What Is Wall Printing? How Printing Directly Onto Walls Works

Wall printing, also called direct-to-wall printing, is exactly what it sounds like: a printer is brought to the building and prints artwork straight onto the wall. There is no wallpaper to hang, no vinyl to stick and no artist working by hand for a week. The image goes onto the plaster, brick, concrete or glass that is already there.

It is still a young trade in the UK, so most people have never watched it happen. Here is how it works, what it is good at, and where its limits are.

How a wall printer works

A wall printer is an inkjet printer stood on its side. The machine sits on the floor in front of the wall, and a print carriage holding the printhead travels up and down while the machine moves along the wall. The head never touches the surface; it fires tiny droplets of ink across a small gap, the same way a desktop inkjet prints onto paper.

Each stripe of the design is printed in turn, and the machine steps along to the next one. Because it keeps indexing sideways, there is no width limit and no panel join: a wall ten metres long comes out as one continuous image. Our printer reaches up to 4.1m high.

Why the ink is dry the moment it lands

The ink is UV-curable. Instead of drying as a solvent evaporates, it hardens when UV light hits it, and a UV LED lamp follows just behind the printhead. By the time the head has moved on, the colour is already a solid layer bonded to the wall. That is why a printed wall is touch-dry when we finish, why there is very little smell, and why the room can be used straight away. The chemistry is explained in more depth in how UV ink cures and why it lasts.

What happens on the day

• Before: you send photos and rough measurements, we prepare the artwork at wall scale and send you a proof to approve. Nothing is printed until you have signed it off.
• Setting up: we mask the floor, protect the surrounding space and position the printer against the wall.
• Printing: the machine works across the wall section by section. Most walls are finished within the day.
• After: we clean up and leave. There is nothing to dry and nothing to ventilate.

What it can print on

Most interior surfaces take ink: painted plaster and drywall, exposed brick, concrete, cinder block, tile, glass, metal and wood. Texture is the part people find surprising. On brick the ink goes into the face and the mortar joints, so the texture shows through the image rather than fighting it, which is something wallpaper and vinyl cannot do. The surfaces page goes through each one, including exterior walls, which we quote separately.

The limits, honestly

• It cannot reach every edge. There is an unprinted band of roughly 36–45cm at the base, around 25cm at the top and 23–32cm at the sides. Designs are planned around it, and skirting or furniture usually fills that space anyway.
• The wall has to be sound. Damp, flaking paint and loose plaster will take the print with them. Our wall preparation guide covers what to check.
• It needs floor space. The machine stands in front of the wall, so tight stairwells and walls above a staircase may not be reachable.
• It is not easily removable. When you want a change, a printed wall is primed and painted over. If you need something that peels off cleanly at the end of a short let, vinyl is the better fit.

What it is used for

Office receptions and logo walls, restaurant and gym feature walls, school corridors and reading corners, care home wayfinding, and bedrooms and living rooms at home. You can see the range on our services page and in the portfolio.

What it costs

Wall printing is priced by area. It starts from £150 per square metre, and the rate rises with textured surfaces and more detailed artwork. A 4m × 2.5m feature wall on plaster comes to around £1,467–£1,723. The wall mural pricing guide has a full size-by-size table.

If you have a wall in mind, send a photo and rough measurements through the contact page. We will tell you whether it is suitable and what it would cost, with no site visit needed to get started.