Grasscloth wallcovering: seams, shading, spots and care

Why do grasscloth seams always show a little?

Grasscloth is woven from natural fibers such as sea grass, jute, sisal, arrowroot or raffia, laid across a cotton warp and laminated to a paper backing. Every strand is different, and the weave changes slightly along each roll. Where two strips meet, the fibers on one edge rarely line up perfectly with the next, and there is no repeating pattern to hide the joint. A visible seam is part of the material, not a hanging defect.

What a good installation controls is how much the seams draw the eye. Strips are cut straight with a fresh blade every few cuts, butted tight without overlapping, and rolled lightly so the fibers are not crushed. Paste stays off the face. Planning the layout so seams land away from the middle of a focal wall, and so narrow slivers do not appear at corners, makes the room read as a field of texture rather than a series of panels.

What causes shading between grasscloth panels, and can it be reduced?

Shading, sometimes called paneling, is the color or tone shift from one strip to the next. Natural fibers absorb dye unevenly, and a single roll may be lighter at one end and darker at the other. Hang two strips side by side and the light end of one may sit against the dark end of the next, which looks like stripes across the wall. It is most visible on light, solid colors and under raking window light, like the low winter sun that comes through the bay windows of many Wollaston and Merrymount houses.

Several steps help. Buy enough rolls for the whole room from one production run, and inspect them before hanging. Number strips in the order they come off the roll and hang them in sequence. Follow the maker's instruction on reversing alternate strips, which many grasscloth lines call for. Put the most even strips on the wall you see first, and use the more variable ones above doors, behind furniture or in closets.

• Order every roll from the same run, plus extra
• Unroll and compare before cutting any strips
• Hang strips in order and reverse them if the maker says to
• Save the best strips for the focal wall

How should plaster or drywall be prepped before grasscloth goes up?

Grasscloth is thin enough that the wall beneath shapes how it looks, and the paper backing does not bridge cracks. On the horsehair plaster common in older Quincy and Milton houses, we repair cracks, secure loose plaster, skim coat rough areas and sand smooth. Newer drywall in a Braintree or Canton Colonial usually needs only patching and a light sand. Then the wall gets a wallcovering primer, which gives the paste a consistent surface and makes a future removal much easier. Dark grasscloth may need a tinted primer close to its color, so any hairline at a seam does not show a bright line.

The paste also matters. Most grasscloth calls for a clear, strippable clay or clear premixed adhesive applied to the back in an even, thin layer and booked for a short time. Too much paste or a long booking time can soak through the backing and stain the fibers from behind, which is the most common cause of dark blotches on new installations.

Why does water spot grasscloth, and what happens if it gets wet?

The natural fibers in grasscloth are like a dry sponge. A splash of water, a damp sponge used to wipe off paste, or a drip from a window frame wicks into the fibers, carries dye and dirt to the edges of the wet area, and dries as a ring or tide mark. Once that happens, it is permanent. There is no reliable way to lift a water stain from grasscloth, and the usual fix is replacing the affected strip.

That is why we keep paste off the face during hanging and wipe only with a clean, barely damp cloth at the edges when the maker allows it. After installation, avoid placing plants, humidifiers or wet umbrellas against the wall. In older houses, watch the walls under windows where condensation runs down in a Massachusetts winter, and the upper walls of rooms that have had ice dam leaks, since a slow drip can mark a strip over time.

How do you clean grasscloth without damaging it?

Dry methods only. Dust settles in the texture, so vacuum the wall every few months with a soft brush attachment on low suction, working from top to bottom. A clean, dry, soft paintbrush lifts dust from deeper weaves. For small marks, a dry sponge made for soot, sometimes sold as a chemical sponge, can lift light smudges if you press gently and do not rub.

Keep sprays, wet wipes and cleaners away from the wall, including products labeled safe for wallpaper. If a spot will not come out dry, leave it and call for advice rather than scrubbing, since scrubbing breaks fibers and spreads stains. Keeping a spare roll from the original order makes a strip replacement possible years later with material from the same run.

Where should you never hang grasscloth in a house?

Grasscloth is beautiful in dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, home offices and hallways, where the walls stay dry and are rarely touched. It is the wrong choice anywhere water, steam, grease or hands are common. Hang a vinyl grasscloth look-alike or a scrubbable wallcovering in those spaces instead, and save real natural fiber for the quiet rooms.

Rooms in older two-families and shingle cottages near Quincy Bay deserve a check too. If an exterior wall stays cold and damp, or condensation forms on it in winter, solve that first. Planning a grasscloth room in Quincy, Norfolk County or MetroWest? Call (617) 576-8235. The phone is answered 24/7, and we schedule a walk-through of the walls before any rolls are ordered.

• Full bathrooms and powder rooms with sinks
• Kitchens, especially near the range and sink
• Mudrooms and entry walls hit by wet coats, boots and bags
• Children's rooms and stair walls touched by hands
• Walls next to pets' beds or food bowls