Non-soggy wallpapering outdoors in a soggy climate?

September 8, 2008 4:53 AM

I'm looking to make outdoor wallpaper for a temporary-but-not-super-short-term installation. Anything from flypostering advice to more pricey suggestions would be very much appreciated, adhesive to printing to paper. Oh yeah, and it's for Ireland in the autumn/winter.

We're working on making an outdoor installation, to last as close as possible to 6 weeks - it needn't be pristine at all but the print should not run, and it does need to be somehow removable, and we can't do it repeatedly as we won't be on site.

The surfaces will vary, but assume brick/render/concrete/stone...in Ireland, midlands, in November. The surfaces will be in an archway open to the elements on both sides, and it will be raining and the rain isn't considerate enough to just come vertically.

A1 or A0 sheets or a roll would be good. It's a big area so tiny sheets would be incredibly frustrating.

With flypostering, what kind of printing, paper and adhesive makes for the best results? What lasts, what doesn't work?

How are posters removed, and is there a way to do it without damaging the surface?

Is there a commercial method that would work well for this? We definitely don't have a limitless budget but it's not exactly running off photocopier scams either, so it would be good to know of options.


Any and all advice would be great, and I can clarify anything I've left out.

posted by carbide to grab bag (2 comments total)

Actually flypostering I've never known anyone use anything other than wallpaper paste. It works ok , but fly posters aren't necessarily meant to last. They normally do ok in the rain, but not if it's raining when you put them up. The big limit is surface, the flatter and cleaner the better -- neither of which really describes brick/render/concrete/stone so I suspect this might be an obstacle. Since the surfaces are going to be obscured is there anyway you could get a carpenter to cover them in plywood and then attach wallpaper over this?

These people might be useful,they produce custom, light fast, water proof wallpaper they claim is suitable for outdoor use.
posted by tallus at 7:55 AM on September 8, 2008

cheers, tallus! this is one of those stupidly-specific questions i could have phrased better...

for posterity: right now, we're going to test flypostering a few versions on boards and leaving them on the office balcony for a week or so to see if that'll work.

one other interesting thing we came across is solvent-based inkjet ink - large-format plotters are generally inkjet and are totally non-waterproof - and also that test rolls of wallpaper can be made using this, on wallpaper, seemingly by sign-making companies.

both of these are cheaper than digital wallpaper manufacturing, anyway.
posted by carbide at 3:03 PM on September 10, 2008