Why wont the paint stick to plaster????

urbancookie1

Thanks to all who answered my question on what to use to paint the bathroom ceiling...............................

We brought some dulux matt emulsion to do the 1st coat went on fine.......at first.......went into the batroom an hour later and it had started to bubble up/off in places, some places it did'nt stick at-all, so have spent the last 2 hours peeling/scraping it off back to the skimmed plaster again. Whats gone wrong? What should i do now? should i sand it down?

Hope someone can help with this, i was hopping to be finished by tomorrow:rolleyes:

waggys

You need to water down the paint for the first one or two coats on fresh plaster - say approx 60/40 mix.

urbancookie1

Thanks for your quick reply,

Is there a reason why you have to water down the paint, Ive just used it as it comes out of the tin as i thought that it would give a better finish even if i had to put another coat on. Will it stick to the plaster more if its watered down?

Pretani

How long since the ceiling was plastered?

pioneer

Just put on a coat of PVA first and all will be sorted !

We had the same and the paint just peeled off.

Good luck

tehone

You could try doing a first coat of PVA which should give the paint something to bond to

andrew-b

NOOOOOOOOO!!! A coat of PVA really is a definite no-no! You'll have misgrace (our forum resident decorator) to answer to! PVA has it's uses but this is NOT one of them! You need to allow the plaster enough time to dry (a good few weeks at least - the longer the better) before your watered down coat of matt emulsion as suggested. You can buy a special plaster sealer instead but it is cheaper to use your watered down emulsion.

Andy

oilit

As above - it has to be watered down (Ive just done my new kitchen ceiling - it was plastered about 4 weeks ago - so is fully dried out) I have never heard of using pva to fix this problem....(and you shoudlnt have to if you have allowed plaster to dry out and you use watered down opaint.

windym_2

Water down the paint. You should always mist coat plaster, but make sure your plaster is dry. Do NOT under ANY circumstances paint the walls with PVA or similar.

tom_thumb_2

whenever you are painting fresh new plaster it is always best and a lot easier to dilute the emulsion to the consistancy of thick cream for the first coat, then once dry which should not be long in warm weather. Check over the area you have painted for dents and any nibs - fill the dents and scrape off any nibs or snots (trade name for lumps or splatters of plaster) then once this is dry sand the filler and put a second coat of emulsion on that has had a little bit less water added to it and is workable. Then once dry put on a third coat that has been thinned out too just a little this time. As a decorator i can never use paint straight of of a tin, its too thick to use and usually needs thinning for ease of use.

Scoobs72

You need to put on a mist coat first - either watered down emulsion or use Dulux Supermatt (available at B&Q), which is designed especially for this. Before the final coats or your chosen paint go on, the plaster must be absolutely dry. However, you're going to find this a challenge, as it's the bathroom ceiling which will be constantly getting damp. Best to keep the room very well vented.