A mural problem is almost always fixable. Seams that separate. Bubbles that appear overnight. A panel that drifts half a centimetre off-pattern. These are not signs that your mural is ruined — they are install issues with known fixes, and most of them can be solved in an afternoon with the right tools and method.
This is the troubleshooting guide professional wallpaper installers keep in their toolkit. Every problem below is one we have seen across a decade of shipping custom wall murals from our Central Coast manufacturing facility to homes in 40+ countries. If you have not hung your mural yet, start with our complete step-by-step mural installation guide. If the mural is already on the wall and something is wrong, keep reading.
Juliet Wallpaper Mural · Tranquil Elegance Wallpaper · Sage Green Jungle Wallpaper Mural
Problem 1: Visible Seams
Visible seams are the single most common mural complaint, and the fix depends entirely on why they appeared. There are four typical causes, and each has a different remedy.
Cause: poor wall preparation
If the wall was textured, dusty, or freshly painted with uncured paint, the mural panels will not sit flat at the edges. The seams lift or show a hairline gap because the substrate underneath is not flat or not adhering. This is the cause in roughly seven out of ten seam issues we see.
Fix: run your finger along the seam. If the edge is lifted, use a wet seam roller and firm pressure, working top to bottom with consistent pressure. For stubborn lifts, dampen a cloth and soften the panel edge first, then roll. If the wall texture is the real culprit, a cosmetic fix is colour-matched filler (more on that below).
Cause: panel misalignment at install
If the first panel was not perfectly plumb, every subsequent panel drifts wider at the seam. By panel four, you have a gap big enough to notice from across the room.
Fix: misaligned seams cannot be rolled out. You need to either re-soak the affected panel (if paste-the-wall) and shift it, or accept the drift and mask it with furniture placement. For peel-and-stick murals, you can often peel from the top, re-plumb, and re-set. See our paste-the-wall install guide for the correct method.
Cause: expansion and contraction
Non-woven mural substrates move slightly with temperature and humidity. In dry rooms — think winter with heating on — panels can shrink a millimetre or two and reveal a hairline seam that was not there the day of install.
Fix: this is where colour-matched filler becomes your best friend. Use a fine-tipped applicator and a small amount of acrylic filler tinted to match the mural background. Feather it into the seam. From a viewing distance of one metre the gap disappears. This is the same technique commercial installers use on lobby walls where seams must be permanently invisible.
Cause: cheap adhesive
Using a general-purpose wallpaper paste on a heavy mural substrate is a false economy. The edges do not hold. Use a paste rated for non-woven wallcoverings — the right paste costs $4 more and prevents every one of these seam issues. For commercial-grade installs where seams must disappear completely, the double-cut overlap technique is the professional standard, used in hotel lobbies and airport terminals where the seam cannot be visible.
Candy Coloured Coast Line Wallpaper Mural
Problem 2: Bubbles and Air Pockets
Bubbles appear when air or excess adhesive gets trapped between the mural and the wall. Small bubbles often resolve themselves as the paste cures and the panel settles — wait 24 hours before treating any bubble under 2cm. If it is still there after a day, it needs manual intervention.
Small bubbles (under 3cm)
Use a syringe filled with the same adhesive you installed with. Pierce the bubble at the lowest point with the needle, inject a small amount of adhesive, then press the panel flat with a smoothing brush or dry cloth. Work the air out through the pinhole, then roll with a seam roller. The pinhole is invisible once dry.
Large bubbles (over 3cm)
Large bubbles cannot be injected — the area is too big. You need to score and re-paste. Use a scalpel to make a small X-cut through the centre, lift the four flaps, apply fresh adhesive to the wall underneath, press the flaps back down, and roll firmly. From 30cm away the cut is invisible.
Bubbles along seams
Bubbles along a seam edge mean the panel was pressed down before the paste had time to book. For paste-the-wall murals, roll the whole seam with a damp cloth underneath to reactivate. For paste-the-paper murals, lift the seam, re-paste, and re-set.
Sydney in Bloom Wallpaper Mural
Problem 3: Peeling Edges and Lifting Corners
Peeling edges typically appear in the first 48 hours after install or, conversely, three to six months later. The early peeling is an install issue. The late peeling is an environmental one.
Early peeling (first week)
This is almost always insufficient adhesive at the edges. Installers cover the middle of the panel generously and run out of paste by the time they hit the edge. Fix: lift the edge carefully, apply wallpaper seam adhesive with a fine brush, press flat, and roll firmly. Hold for 30 seconds with a gloved hand.
Late peeling (months later)
Humidity, uninsulated external walls, and direct sunlight all degrade adhesive over time. Bathrooms, laundries, and east-facing walls are the usual suspects. The fix is the same — edge adhesive plus firm roll — but if the peeling returns, the wall needs a different adhesive system (see Problem 8 on humidity).
Peeling at corners and outlet cut-outs
Corners and edges around power points are high-stress zones. Use wallpaper seam adhesive designed for stubborn lifts — it has stronger tack and cures harder than general paste. Apply, press, and protect the corner with painter's tape for 24 hours while it cures. For peel-and-stick murals, see our wall preparation guide for peel-and-stick — most peeling in peel-and-stick installs traces back to poor wall prep.
Boho Luxe Wallpaper Mural · Sage's Striped Wallpaper Mural
Problem 4: Pattern Misalignment
Pattern misalignment is heartbreaking because by the time you notice it, three panels are on the wall and the fix is either surgical or acceptance.
Cause: panels installed in wrong order
Numbered panels must go in order, left to right. If panel 2 went up where panel 3 should have, the pattern will never match. Fix: if the paste is still wet (within 30 minutes), peel and re-order. If the paste has set, the panel has to come down and a replacement panel ordered.
Cause: first panel not plumb
If panel 1 is off vertical by even a degree, every subsequent panel drifts. The pattern might still technically match at the seam but runs diagonally across the wall. Fix: same as above — re-soak and re-plumb if within the paste window, or order a replacement set.
Cause: measuring error
If the wall was measured wrong and the mural was cut to the wrong width, the pattern will not meet the edges cleanly. Use our wall measurement guide before ordering. For bespoke murals, we re-print the affected panel when the error is on our side.
When the fix is acceptance
A small pattern drift — say, 5mm over 3 metres — is often only visible to you. Furniture placement or artwork makes it disappear. Professional installers use the phrase "live with it for a week" — if you still see it, fix it. If you stop noticing, leave it alone.
Problem 5: Colour Difference Between Panels
A mural should print as a single continuous image. If panel 3 looks subtly greener than panel 2, something has gone wrong at the print stage — this is rarely an install issue.
Cause: dye lot or print batch variation
Older printing methods could produce batch variation, though modern digital printing on custom murals has largely eliminated this. If you see colour shift between panels, photograph the seam in natural light and contact your seller. At OEO, if a print batch produced a visible shift, we re-print the affected panels at our cost.
Cause: UV fade on one wall
If your mural has been up for a year and one panel looks faded, the culprit is direct sun on one edge. East and west-facing walls get the worst of it. There is no chemical fix for UV damage — order replacement panels, and consider UV-filtering window film or a sheer curtain.
Cause: lighting confusion
Before assuming a colour mismatch, check your lighting. A wall lit from one side by cool daylight and the other by warm LED will show different tones on the same mural. Turn off artificial lighting, photograph during midday, then assess.
Blushing Bloom Photo Mural Wallpaper · Blurred Waves Photo Mural Wallpaper
Problem 6: Tearing or Ripping During Install
Non-woven mural substrates are tough, but they can tear if over-soaked, handled too aggressively, or pulled against a corner. A torn panel is not ruined — it is fixable.
Small tears (under 2cm)
Align the torn edges, apply a thin bead of clear wallpaper seam adhesive, press flat, roll. Once dry, the tear is nearly invisible. For tears near a pattern break, a fine touch-up with colour-matched artist's acrylic hides the repair line completely.
Larger tears (over 2cm)
Larger tears need a patch. Cut a clean patch from the edge trim of the same panel (murals ship with bleed trim for this reason), align the pattern, adhere it over the tear, then trim the patch edges with a fresh scalpel blade.
Prevention: the handling rules
Never pull a wet mural panel against a sharp corner. Never grip the middle — always the edges. Book paste-the-paper panels for the exact time specified. Over-soaked substrates tear at the slightest pull.
Problem 7: Tannin Staining Through the Mural
This is an Australian and US problem specifically, and it catches many homeowners by surprise. If your home has cedar or pine timber framing, or if a previous owner had water damage or nicotine staining on the walls, tannins and stains can bleed through the mural substrate weeks or months after install. You see brown or yellow blotches appear through the print.
Preventative fix (before install)
If your wall is bare plasterboard, freshly patched, or has any history of water marks or smoke staining, seal the wall with a pigmented shellac-based stain-blocking primer before you install. Zinsser Bin or a local equivalent is the standard. This is not a paint — it is a sealer, and it stops tannins dead.
Remedy (after tannin bleed appears)
Unfortunately, once tannins have bled through the mural, the only fix is removal, re-priming with stain-block, and re-installation with a fresh print. This is why wall prep is not optional. Our mural removal guide walks through the removal process.
When in doubt — prime. A tin of stain-block primer is $40 and two hours of work. A re-print and re-install is $600 and a weekend. Always prime.
Problem 8: Adhesive Failure in Humid Rooms
Bathrooms, laundries, and kitchens are high-humidity environments. Standard wallpaper adhesive rated for living rooms will fail in these conditions within six months. The panels lift at the edges, mould can appear behind the paper, and the whole install looks tired.
Fix: use the right adhesive for the room
For humid rooms, use a vinyl-compatible wallpaper adhesive with a mould inhibitor. These adhesives are formulated for commercial kitchens and hospitality bathrooms and hold through steam, temperature swings, and condensation.
Fix: ventilate during and after install
Adhesive needs to cure in dry conditions. If you install in a bathroom mid-summer, run a dehumidifier for 72 hours post-install. Steam during cure prevents the paste from bonding.
Fix: the installer redo
If your humid-room mural has already failed, do not try to re-glue it. Remove, re-prime if the wall is suspect, and re-install with the correct adhesive. Or call a professional — our wallpaper installer directory lists specialists across Australia and internationally who handle bathrooms and high-humidity spaces as a specialty.
Surfing Liquid Gold Photo Mural Wallpaper
Problem 9: Light Showing Through Thin Mural Substrate
This is an issue specific to peel-and-stick murals and some lighter non-woven substrates. If your wall behind the mural is pure brilliant white and you have strong directional lighting (especially afternoon sun), the wall colour can show through as a lighter wash under the print. The mural looks washed out, not because of a print issue but because the substrate is slightly translucent.
Fix: dark primer coat
The preventative fix is a mid-tone grey primer coat on the wall before install. Not a paint — a pigmented primer. It gives the mural a consistent neutral backing and stops any show-through. This is standard practice for darker-toned murals on white walls.
Fix: blackout backing
For premium installs on a glass-heavy wall (think commercial spaces), specify a blackout-backed mural at order. The blackout layer eliminates show-through completely and adds a subtle sound-dampening benefit. Our custom mural service can spec this on request.
When to Call a Professional
Some mural problems are DIY-fixable in an afternoon. Some are not. The signals that a job needs a professional:
- The mural is on a feature wall you cannot afford to redo — a commercial centrepiece, marketing backdrop, or hero wall in a freshly renovated home.
- The space is high-humidity or high-traffic — bathrooms, commercial kitchens, retail fit-outs. These demand commercial-grade adhesive systems.
- The wall has issues — old plaster, tannin-prone timber framing, previous water damage, heritage lime-based walls.
- The ceiling height is over 3 metres. Tall walls need scaffolding, two-person panel handling, and alignment precision that is hard for one person to achieve.
Our wallpaper installer directory lists specialists by city and specialty.
When to Request a Reprint from the Seller
We are going to be honest with you, because most of our blog readers are our customers.
If the problem is a print fault — colour shift between panels, visible banding in a single panel, pattern printed off-register, panels delivered at the wrong size — that is our responsibility and we replace it, whether you installed the mural yourself or paid a professional.
If the problem is an install fault — seams that separated because of wall texture, bubbles from insufficient paste, peeling because the wrong adhesive was used — that is not a manufacturing issue, and a reprint will not solve it. We can help troubleshoot, recommend an installer, and in some cases supply a replacement panel at cost.
If you are unsure which category your problem falls into, send us photos. Our team will tell you honestly. If it is a print fault, we make it right.
Prevention: The Five Things That Stop Most Mural Problems
Every problem in this guide has a preventative version that costs almost nothing to do correctly up front. Here are the five prep-stage habits that eliminate roughly 90% of mural issues before they begin.
- Prep the wall properly. Clean, dust-free, flat, and primed with a stain-block where tannins are a risk. Never install on freshly painted walls — wait 14 days minimum for paint to cure.
- Use the correct adhesive for the room. Living rooms can use standard non-woven paste. Bathrooms and kitchens need vinyl-compatible, mould-inhibiting formulations. Do not cross them.
- Plumb the first panel perfectly. Use a laser level or a long spirit level. The first panel sets the geometry for every panel after it — one degree of error compounds across the wall.
- Always use a seam roller. Every seam, from top to bottom, with firm even pressure. This single tool eliminates more seam complaints than any other.
- Respect the cure time. Do not touch, lean on, or handle the mural for the full cure window specified by the adhesive. Most modern adhesives need 48 hours of still air before they reach full strength.
For the full installation walk-through, see our complete step-by-step mural installation guide — the most comprehensive online resource for hanging a custom mural, covering wall prep, adhesive selection, panel handling, and cure windows. For design context on why murals are having their moment in 2026, see our guide to wall murals as the statement wall trend dominating 2026.
Designer Tips
- Order a $4.99 wallpaper sample (48cm x 40cm / 19in x 16in) before committing to a full mural. It lets you test how the substrate and print behave on your wall. One sample saves a thousand dollars of mistakes.
- Always buy a little extra. A roll of trim or one extra panel means you have matching material for patches years later when a dye lot is no longer available.
- Photograph every install step. If a problem appears months later and you need to troubleshoot with your installer or seller, install-day photos are the fastest diagnostic tool.
- Buy from a maker who prints to your exact wall size. Murals cut from a stock sheet leave you managing trim and waste. Custom-sized murals arrive in panels sized to the centimetre. All import duties covered on orders to 40+ countries.
Explore the full wall mural collection, browse our complete wallpaper range, or read more installation and troubleshooting guides on On the Wall. Whether you are in Sydney, London, or New York, we ship bespoke murals globally with all duties paid — no surprise fees at your door.
Frequently Asked Questions
My mural has bubbles that will not go away. What do I do?
For small bubbles under 3cm, use a syringe to inject fresh adhesive through a pinhole at the bubble's lowest point, then roll flat. For larger bubbles, make a small X-cut with a scalpel, lift the flaps, apply adhesive, and press flat. The cut lines disappear into the pattern within 24 hours.
My mural pattern does not match between panels — can it be fixed?
If the paste is still wet (within 30 minutes of install), peel the offending panel and reposition. If the paste has set, pattern mismatch is usually fixed by ordering a replacement panel from the seller. Small drifts under 5mm are often best accepted — they disappear from normal viewing distance within a week.
Why does my mural seam keep peeling no matter how many times I re-glue it?
Repeated peeling at the same seam means the wall underneath is the problem — usually humidity, poor wall prep, or the wrong adhesive for the environment. Stop re-gluing. Remove the panel, re-prime the wall with stain-block primer, and re-install with a humidity-rated vinyl adhesive. If that fails, book a professional installer.
Can I paint over a damaged section of my mural?
Not well. Paint sits differently on the mural substrate than on the wall around it and the patch will read as a repair. The better fix is a scalpel-cut patch from leftover trim matched to the pattern, or a colour-matched acrylic touch-up with a fine brush for small blemishes under 2cm.
There is glue showing through at my mural seams. How do I remove it?
Glue residue at seams is usually from excess adhesive squeezed out during install that was not wiped away while wet. Dampen a soft microfibre cloth with warm water and gently wipe. For cured adhesive, use a slightly stronger damp cloth with a tiny amount of mild dish soap. Never use a scraper — it will damage the mural print.
How long should a mural install take?
For a standard single-wall mural (2.4m ceiling, 3–4 panels), allow 3 to 4 hours for a careful DIY install including prep. A professional installer will do the same job in 90 minutes. Tall walls, feature walls, or commercial spaces can take a full day. Rushing an install is the single most common cause of every problem in this guide.
When should I call a professional installer instead of DIY?
Call a professional when the wall is over 3m tall, the space is high-humidity (bathroom, laundry, commercial kitchen), the mural is a heritage or feature wall you cannot afford to redo, or the wall has issues like old plaster or tannin-prone timber framing. Our installer directory lists specialists with experience across these scenarios.
Can a damaged mural be saved, or do I need to re-order?
Most mural damage is repairable — tears under 5cm patch invisibly, bubbles inject out, and lifting edges re-glue with the right adhesive. A re-order is only needed when a whole panel is torn beyond repair, the pattern has drifted beyond cosmetic acceptance, or tannin staining has bled through and requires wall re-priming plus new panels. Photograph the damage and ask your seller — most cases save with a phone call.
