Wallpaper for new-build homes: smooth walls while the house settles

Paintable wallpaper, called renovlies in Dutch, is a thick non-woven wallpaper that is hung on a smooth wall and then painted, so the wall looks like smooth plaster. We fit and paint it with our own team of 32 wallpaper hangers, as a complete package from €14.99 per m² excl. VAT for jobs over 150 m².

If you have just bought a house in the Netherlands, you have probably seen the word renovlies in your contractor’s paperwork, in a neighbour’s group chat or on the walls of the show home. There is no common English name for it. You will see it translated as renovation fleece, paintable fleece or non-woven lining paper, and none of those quite says what it does. This page explains what it is, why it is so common here, what it costs and what you need to arrange before we start.

Behangservice Nederland is a family business that has been finishing walls since 2010. We have one location, at Transistorstraat 7 in Almere, and our teams work throughout the Netherlands from there.

What is paintable wallpaper, in plain English?

Renovlies is a white, unprinted wallpaper made of compressed fibres, with no glass in it. It is not meant to be seen as wallpaper. It is a base layer that disappears under paint. Once it is hung, the seams cut and the edges sealed, the wall is painted in the colour you choose, and what you end up with is an even, painted wall that most people take for smooth plaster in normal daylight.

The material is thicker and stronger than ordinary lining paper, and that is the whole point. Thin paper shows every small bump and hairline crack as soon as paint goes over it. Renovlies lays a fibre mat over the wall that holds it together and moves slightly with the surface beneath.

We use Intervos renovlies of 150 g/m² as standard. On walls that are less even, we switch to the heavier 200 g/m² version, at the same price. We paint with PPG or Sigma paint, as standard in RAL 9010 or RAL 9016, the two whites most often chosen in Dutch homes. Any other RAL colour costs €1.50 per m² extra.

If you come from the UK, Ireland or North America, the closest comparison is a skim coat with paint on top. The finish looks similar. The behaviour over the years is different, and that difference is the reason renovlies exists.

Can you wallpaper a new build straight away?

Yes, with paintable wallpaper you do not have to wait for the house to settle. A new house keeps moving for the first few years, and renovlies absorbs that movement where hard plaster cracks. What the wall does need is to be dry and ready for wallpaper, and a skim coat, if one is applied, has to dry before the fleece goes on.

At handover, the concrete, sand-lime brick and plasterboard of a Dutch new build still hold construction moisture. As that moisture evaporates, the materials shrink a little and the structure settles. This is normal behaviour for a new house, not a building defect. Your wall finish simply has to be able to follow it.

The chain looks like this:

1. The house settles and shrinks. Moisture dries out and the structure comes to rest over the first years.
2. Traditional plaster cracks along with it. Plaster is hard and rigid and cannot follow that movement. Hairline cracks are to be expected.
3. Renovlies bridges the crack. The fleece absorbs the movement and stays intact, so the paint on top does not crack.
4. Where needed, a thin skim coat comes first. If the wall is not flat enough, our plasterers apply dunpleister (a thin skim layer) to make it flat and ready for wallpaper.

That is why we nearly always advise renovlies in a new build rather than going straight to painted plaster. Our page on finishing a new-build home explains how this fits into the planning around your key handover, and our plasterers explain when the skim coat is needed.

Is paintable wallpaper just the cheap alternative to plastering?

This question comes up often, usually because in many countries a wall covered in lining paper means a wall nobody wanted to pay to fix. Here it is the other way round. In a new build, renovlies is the more stable choice, because it absorbs the very cracks that show up in hard plaster. It costs less per m² than traditional plaster mainly because there is no wet layer that has to dry for days. Nothing has been taken out of the quality.

It does have limits, and we would rather you hear them from us than find them on your wall:

• It does not fill holes or bumps. A poor surface has to be made flat first, otherwise you will see it through the paint. The heavier 200 g/m² fleece helps with small things, not big ones.
• Seams need precision. In strong side light on a long smooth wall, a seam can stay visible, especially after several coats of paint over the years. That is why our hangers cut every seam themselves and seal the edges.
• It does not fix a structural crack. A crack that keeps growing or runs diagonally needs to be looked at first.
• Removing it later is more work than stripping thin paper, particularly once it has been painted a few times.

Day-to-day care is easy. A mark comes off with a damp cloth and a little soap, as long as you do not scrub. A dent can be repaired locally. When you want a different colour, you simply paint over the existing layer.

What does paintable wallpaper cost per m²?

Our prices are fixed per m² and come straight from our price list 2026/2027. The complete renovlies package includes sanding, hanging, sealing and one coat of paint in RAL 9010 or 9016, with all materials.

A whole house with 160 m² of wall works out at 160 × €14.99 = €2,398.40 excl. VAT, plus a one-off travel charge of €99.99 wherever you live. Many colours only cover properly after two or three coats; for a second coat on a renovlies package, the colour surcharge is €8.49 per m².

For hallways and stairwells, where walls take knocks, we often advise glass fleece instead. It is more impact-resistant and costs €16.99 per m² for jobs over 150 m². The full list is on our price page (in Dutch).

On VAT: in a new build, 21% applies. In a home older than two years, the labour is charged at the reduced rate of 9% and materials at 21%. Your quote shows the exact amount including VAT for your situation.

What do you need to arrange before we start?

The prices above assume walls that are ready for wallpaper, which the Dutch call behangklaar: flat, without holes or bulges. If repairs with plaster or filler are needed, we agree that extra cost with you in advance.

Our teams only start in an empty home, with electricity and water connected. Socket covers, lamps, skirting boards and radiators are removed by you beforehand. We work up to a height of 3.5 metres; above that, for instance in a void or a tall stairwell, you hire scaffolding yourself.

Agreements are only binding once they are confirmed in writing by e-mail, which also means you always have them in front of you. You pay 50% on the first working day and 50% on the last, and you get 12 months’ warranty on the work. Your quote stays valid for a year, so you can request one well before your handover date.

If you are still deciding who should do the work, our page on hiring a wallpaper hanger explains how Dutch quotes are built up.