Post #207373 by finkdaddy on Fri, Jan 13, 2006 1:50 PM

Boy oh boy, do I know what you're going through!! I did matting on my walls and reed fencing on the ceiling. I used contact cement for most of it. It worked very well, but PLEASE buy the water-based stuff, NOT the stuff I used because even though I ran fans and vented everything it nearly killed me. I'm not even joking. I covered all the edges and seams with bamboo, but I'm sure some sort of stained wood would work nicely as well. Even using the cement, I wound up using my staple gun a lot.

Lauhala matting will never be square. I'm sure of it. Just last night I was cutting some to cover a shelf with. I measured the shelf twice, then I laid out the cuts I wanted on the matting with a huge framing square and cut it with a razor knife. I'll be damned if when I went to put it on the shelf it wasn't a completely different shape then the one I measured out. It just wont be square. I would always cut it a bit too large on purpose then cut it down when you're putting it in place.

Hope I've helped and good luck!!