Wallcoverings with washable surfaces, pre-trimmed, and finally prepasted made wallpaper, as well as vinyl and fabric, a popular decorative option. During the 1950s and 1960s, there were greater advances in wallpaper design and production than during any previous period. Advances in printing machine technology and plastic coatings made the products more durable and easier to maintain. Wallcovering anatomy has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous five centuries. Pulp papers also may have a thin acrylic coating.
Laminates are usually a two-layer construction.
Depending on the generation of the wallcovering installer, we have certain preferences about what are the best wallcoverings. For installers in their late 50s and 60s, there is no finer wallcovering than plain unpasted pulp papers. Using a wheat or a fortified wheat paste, these papers relax uniformly, are tacky, dry quickly, and do not shrink. The veterans of our trade wax nostalgically about the good old days when paper was paper and every job was a piece of cake. The mere thought of Naugahyde and heavyweight vinyls remind them of nightmare installations.