Be cautious with wallpaper anywhere on the Mormugao headland. Water lies on every side, the monsoon wind drives rain hard at outer walls, and plaster often carries salt bloom, a white powder that pushes paper off from behind. Look for it before deciding. The old officers' bungalows add another difficulty: their thick lime-plastered walls need to breathe and should not be sealed under vinyl. So paper is for a sound, dry inner wall only, a later partition or a wall between two rooms, primed against fungus and hung in smooth vinyl that port dust wipes off. Where a wall is damp or salty, PVC wall panels are the proper answer, not wallpaper.
- Old bungalows: keep wallpaper to a partition added later, and let the original lime-plastered walls stay painted so they can dry out.
- Flats and quarters above the harbour: smooth patterned vinyl on an inner bedroom wall, never on the wall that faces the water.
- Walls with white salt bloom or damp marks: PVC wall panels in place of wallpaper, which would lift at the seams.
Mormugao is the headland at the mouth of the Zuari, where the harbour and its berths are. The area around the port, including Sada and the Headland, has port trust quarters, old bungalows built for port and railway officers, and housing on the hill above the harbour.
Housing ranges from large officers' bungalows with verandas and tall windows to compact staff quarters and flats. The bungalows have high ceilings and many windows, which means a good deal of curtain; the quarters have small windows where a blind is neater.
The headland is surrounded by water and takes the full force of monsoon wind. Salt, damp and port dust together make this the hardest place in South Goa for fabrics and metal fittings. Everything should be washable and rust-proof.
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.
Homes near the port, airport and industrial estates
Fine dust clings to textured and flocked papers. Smooth vinyl wallpaper can be wiped down, and darker or patterned designs hide the film that settles between cleans.
