An absent owner is the risk to wallpaper in Colva. A holiday flat that stands locked for weeks, with salt and humidity constant near the beach, gives a seam every chance to lift, and no one is there to notice. If the flat is aired and air-conditioned regularly, vinyl wallpaper on an anti-fungal primer does well on inner walls; if it is not, PVC panels are safer. Keep paper off walls that face the weather, and look for salt bloom on the plaster before anything is hung. In a let property, put it behind the bed, clear of luggage. The village houses further inland have damp monsoon walls of their own to check.
- Holiday apartments: a single vinyl wall behind the bed or sofa, and only where someone airs the flat while the owner is away.
- Hotel rooms on the beach strip: tough, wipeable vinyl in a calm design, with spare rolls stored for patching between guests.
- Village houses in the coconut groves: inner walls only, tested for damp at the end of the monsoon, with panels where a wall fails.
Colva is the best-known beach of South Goa, six kilometres west of Margao at the end of the Colva road. The village behind the beach has the church of Our Lady of Mercy, family homes among coconut groves and paddy fields, and a strip of hotels, guest houses and restaurants near the shore.
Colva has three kinds of property: village houses set back from the beach, holiday apartments in gated complexes, and hotels and guest houses. Holiday flats are often owned by people who live elsewhere and are furnished for letting.
Within a kilometre of the beach, salt and humidity are constant, and sand finds its way indoors. Further inland, among the fields, the air is damp in the monsoon and mosquitoes are plentiful in the evening.
Sea-facing homes
Sea-facing walls take in salt and moisture, and paper lifts at the seams if the wall is not sealed. Use vinyl-coated wallpaper on an anti-fungal primer, and keep it to inner walls or walls that do not face the weather. Check for salt bloom on the plaster first.
Holiday lets and guest houses
For a let property, choose a hard-wearing vinyl in a design that will not date, and use it where luggage and furniture will not scrape it: behind the bed, not in the corridor. A spare roll kept back makes later repairs possible.
