Wallpaper and Wallcoverings - Wallpaper border woes

Hi! My husband and I recently tried installing a self-adhesive wallpaper border. Here's what happened:
Even though the border was self-adhesive, we bought border adhesive to apply instead of just submersing the border in water. We applied the adhesive and started to put the border on the wall. We followed all the instructions, but it just would not adhere to the wall (it was slipping all over). So we decided to follow the instructions on the border itself and just submerse it in water, etc. This seemed to work and we were able to apply the border to the wall.

A few days later, we realized that it was starting to come away from the wall at the bottom of the border over about a 2 foot area. So, figuring that the combination of the self-adhesive and the border adhesive caused some problems, we removed the whole strip and applied a new one using just the instructions for the self-adhesive (submerse in water, book and wait a few mins, then apply).

It's been a few days, and it's starting to come away from the wall again. The area this time is much smaller, but I"m worried that eventually that entire strip will come down. Is there anything we can do to repair it?

One important note: on another wall, we applied the border using just the instructions on the border (the water method) and it seems to be staying up just fine. Help!

Thanks!

what was the condition of the wall? painted or new drywall? is this a kitchen where there might be a greasy buildup on the wall? did you prep the wall at all? cleaning or priming?

by self-adhesive, do you really mean pre-pasted? because there are self-adhesive borders that are like a sticker - you pull off a backing & slap it up. no paste or water.

We had just painted the wall about 2 - 3 weeks prior and it was in good condition. By self-adhesive I mean pre-pasted. :B

Thanks!

hmmm.......just so i can get an idea of your experiences and/or expectations, let me ask you this: have you ever successfully hung a border before? if yes, then when you say the border was "slipping all over", what do yo mean? that's normal for it to be able to slide around when the adhesive is still wet. didn't it cling to the wall at all?? did you use a smoother? did you allow the border to book at all?

so, when the border paste didn't work, did you immerse that same border into water? or a new strip? cuz if it was the old pasted-up border that you put in the water, you basically washed off ALL adhesive at that point.

Yeah, I figured that's what we did, which is why we took the whole thing down and started over a few days later with a new strip of border. :) For that one, we just followed the instructions that came with the border: we submursed it in water, booked and it let it sit booked for "several minutes" -- 4-5. Then we applied it to the wall, smoothing with one of those big flat brushes.

The first time (after we applied the border adhesive), we did not book it (the instructions didn't say to) and it wouldn't adhere to the wall; we couldn't get it in place, it would just slide around. That's when we submursed it in water...adn then ended up taking the whole thing down and starting over (see above)

This is the first border that we've hung, so it didn't surprise us that we'd make such a rookie mistake!

booking helps to relax the paper, so it should be done when you use either method (water or adhesive).

was it just sliding around (down?) because it's own weight was pulling it down? i've found that when putting up border, it's almost impossible to do it without someone else holding up the other side & slapping it up all at once, versus trying to start on one end & working your way down. it's strange that it wouldn't stick to the wall at all - even a plain piece of wet paper will cling to a wall just because it's wet. so it must've been the weight thing.... :confused:

so anyway - what to do now: if you think you can get down a whole section without damaging it, i'd take it down, paste the back, let it sit a couple minutes, and try it again. i don't think i'd just try to paste the loose areas since it sounds like they're probably not up very well anyway.

Did the new paint have a sheen, IE eggshell, satin, or semi-gloss?
Was the area primed with a pre-wallcovering primer.

The paint had a satin sheen and we didn't prime it with any prewallcovering primer.

It's been almost a week now, and still only one small portion is coming away from the wall...I keep having dreams that I walk in and the whole thing is on the floor!