Soft panels for walls: installation instructions

2024 Author: Arianna Cook | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:23

Soft wall panels, their design, types, advantages and disadvantages, methods of self-production and fastening to the surface of the walls. The content of the article:

1. Soft panel construction
2. Main varieties
3. Advantages and disadvantages
4. Manufacturing technology

5. Installation methods

   • On glue
   • On the frame
   • On fasteners

Soft wall panels are a new finishing material that is gradually gaining popularity among designers and renovators. It is used to decorate the interiors of residential premises, sports clubs, expensive restaurants, beauty salons and even childcare facilities. It is quite possible to make soft walls yourself, using available materials, simple tools and the necessary knowledge.

Construction of soft panels for walls

Due to the volumetric structure, soft wall panels are often referred to as 3D panels. In the factory, they are produced according to a simple and well-functioning technology, in which it is difficult to make mistakes.

The panel structure looks like this:

• The first layer is the backing. It is made of polyvinyl chloride sheet 5-8 mm thick, has high strength and adhesion to adhesives of any kind. The material is produced in large factories, and panel manufacturers simply buy it.
• The second layer is filling. The raw material is liquid polyurethane foam, which is fed by special high-tech machines. It is produced by European firms that control the proper quality of the material. When frozen, the filling resembles a modernized version of conventional polyurethane foam.
• The third layer is decorative trim. For the coating, a vinyl material is used that has heat shrink properties. After laying on the panel, it is "baked". There is another way: the front part of the soft panel is covered with a millimeter layer of acrylic compound. In both cases, the finish has an interesting and attractive appearance.

The main varieties of soft panels

Panels can be made as individual tiles or from a whole sheet of material. Their shape is varied: rhombus, rectangle or square. The dimensions of the panels can be from 10x10 cm to 1, 5-2, 7 m.

Large panels are made using "Kapitone" - a carriage coupler. This method consists in deepening specially prepared buttons into the thickness of the material. The relief of the soft panel depends on their location. The carriage tie is made on leather, velvet, suede, velor and leatherette. Small panels are also produced in this way.

There are panels without screed. Such a product has a solid base made of hardboard or plywood, a padding polyester or foam rubber and a decorative outer layer. Thanks to the variety of sizes of these panels, you can create a unique pattern when installing them on the wall.

Soft panels differ in upholstery material and filling. Most often used for upholstery:

1. Leatherette … It is necessary to buy only durable and reliable material. The panel from it will turn out to be quite heavy, this should be taken into account during installation. You can limit yourself to small individual tiles.
2. Textile … The most optimal option for making soft panels for walls with your own hands. The material must be durable and durable. The fabric should not stretch, sag or fade. Such parameters may correspond to the material for furniture upholstery.
3. Leather … It is a very expensive material, therefore it is very rarely used in the self-production of panels.

The filler of the soft panel can be:

• Sintepon … It is suitable for headboard decor and full wall decoration. The weight of the padding polyester is small, so there are no problems with the deformation of the product. It is laid on the walls in strips and fixed with a stapler or nails.
• Foam rubber … It is used when thicker and softer wall coverings are required. Therefore, foam rubber panels can often be seen in gyms and children's rooms. With the help of this material, it is possible to form volumetric stable structures.

Advantages and disadvantages of soft panels

Thanks to their embossed patterns, soft wall panels are used in the design of interiors of various styles: high-tech, baroque, art deco and many others.

In addition, the products have other equally important advantages:

1. Excellent heat and sound insulation properties;
2. Attractive appearance, which gives the room sophistication and emphasizes the impeccable artistic taste of the owners;
3. The possibility of zoning a room or focusing on a certain part of its walls;
4. Simple installation, without requiring perfect preparation of the walls;
5. Simple maintenance of panels with coatings made of leather and its analogues.

Like any finishing material, soft panels also have their drawbacks:

• High cost: for 1 m² coverings need to pay 5-15 thousand rubles, individual orders that are carried out in art salons are always expensive.
• Suede or textile coverings of panels require careful maintenance and can lose their original appearance within 2-3 years, especially quickly from exposure to direct sunlight.

Manufacturing technology of soft wall panels

The high cost of soft panels does not allow everyone to purchase them or to make an individual order in the workshop. But using a set of simple tools, you can make such a decor yourself.

To work with the carriage coupler method, you will need plywood, facing material, buttons and a backing, a long ruler, a pencil, scissors and glue, a hacksaw, a drill and drills, a hook, a nylon cord and a stapler.

It is convenient to conduct the production process on the table and perform in the following sequence:

1. It is necessary to cut a piece of the desired size from a sheet of plywood. Sheet thickness - 3-5 mm, its choice depends on the size of the future panel. For the manufacture of a large model, five-millimeter plywood is suitable - it will be more convenient to fix it on the wall. For small panels, you can take blanks with a thickness of 3-4 mm.
2. Then, on the basis of the panel, mark the fastening of the buttons and drill the corresponding holes. In the manufacture of a large panel, additional holes for dowels are required to secure the product to the wall.
3. At the next stage of work, you need to cut the substrate, which can be used as foam rubber or synthetic winterizer, and then stick it on the plywood. The dimensions of the base and backing must be the same.
4. Next, you should cut the material for covering the panel. The best material is leather. Its cost is high, but the finished product will look rich. In addition to leather, you can use velvet, velor, upholstery fabric, etc. It is not recommended to choose fabric with stripes or with a large pattern. When working, the material may be skewed, and this will affect its pattern. The covering must be cut, leaving a 5-7 cm allowance, taking into account the thickness of the plywood, the backing and the fold on the back of the panel.
5. Now you need to thread a nylon cord into the button holder. As for the buttons, they must first be covered with material on their own or bought ready-made in a furniture showroom. Using a hook, pull the cord through the button from the back of the panel. The button must be recessed into the cover and backing.
6. The end of the cord must be secured to the base with several staples using a stapler. The rest of the buttons are fastened in a cruciform manner, with the last button out of five fixed in the center. This order of work avoids distortions of the outer coating of the panel.
7. After installing all the buttons, the edges of the material must be wrapped on plywood and fixed with staples.

A padded headboard wall panel can be made in a simpler way:

• As a basis, you can take thin plywood or fiberboard.
• After cutting it and cutting the cover, one edge of the fabric or leather must be fixed on the back of the base.
• Then the underlay should be laid.
• Stretching the outer cover evenly, its other edges must be fixed on the base with staples. The panel is ready.

Methods for mounting soft panels on walls

Factory-made or self-made products can be mounted on walls in various ways, which we will discuss below.

Fixing soft panels to the wall with glue

Before attaching soft wall panels to the wall with glue, you must choose the option for their location on the surface and make the appropriate markings using a building level and a pencil. In addition to them, for work you will need glue "liquid nails" or PVA, tape measure, hacksaw, foam sponge and tape. The wall should have a dry plastered and primed surface.

The work should be done in the following order:

1. Glue should be applied to the back of the soft panel. If it is PVA, then it is applied to the entire surface with a brush, liquid nails - in dots or in a zigzag along the edges of the base and in its center. The glue should not get on the front of the product, as this can damage it. If, nevertheless, this happened, the composition must immediately be carefully removed with a damp sponge.
2. After preparing the panel, it should be pressed against the wall according to the markings made. Pasting can be done from bottom to top or vice versa. If the surface is decorated up to the ceiling, it is better to start the installation of the panels from the top.
3. Side panels that do not fit can be cut with a hacksaw. To do this, unfasten the material from the edge of the product, cut off a part of the base, glue the place of sawing with tape and, wrapping the cover on the back of the panel, fix its edge with staples. Soft trimmed wall panels don't always look pretty. If they don't touch the corners, that's okay. The main thing is the equal distances from the extreme slabs to the opposite walls.
4. It is convenient to glue light panels with a smooth base using double-sided tape. It should be glued to the wall, remove the protective layer and press the panel tightly against the wall. Before that, you need to make sure that the product is located according to the markings.

Fastening the soft panel to the wall on the frame

The soft panel can be made and fixed to the wall using a frame. This is done like this:

• A frame with a honeycomb structure must be installed on the wall. Wooden slats can serve as material for it. Their fastening should be carried out using dowels, which are installed in the holes pre-prepared according to the marking. A hammer drill is used for drilling.
• Then the cells of the frame should be filled with foam rubber, which is easily glued to the wall with PVA composition.
• On top of the frame, you need to fix the sintepon with a stapler, and then fix the edge of the front cover of the future panel on the top rail.
• Stretching the material evenly, fix its edges on the side and bottom rails of the frame.
• The attachment points must be glued with decorative tape in order to disguise them.
• After that, you should cover the furniture nails with a cloth and nail them to the crate. In order to avoid damage to the material during this procedure, nails must be driven through padding made of synthetic winterizer.

Installing the soft panel on the walls on the fasteners

Large soft wall panels with a base thickness of three centimeters or more are attached using a hinged method.

Installation features:

1. Work should begin by drilling recesses in the plywood to be able to hang the product on the fasteners. Care must be taken in this process so as not to accidentally drill through the panel.
2. After that, it is necessary to measure the distances between the recesses and project them onto the wall, taking into account the height of the panel. The resulting attachment points should be marked on the wall with a pencil.
3. Then, at these points, you need to make holes with a puncher, hammer dowels into them and screw in the screws.
4. By combining the fasteners on the wall with the recesses in the base of the panel, you can hang the product. For the reliability of the drilling site, the base can be reinforced with metal plates.

In addition to the above methods of attaching soft panels, there are magnetic systems and self-adhesive bases. In the first case, the panels are equipped with magnets that have sufficient power to support the weight of the products. The number of magnets is determined depending on it. On the wall, metal strips are mounted on which such a panel is installed. One of the popular manufacturers of these models is LuxWall.

Self-adhesive panels require a smooth, clean and primed wall surface. During installation, the protective film is removed from the base of the panel, and the product itself is tightly pressed and fixed on the surface.

In everyday life, any models are quite unpretentious - you just need to remove dust in time. The only thing that can be dangerous for wall cladding with soft panels is contact with hard objects. An accidental blow from a corner of furniture can damage the panel. To restore it, you will need the help of a specialist. How to fix soft panels to walls - watch the video:

The possibility of creating soft volumetric decorative elements gives unlimited potential to interior design. At the same time, over time, such panels are becoming simpler, lighter, more diverse and cheaper. Good luck with your work!