Architectural Film F.A.Q.'s
Frequently Ask Question on Architectural Film
What are Architectural Films?
Architectural films are self-adhesive vinyl products that allow you to completely cover and refinish objects or surfaces in a faster, more economic, and more eco-friendly fashion compared to entirely replacing them.
Architectural films come in a wide range of designs such as wood, stone, linens, metals, and more that provide a clean, high-end look. Abstract, matte and colored finishes convert surfaces including metal, wood and glass to reflect an entirely new design.
What Can You Install It On?
Practically anything - doors, elevators, cabinetry and millwork, walls, ceilings, columns, glass, metal, furniture, and more. As long as a surface is properly prepped, architectural films can be installed on just about anything.
We have some basic information on surface prep a little farther down the page.
Can I Install It Myself?
If it's a flat, simple surface, yes you can! We have a large playlist of videos showing the process of wrapping a wide range of subjects over here on our Youtube channel.
For surfaces with complex curves or large surface-area jobs, we recommend hiring a professional installer who has training and experience working with architectural films. You can search for installers in your local area via Google, or here on 3M's Certified Installer portal.
What is "Vertical" vs. "Horizontal" Grain?
A vast majority of Di-Noc films, and currently all of LX Hausys films featuring any type of repeating pattern or grain texture have the pattern running the length of the roll of material. For a vast majority of applications this is perfectly fine, but there are certain application situations where you might want the pattern running perpendicular to the roll length - this is where a "Horizontal" roll may come in handy.
There are a limited number of options with perpendicular or Horizontal patterns offered by 3M Di-noc. 3M Products will have an "H" appended to the end of the pattern name, i.e. FW-1735H.
What Size are the Samples?
3M Di-Noc pattern samples currently come in 2 sizes: 4" x 5.5", or 5.5" x 8". What size a particular pattern comes in is at the discretion of the national distributor, and can change from time to time.
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LX Hausys BENIF samples are temporarily turned off on our website, due to the shipping time/cost of procuring them from overseas. For more information, please contact us.
What Roll Lengths are Available?
3M currently limits roll lengths to 15, 30, 82, and 164 lineal feet.
LX Hausys BENIF has a minimum order length of 15 lineal feet, and allows ordering by the yard after that.
Rolls shorter than their maximum full length (called "cut rolls") cost more per square foot than full rolls (164 lineal feet) from every manufacturer. Because of this, we have included in our product pages the option to purchase shorter cut lengths up to the point where it's cheaper to purchase the full roll. For example, LX Hausys vinyls are offered here on our site from 5 to 45 yards of material. The 46th yard would make your purchase more expensive than ordering the full 54 yard roll, so we have removed those options.
Is There Bulk Pricing?
Bulk pricing is only available on very large orders (20 full rolls or more). For orders of that size, please contact us for a quote.
How Long Does It Take To Receive Materials I've Ordered?
Due to the current global economic state, we recommend contacting us at info@rmwraps.com to check on stock availability/lead time of acquiring any architectural films prior to ordering.
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3M Di-Noc materials are stocked at a central national distribution warehouse in Indiana. Orders are always fulfilled from there if possible. These orders take 1-2 days to process, and are shipped via UPS or Fedex ground shipping (3-5 days to arrive).
If a material is out of stock at the national distributor, it will come from the manufacturer's warehouse in Japan. These orders take 2-3 weeks to ship to the US from Japan, plus about a week to process and ship once here in the US.
If a material is also out of stock in Japan, your material will be placed on backorder. Backordered materials can take anywhere from 4 to 14 weeks to produce and ship, depending entirely on the next scheduled production run of a given pattern. More specific timing will be requested and shared with you when available on any O.O.S/backordered material, before processing your order.
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Most LX Hausys films are stocked at their respective manufacturer warehouse overseas, and flown in on a per-order basis. These orders usually take 1-2 weeks to process, about a week to be flown over from overseas, and are then shipped to you from the state-side distributor via UPS or Fedex ground (average 3-5 days).
Basic Surface Prep Guidelines
Below are some basic surface prep guidelines based on what you're installing the architectural films on. When in doubt - we recommend doing an adhesion test, as described on Pages 5-7 of this 3M PDF.
