COOL WALL STICKERS

Vinyl lettering for cars- great marketing for your business

Just had to show off how good it can look to have vinyl lettering on your car.

This is a classy addition to this vehicle.  The team at Cool Art Vinyl don't normally do much vehicle installation but were more than happy to help out our accountant with adding some stylish lettering to her car!  And what a great car!

Lettering can be easy to self install- just clean the car first- dry it- then make sure you line up your lettering perfectly- then apply.  All our kits come with instructions so anyone can add lettering to their vehicle.

 

Will wall stickers damage my walls?

We get asked this question- will wall stickers damage our walls?- every day.  We have the answer written in our FAQ on the website, we post it in emails, it is clear in the instructions and still people ask.

So last month we sent out a survey to our customers to assess their level of understanding of wall stickers and will they damage walls.  In brief here are some of the key outcomes:

• Most customers believed that wall stickers would probably damage their walls
• 95% of customers said that damage to their walls was their key concern in purchasing wall stickers
• Of 100% of customer surveyed, only 1% had experienced any damage

You are not alone in your concerns about wall damage!

Which walls are the worst for wall stickers?

Our team has completed hundreds of installs so we can provide some guidance as to the types of walls that suffer under wall stickers.

The worst walls are office walls which are normally gyprock with a single layer of paint over the top.  If you look closely at these types of walls after they have been painted- you may see in certain places bubbles of air under the paint.  If you place a piece of masking tape over this bubble and pull it, the paint will peel off. 

What are the best walls for wall stickers?

In terms of paint damage, the best walls are painted plaster walls.  These are normally very solid surfaces and the paint rarely peels.  The problem is that these walls are the most difficult to apply wall stickers to because they tend to have a textured surface.

Cool Art Vinyl uses the highest quality ultra thin vinyl and this is the best vinyl for contouring to the surfaces of the textured surfaces.   Thicker- highly removable stickers will not stick to this surface.

Why do some companies say that their wall stickers WILL NOT damage walls?

No company can guarantee that.  Some companies use a highly removable vinyl- this is a temporary vinyl and will normally start to lift the edges etc after a few months.  It is quiet thick and the adhesive is not very strong.  These wall stickers will be easier to remove.  But if the paint is poor or has issues between the paint and wall, no matter how loose the adhesive is, there is a good chance paint may peel off.

How can I test if my wall is suitable?

The quickest, easiest test is to take a piece of masking tape and stick it to your wall.  Place a few pieces of masking tape on the area you are wanting to decorate.  Leave on for a few days.  You are testing two things.  one- if the masking tape falls off straight away then your paint surface may not be ideal for wall stickers- and two- if you peel off the masking tape and some of the paint comes away with it, then there is a possibility that the paint will come off when you remove the wall stickers.

How can I minimise damage to my walls?

When removing wall stickers, you need to heat the vinyl with a hair dryer.  This loosens the adhesive and softens the vinyl.  The vinyl will then stretch a little and you can peel it/ roll it off the wall minimising the stress between the vinyl and the wall.

If you feel that wall stickers are a risk, try a test piece first.  If you are still concerned then maybe buy a canvas or another decorating piece.

How to Remove Wall Stickers from Cool Art Vinyl

Removing wall stickers can vary a little depending on the surface.  Wall stickers adhere to textured surfaces differently to hard surfaces such as glass or metal, therefore removing can be more difficult on some areas.

Let’s look at some of the methods for removing.

Removing from walls
Painted walls are at the highest risk from damage when removing wall stickers.  This means you need to take some care and focus on avoiding this damage.  It is possible to remove wall stickers from even the worst walls.

The worst walls are those that had a suspect paint job to begin with.  These include paint that has multiple layers of paint and these layers have not been prepared between paint coats.  Or one that has air bubbles underneath the paint.  (When applying wall stickers or wall decals it is always best to test the surface at that time).

• Work slowly and do not rip, snatch or pull the wall sticker of the wall
• Using a hair dryer, heat the vinyl directly at the edge you are removing
• When the vinyl feels warm gently lift edge ( you might need to get a finger nail under)
• As you roll or pull the vinyl away from the wall, you need to heat the next section of vinyl directly in front of the piece you lifted.  Basically you are working gradually heating and lifting.
• If you can visually see or you can feel a bubble under the paint surface you need to take care lifting over this area.  If there is a second person, you can ask them to control the hair dryer while you use your second hand to press down on the bubble as you lift the vinyl off.
• Continue until all of the vinyl is removed.
• If there is any gum residue (not common on walls) then wipe the surface with a gentle citrus cleaner.

TOP TIP:   Pull or roll the vinyl back against itself like it is being folded back.  Do not pull the vinyl out from the wall at 90degrees as this will put more pressure on the paint.

Removing from glass and metal
When removing wall stickers from glass or metal, the issue is not related to surface damage.  It can be much harder to remove from these surfaces because the vinyl sticks so well to them.  If you have a paint scraper or metal edged scraper this will be useful, otherwise it will have to be your finger nails.

• Heat the vinyl directly in front of the area you are removing.
• Peel/pick at the edge and pull.  The vinyl is likely to tear as you do this, then you heat the next bit and remove. 
• Removing from these surfaces is more likely to leave a residue.  Deal with that at the end, first remove all the solid vinyl by heating and pulling.
• To clean the surface you will need an acetate or orange based cleaner that can lift the remaining glue.  There are lots of purpose built cleaners for this, or simply use nail polish remover.

TOP TIP: If you hold the vinyl closer to the surface it is less likely to tear.  For example, if you are pulling and as you pull, the piece of “free” vinyl is getting longer it is more likely to tear, simply move your hand back down closer to surface to reduce the chance of breakage.

By working patiently and not forcing the vinyl from the surface you will be able to remove the wall stickers and minimise damage to the surface.


To watch a video on removing wall stickers click here....