Wallpaper paste

[2] Wallpaper pastes have a typical shear thinning viscosity and a high wet adhesive tack.

[citation needed] These properties are needed to slow down the penetration of the adhesive into the paper and wall, and give slow bonding speed which gives the wallpaper hanger time to line up the wallpaper correctly on the wall.

The adhesive is usually sold in pouches or boxes as flakes that are mixed with water to produce the paste.

The paper will thus expand before hanging rather than on the wall, which would cause vertical bubbles in each panel of wallpaper as the adhesive dried from the edges in.

[3] When using a type of wallpaper paper that does not expand, such as nonwoven or fiberglass wallpaper, the adhesive is applied to the wall instead.