Painting walls

ringer

I have stripped the wallpaper off my living room walls, and have patched them up with filler and sanded them down ready to paint.can I just use emulsion or will they need sealing first.

nic82

I'm just a novice with this decorating lark, but I was in exactly the same situation as you with a couple of rooms in my house and all I did was to buy cheap white emulsion and slap on a coat of that first before putting the coloured paint on over the top.

It has turned out perfectly fine.

I also had some rooms plastered in my house and once it was dry, I did exactly the same with these rooms, and again it has turned out absolutely fine with no problems. Because of the plaster (and this might be the same with you if you've used filler in lots of places), I had to do two coats of white.

With the exception of one wall (which is a dark blue), I only had to do one coat of colour, which saves lots of money as white paint - I got mine in a massive 25 litre tub from Travis Perkins - is so much cheaper than the coloured stuff.

Little_John

Ive just done a few rooms here. with the help of a freind who is a decorator.

His recomendation was to buy Johnstones paint from Leylands in Bolton behind Thistlethwaits tyres, they curently have an offer on the 5 litre tins of emulsion are half price. the place is a supplier to the trade so the stuff should be good. I think the 5 litre tins cost £9.99 + VAT

We painted to bare plaster, the first coat was a mixture of water and paint we then did another coat and it looked good we did a third coat becasue we had enough paint left. but it didnt need it.

iyiarz

I had a nightmare with my walls.
I sealed them with watered down PVA glue, but after painting, the glue didn't bond to the walls. You could scrape the paint off with your fingernails weeks later.
Papered over it all in the end.
Not trying that again, Will use paint next time.

rhonam_2

hi
my dad was painter and on newly plastered walls he said always thin first coat - pour paint into a bucket and run wee drop of water in - mix well - will make a mess if using roller if too thin - i always do my own painting - once i forgot to thin paint and it was artex ceiling - the first coat went on fine - the next the paint plus artex came off in clumps - nightmare - so for difference in time - i would suggest err on safe side and slightly thin first coat - and re using plain cheap white emulsion - only worth it if you need more than 2 coats - usually 2 will suffice, even if 1st coat thinned, unless covering blue/navy,etc.

dooj

Do a coat of chaep emulsion first- that will help identify any imperfections still in the wall. Also if you are using a lamp in the room you are painting put the lamp on, on a night time and make sure that the lamp light doesnt highlight any imperfections that daylight misses.

Rhino666

New/patched plaster needs a coat of paint thinned with water at a ratio of 4 : 1 to seal the plaster. The extra water allows penetration of the plaster to seal and key the paint. Undiluted paint can sit on the plaster without really being adhered to it because the plaster quickly sucks away the moisture in the paint and leaves the dry paint stranded with no key. Add a bit of damp or abrasion and it will just peal off.

As previous posters have said don't add too much water when using a roller as little spots will fly everywhere. It is also a good idea to use white paint as a base. I would say cheap white paint but I mean quality white paint that is actually far cheaper to buy than the colour top coat. Many of the very cheap bulk buy white paints in the DIY places are made by Dulux anyway.