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Best media for wall graphics

F

fine point

New Member
We have many clients requesting PhotoTex these days, but we are not too crazy about it. It's OK but it's very thin and telegraph bumps and nooks too much IMO. And the adhesive is very weak. (It's removable, so fair enough...)

We started using Neenah Stick-R last year and really like it but the color gets kinda muted. We like the thickness though. Nice and hefty.

Do you have favorite wall graphic media? I want to find something with good adhesive strength and matte / luster finish.

People always want 3M cotroltac but I feel it's overkill. But I guess they do have good adhesive.
 
E

ewded

.
Why not try Oracal 3164 +Oraguard 200 combo? 100% scratch resistance + 3 options for glossy, semi glossy and matte finish. I bet it'd hold up really well in bathrooms too.
 
C

CL Visual

New Member
If clients are requesting Phototex, you need to try FabriTac by Ultraflexx. I just started using it and installers love it. The adhesive is a little more aggressive which is nice because I always felt like phototex was gonna fall off the wall. Also, material seems a little thicker or more rigid. I see you're from Brooklyn. You can get it from Tubelite or N Glantz.
 
F

fine point

New Member
ewded said:
Why not try Oracal 3164 +Oraguard 200 combo? 100% scratch resistance + 3 options for glossy, semi glossy and matte finish. I bet it'd hold up really well in bathrooms too.
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Thanks!
I was thinking about going to the route too. A lot of my clients want something like "wall paper" and I keep telling them that they can't have cake and eat it too.
 
S

ShawnFogle

New Member
I used PhotoTex OPAS, Mactac Rebel and CanvasTac. CanvasTac is unique in that it hides the wall imperfections behind. The biggest problem we have with it on large projects is trying to remove the liner. Sounds crazy but sometimes removing the liner causes it to shred. They sell it as removable too but it leaves glue behind when peeling it off. It is not supposed to but that has been a problem lately.
 
F

fine point

New Member
I have never heard of CanvasTac. It sounds pretty good.

Funny you mentioned the liner shredding. We like Neenah Stick-R but it does exact the same thing. The liner gets ripped and the installers have to get behind it trying to remove the small pieces of it.

I don't care much about the adhesive residues. It's more important for them to stay up and removal is not much of our concern (since we usually don't have to deal with it!).

Thanks all!
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
fullpoint said:
I have never heard of CanvasTac. It sounds pretty good.

Funny you mentioned the liner shredding. We like Neenah Stick-R but it does exact the same thing. The liner gets ripped and the installers have to get behind it trying to remove the small pieces of it.

I don't care much about the adhesive residues. It's more important for them to stay up and removal is not much of our concern (since we usually don't have to deal with it!).

Thanks all!
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I am a big Canvastac dealer if you are interested in it, it comes in 15mil and 17mil and available in multiple colors, pretty cool stuff!
 
C

chromira

New Member
fullpoint said:
We have many clients requesting PhotoTex these days, but we are not too crazy about it. It's OK but it's very thin and telegraph bumps and nooks too much IMO. And the adhesive is very weak. (It's removable, so fair enough...)

We started using Neenah Stick-R last year and really like it but the color gets kinda muted. We like the thickness though. Nice and hefty.

Do you have favorite wall graphic media? I want to find something with good adhesive strength and matte / luster finish.

People always want 3M cotroltac but I feel it's overkill. But I guess they do have good adhesive.
Click to expand...
We use PhotoTex a lot. Many of the customers love it but we have seen some manufacturing defects that show up in dark full color areas. Sometimes the color is muted as well. We now also use Solvent Print-N-Stick from Lexjet. It looks like a wall paper and has vibrant color.
 
flyplainsdrifta

flyplainsdrifta

New Member
CL Visual said:
If clients are requesting Phototex, you need to try FabriTac by Ultraflexx. I just started using it and installers love it. The adhesive is a little more aggressive which is nice because I always felt like phototex was gonna fall off the wall. Also, material seems a little thicker or more rigid. I see you're from Brooklyn. You can get it from Tubelite or N Glantz.
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+1 for this. love it. durability is quite amazing.
 
M

mbasch

New Member
We ran into the same issues. For peel and stick our go to is Avery 2611. It is a real solid product and 6 mil so it is easy to put down.
 
Lea Marc

Lea Marc

New Member
Yes the Avery 2600 Wall Film series has textures like wallpaper and stucco. We have a couple of sample rolls and they look pretty cool, haven't used them for a proper job yet though however Avery is a pretty solid product.

Steve
 
C

CL Visual

New Member
Avery 2600 textures are no good. They have an adhesive issue. I had a big job fail and Avery told me to use banner tape on all seams which is not plausible for obvious reasons. They are working on fixing it.

On a side note, the 2611 is a great product.
 
S

Shaun S

New Member
We use General Formulations 252 Wall-Tux for this. It's a 6 mil polyester fabric with adhesive back. It feels a lot like wallpaper. If your client wants something other than standard vinyl, check it out. It's also cheaper than materials like Photo-Tex. We've covered a lot of retail stores in this stuff with no adhesive issues. Oh and no lamination needed.
 
iprint

iprint

New Member
For fabric based wall clings I have tried quite a few and all have their pros and cons.
Phototex - too thin and not super aggressive adhesive wise
Fabritac - Nice and thick, prints well but the adhesive is too strong for temporary use (have seen it pull plaster off on removal)
Wall Frog - similar to Phototex, too thin
Wall-Tux - Perfect thickness/opaqueness with a nice removable adhesive and prints good and the price is right
I mainly use Wall-Tux now as almost everything we do is temporary, but for the permanent jobs I will use Fabritac.
For vinyl-based wall graphics I have been using a newer product call RiDot from RitRama. Instead of air-egress channels it has adhesive dots on the back and it installs like butter. Installed on glass it shows zero squeegee marks. It is a little on the thin side, but it prints nicely. Removal is also painless. It is a great material for inexperienced installers and is priced at around .36 per square foot.
 
flyplainsdrifta

flyplainsdrifta

New Member
iprint said:
For fabric based wall clings I have tried quite a few and all have their pros and cons.
Phototex - too thin and not super aggressive adhesive wise
Fabritac - Nice and thick, prints well but the adhesive is too strong for temporary use (have seen it pull plaster off on removal)
Wall Frog - similar to Phototex, too thin
Wall-Tux - Perfect thickness/opaqueness with a nice removable adhesive and prints good and the price is right
I mainly use Wall-Tux now as almost everything we do is temporary, but for the permanent jobs I will use Fabritac.
For vinyl-based wall graphics I have been using a newer product call RiDot from RitRama. Instead of air-egress channels it has adhesive dots on the back and it installs like butter. Installed on glass it shows zero squeegee marks. It is a little on the thin side, but it prints nicely. Removal is also painless. It is a great material for inexperienced installers and is priced at around .36 per square foot.
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I LOVE THE STUFF but had to repaint some of my house because of fabritac. got excited and did a big ol mural on a room that apparently was not primed before previous owners painted. ripped off paint, and top layer of drywall in the first 2 feet. SUCKEDDDD.
 
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