Mounting your photomural from Panoramic Photomurals Inc.
Caution use extreme care when handling or removing your murals from the tube and handling them so as not to crease or damage them. And use extreme caution when working with scissors or knifes if trimming an image. Murals are shipped with a white rough border around each image for protection in shipping and handling, unless you specifically request it pretrimmed. This border is best left on if you are using some trim around the mural when it is mounted. For all murals with an adhesive backing on the photo follow the trimming and joints instructions below and peel and stick!
If you have not ordered your image with an adhesive backing then it is easiest to mount with double sided tape. Note that all wall surfaces must be clean of grease, dust and dirt and have a good smooth paint surface to stick. Some flat or high gloss or rough surfaces may not hold tape that well. Use a test section of wall first. If you have any difficulty getting an image to stick you will have to use a better quality tape before mounting the mural. Carpet tape is available from your hardware store in different glue strengths. We do not recommend the use of white glue or wall paper paste unless you have ordered your image on vinyl photo paper. Tape can peel off the wall taking the paint with it if the wall has not been painted with a good quality undercoat or painted correctly. Also when you wish to remove the mural some paint will come off when dismounting, so expect some filler or repainting when you remove the mural.
For individual photos, use a good quality double sided tape; run a strip along the top of the wall where images are to be mounted. Run a second strip of tape with the bottom 8.5 inches from the top of the area you will be mounting on. Note few rooms will have a perfectly straight wall where it meets the roofline. You may wish to mount your mural lower on the wall surface. Now take your individual photos that you have printed or those we have printed and arrange them in the order you wish mounting each image one at a time and lining up the next to fit perfectly butting up to each photo. Use care not to touch the paper to the tape till the location is correct. Note if you have any humidity in your room the paper can stretch or bubble. It is best to leave the photos laying out on a flat surface in the room for a couple of days to stretch to the humidity in the room.
For passenger train murals, leave the images separated and hanging over the back of a chair print side up for a couple of days to allow the mural to adjust and stretch to the humidity in your home. It is easiest to mount a strip of double sided tape to the back of each image, all around then mount to the wall surface one at a time butting each image up to the next. Be aware that few rooms are straight at the top of the wall where the roof meets. You may have to trim the next image slightly at the edge to get the images to line up. Do not overlap but butt up each edge, leave the protective tape covering on each mural you are trying to line up till you have trimmed to fit. A small trim section is included to insure you have enough image to fill a wall, cut and fit this piece if you need it at the end of your wall.
For all other photomurals, leave the images separated and hanging over a table print side up for a couple of days to allow the mural to adjust and stretch to the humidity in your home. It is easiest to mount a strip of double sided tape to the back of each image, all around then mount to the wall surface one at a time butting each image up to the next. For images of 3 foot in height you may wish to add a strip of tape to the middle as well.
If mounting as a wall paper border Be aware that few rooms are straight at the top of the wall where the roof meets. You may have to trim the next image slightly at the edge to get the images to line up or you may chose to overlap each edge, just make sure that you mount the murals in a direction starting from one side of your room so that the overlap edges will not be visible for the main room viewing angle. If you look directly at an edge of an overlapped image you will see the white paper edge. If it is overlapped in the correct direction from your viewing angle you will not see the edge at all.
If you wish and you are very very careful and skillful you can trim the prints to match up perfect with no overlap joint. Lay the images out on a smooth flat surface that you can cut into. A sheet of wood that is smooth would be good. line up images with care so that they are overlapped and make sure they are straight from one image to the next. Then take a sharp knife and clean straight edge that will not mark or damage the mural surface. Do not press to hard on the straight edge or it can damage the mural surface. Now run your knife along the edge of the straightedge cutting through both murals so when you are finished you have a clean butt joint. Do it right the first time you only get one cut!
For corners it will look best if you wrap the image around the corner and not push it tight into the corner. This will give you a nice smooth rounded edge to your mural. Just be very careful not to touch the image to the wall until you have it lined up correctly. Also note that corners of the walls are seldom straight as the underlying drywall mud is built up in corners to fill the joints.
You may wish to mount your image as a wall mural (rather then a wallpaper border at the top of the wall) If mounting as a wall mural centered on your wall then be sure to leave the white trim border on the print. Then you can use a wood trim or thin wall border or finishing trim tape from a paint store to create a border around your image.
Protection for your mural or border. Under normal mounting and room use there is no need for a protective coating. However if you have much dust in the room or will have spot lights or smoke or grease vapors from cooking, or the image is somewhere that it might be touched frequently then you may wish to add a protective coating before mounting the image. You can obtain inkjet photopaper spray protection coat from your photo or computer store. Test a small section before spraying the image. Follow all directions and precautions on the can. Use only in well ventilated area and do not allow dust to touch the image while it is drying. Use multiple light coats of spray, sprayed in different directions rather then a heavy layer. Insure image is dry before mounting and after spraying do not bend or roll the image as depending on the spray used, the surface protection coat can crack if bent.
Cleaning, is not required for your image on a wall surface it should be fine. If it gets covered in dust use a dry soft not rough cloth to give it a very light wiping. If something spills or marks the surface try and clean it right away. On the mural papers you can take a light damp not wet cloth and carefully and lightly wipe off the surface. It should dry without a mark. If to damp or scrubbing to hard you may damage the image surface.