit level for a horizontal one. Measure and cut lengths allowing extra for trimming at either end, and trade guides commonly say about 100mm extra to a length. Do not overlap at a corner either: leave the excess, fold it round and trim afterwards, so both walls sit flush. Smooth each length down with a brush, trim it, and take any adhesive off the face of the paper with a sponge and clean water.

A ceiling is the same joint rule with one condition on top. Trade guides commonly say lining a ceiling works only where the finish is already smooth, so a textured ceiling is dealt with before any paper goes near it. What happens to it afterwards is a job with its own rules.

Where gaps do open after drying, the trade fills them with a flexible filler and sands the seams. That is a repair, not the method.

How long does it dry before you decorate?

At least 24 hours, and dry completely is the instruction rather than the clock. The label on the roll says to allow it to dry completely before the final wallcovering or emulsion goes on, normally at least 24 hours, and the 2500 label carries the same line a step further down its list.

Cold rooms take longer. Homebuilding’s lining paper grade guide puts it at 48 hours where the room is cold.

Do not force it. Anaglypta’s technical FAQ says to let it dry naturally, so the heater and the fan stay out of the room. The same FAQ settles what you are waiting for: the emulsion waits on the paste and not on how the paper feels.

Before anything goes over it, trade guides commonly say to check that the seams are flat and secure, with no raised edges, bubbles or damage. That is the last look you get at the paper on its own.

Can you paint over lining paper?

Yes, and for ordinary emulsion there is nothing to do first. Anaglypta’s technical FAQ says that for standard applications using emulsion no primer is required and you paint straight onto the paper.

You paint it even where the lining is the finished wall covering. The label on the roll recommends painting it once dry to keep colour consistent, because shade varies between makings. Anaglypta’s technical FAQ puts the reason under that: the paper is made from natural pulp, so slight shade variation occurs between batches, and UV can yellow unpainted paper.

On the finish, Homebuilding’s lining paper grade guide says to use a low sheen or matt paint over lining paper to hide imperfections. Which of the two you reach for is a decision about how a sheen shows a defect.

One thing runs in your favour. Trade guides commonly say lining paper covers existing dark or bright paint, so fewer top coats are needed going light over dark.

Can you wallpaper over lining paper?

Yes, and at 90 degrees to the finish paper, which is the same angle rule as the orientation section above rather than a separate one.

What lining buys you on a papering job is even suction. Trade guides commonly say a lined wall gives the adhesive one consistent surface instead of a mixture of porous and non-porous patches, and that lining prevents the wallpaper shrinking and the gaps that follow.

The honest half of the answer is that the wall may not need it. Trade guides commonly say a sound, well-prepared wall may not require lining at all, particularly with some modern non-woven wallpapers. On premium and specialist papers, follow the wallcovering maker’s own hanging specification rather than assuming lining is required. That decision is made before the liner is bought, not after.

Why did it bubble, lift or open at the seams?

Three causes, and the maker names three. Anaglypta’s technical FAQ puts every one of these failures down to poor wall preparation, incorrect soaking times, or the wrong adhesive.

Source: Anaglypta's technical FAQ, accessed September 2026.