Erfurt MAV - FAQ

The fire rating system in regard to wallpapers can be difficult to understand and obviously for absolute accuracy and certainty you should always consult an expert in the field such as a Specifier, Trade Body or Testing Body. What I am providing here is my personal overview of how to look at fire ratings and what they may mean for you.

Whilst the last thing I want to do is give a false sense of security or give the impression the fire rating of your wallpaper is not very important - it is worth bearing in mind that having properly maintained and positioned smoke detectors in your home is arguably far more important than the fire rating of your wallcovering because we all inevitably have lots of other combustible and smoke generating products in our home.

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The standard Wallrock Fibreliner will be fine for this application - it is fire rated B.

We wouldn’t recommend trying to bend the thermal liner round corners, this is because the product is  around 3 mm thick and very strong. Always cut the product into corners using a good quality sharp knife or sharp scissors; when making vertical cuts, mark the liner accurately with a decorators pencil and cut with a saw like motion, this will help you to maintain accurate straight cuts; alternatively, good quality sharp decorators scissors can be used to good effect and many people feel like they have more control and confidence, although it is very important to mark the liner correctly to avoid excessive cutting - it’s always better to cut away too little than too much.

Wallrock Thermal Liner ‘combats’ mould by alleviating the moist conditions which mould spores need to grow – namely condensation. How? By trapping warm room air at the wall surface and evening out any dramatic differences between the wall and air temperature. A good way to think of this is similar to how condensation forms on the outside of a glass of cool drink on a summer's day.

So if you are using this product to help combat mould, it is important to remember that damp and subsequent mould problems can also be caused by penetrating damp from outside or in ground floor rooms by rising damp. As a general rule, condensation problems such as mould often manifest themselves in the coldest parts of a room such as in corners and window reveals. So a mould problem in the middle of a wall would most likely be caused by penetrating damp. As such, damp that is only low down on ground floor walls (approx 1 meter or less) may well be rising damp.

Penetrating damp problems are best dealt with at source, by fixing the cause – similarly with rising damp too. Localised problems, however, can be dealt with by applying a damp barrier behind the thermal liner; these are available as specialist paints and in roll form i.e Anderton 3 in 1 Damp Foil.

However, you should always remember that these products only mask the underlying problem and stop the wall breathing - expert advice is always well worth sorting out if you have any doubt.