Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Transforming Walls into Versatile Surfaces

  • 05/01/18
fabric wall

Fabric walls from Fabricmate Systems help personalize classroom spaces and provide better acoustics.

A growing number of schools are transforming their classroom, lecture hall, auditorium, and hallway walls into vibrant, multipurpose, functional surfaces by installing unique fabric wall covering systems.

By adding these wall systems, they are not only personalizing and enlivening drab spaces, but also improving the learning environment while eliminating a major source of routine maintenance and re-painting.

“Teachers like to display student work as inspiration, and staple student work or study aids to the classroom walls from floor to ceiling, which can require frequent wall touch up,” says Brad Heinecke, a maintenance technician at Orange Lutheran High School.

When staples, tacks or tape are used as a fastening method this inevitably takes a toll on painted walls. This necessitated repainting each classroom every two to three years. To do such work including touch-up in this and other areas, the school once employed a full-time painter.

The high school opted to install fabric wall coverings from Fabricmate Systems, a global supplier of wall surface solutions.

With the help of one other person, Heinecke installed the system. “Once you get the process down, it goes up pretty quick,” he says.

Heinecke says the fabric covered wall system is holding up extremely well in the classrooms.

“Everyone is seeing how great the wall coverings are, and are requesting installation this summer,” says Heinecke.

Bare painted walls are an acoustics nightmare.

To counter this, the fabric wall covering’s backing absorbs sound rather than reflecting it. This reduces echoes and reverberations and makes it easier to hear and understand speech or audio with greater clarity.

When school administrators want to refresh the walls or even change the colors the fabric can be replaced by school maintenance personnel and the only cost is for the new fabric itself. The backing and track system do not typically need to be replaced.

www.fabricmate.com

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management May 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Bradley Company Highlights Hygiene Tips for Global Handwashing Day

    In honor of Global Handwashing Day on October 15, commercial washrooms and emergency safety solutions provider Bradley Company recently released the results of its 2026 Healthy Handwashing Survey. The findings indicate simple, practical steps that facilities managers can take to encourage good hygiene on campus.

  • Dallas-Area District Debuts Three New Facilities

    The Duncanville Independent School District in southwest Dallas, Texas, recently held ribbon-cutting ceremonies for three new facilities that resulted from a $170-million bond program passed in 2023, according to a news release.

  • Missouri K–12 District Cuts Ribbons on Two New Middle Schools

    Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, Mo., recently celebrated the completion of two new middle school facilities with ribbon-cutting ceremonies, according to a district news release. The district officially opened the new Pipkin Middle School and Reed Academy on Sept. 3, both of which were funded through the $220-million Proposition S bond program approved by voters in 2023.

  • Wold Completes Geothermal Projects at Two Minnesota Schools

    Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has completed two geothermal expansion projects for Mounds View Public Schools in Shoreview, Minn., according to a news release. The work at Highview Middle School and Irondale High School serves the district’s long-term goal of reducing energy costs and dependency on non-renewable fuel sources, as well as improving building performance.