Newly Skimmed walls and ceilings - how do i paint them?

malteser · 1 July 2005 at 12:45AM

hi

we are having our 1930's house skimmed from top to bottom and its nearly finished. We want to paint everything white (for now) so that its fresh and clean and we can finally move in.

our builder says we should use PVA on the walls first and the plasterer rekons watered down emulsion, i've also seen some specific paint for new plaster in wickes today so now i'm very confused.

we plan to use dulux matt white paint and probably 2 coats everywhere.

any advice would be appreciated.

do we have to sand it all down first?

m

Curlytop_2 · 1 July 2005 at 12:59AM

Hi
Just been throught the miserable experience of having our 1860's home skimmed from top to bottom (still clearing the dust - don't know where it all comes from). We got a very experienced commercial decorator in to finish the hall, stairs and landings, but we are doing the bedrooms ourselves. Our decorator advised us to apply a first coat of watered down matt emulsion - DON'T use one coat or any expensive paints for this first 'miscoat'. You can actually buy paint made for this at trade centres, or places like Wickes. Alternatively if you use cheap white paint, water it down with around 1 10th water. You will need to lightly sand down all the new plaster first, but don't PVA it. Then apply the miscoat, then full strength emulsion, 2 coats. Our decorator was rather scornful of the one coat paaints, said they never give as good a finish as 2.
Hope this all helps. Sounds a palava, but it has given us a fantastic finish.
GOOD LUCK!!!

Mr_Warren_2 · 1 July 2005 at 8:47AM

As above, water down (an already watered down cheap emulsion) and after 2 coats put the expensive one down. DO NOT PVA !!! I have done that on new plaster in the kitchen and found out that good quality emulsion would not adhere well to the walls.

beefster · 1 July 2005 at 4:24PM

"DO NOT PVA !!! I have done that on new plaster in the kitchen and found out that good quality emulsion would not adhere well to the walls"

Sounds odd! PVA is a glue so you would have thought the paint would stick no prob?

Wash your walls down first to remove the excess dust or the paint will adhere to the loose dust and peel off in sheets in a few years time! Well thats what the decorator said when all the paint came off the walls at work. He pulled it all off, in sheets! .... and used a watered down PVA solution and painted over no problem. Seems OK so far, then again so did the previous job for 3 years!

Martini · 1 July 2005 at 4:55PM

Plasterers often use a watered down PVA mixture on the wall or ceiling before skimming them. I have not heard about applying a coat onto the new plaster!
New plaster is very absorbant and will "suck" the moisture straight out of the first coat of paint. This is why you need to add water to thin it. Obviously only paint after the plaster has dried (light pink).

vansboy · 1 July 2005 at 6:59PM

We've done the same - no wallpaper or artex to be seen!!

Rather than 'white out' all the rooms, check Wickes Barley white, in the BIG 'trade' containers.

It's a good covering colour, but it picks up the reflection of any contrasting colours, in the room.We've used it in 3 rooms & it looks different in all of them.

Better than just clinical white, I'd say.

VB

djohn2002uk · 1 July 2005 at 8:15PM

New plaster DOESN'T need sanding down first! Or PVA!
That will take away the good finish that a decent plasterer has created.
Use a decent roller and cover all the walls with a decent "Contract" emulsion diluted to 50/50 or even as low as 30 paint/70water with a good quality emulsion. You just need to seal the new plaster with this coat and if you try anything thicker than 50/50 you wont get any better finish and the plaster will be absorbing the paint as fast as you can apply it and will make it hard work.
If you do this to all the rooms first then the first one is ready for the next coat which, again, if you buy a good quality paint you can apply 2 coats diluted to 30 water/70paint and should get a really good finish.
You sound like you haven't done this before so one more tip.
Get yourself a 1" or 1 1/2" paint brush and go round all the edges first, door frames, ceiling etc (cutting in) to avoid making a mess with the roller.
Another tip. Always brush and roll in the same direction as much as possible.

Curlytop_2 · 1 July 2005 at 9:32PM

The new plaster in our house had an almost mirror-like finish, so it had to be sanded down to achieve a surface the paint wouldn't slide around on. It does seem a strange idea to sand down a lovely new wall, but it gives better results. We are talking fine sandpaper, not the coarse-grained stuff.

djohn2002uk · 1 July 2005 at 10:15PM

Really diluted emulsion doesn't have to "stick" to the plaster. The plaster is porous and the emulsion soaks in. That is the whole idea of applying a diluted coat first. Just finished a New Build house exactly the way I described above.

The reason you couldn't get the paint to "slide around" was because on new plaster as I said above, if you don't dilute it enough it dries as quick as you apply it due to being absorbed by the new plaster.

Quote: "Alternatively if you use cheap white paint, water it down with around 1 10th water". That was your problem!

Curlytop_2 · 1 July 2005 at 11:38PM

What I said was it had to be sanded so it wouldn't slide around (and not stick).

We didn't have a problem because we prepared the walls as I described!

djohn2002uk · 1 July 2005 at 11:50PM

This is my last comment to you Curlytop.
I just watched an aprentice served painter and decorator paint a whole house for me as I described above. The walls were as you described but in a new build. Not one wall did he sand first and neither did the paint "slide around" but just covered the walls.

Newly Skimmed walls and ceilings - how do i paint them?

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