Painting over plaster

Keldin

We've had a room plastered and skimmed and are now about to paint it. I know you can use PVA mixed with water as a primer coat but is there any ready mixed primer paint available to use instead? My OH is going to be doing the painting and would prefer something less messier than mixing PVA in a bucket and if the primer is coloured white then it will make painting easier and hopefully reduce the number of coats we need to do of regular paint.
Any suggestions on what to use or brands to avoid?

Thanks

K

santana-mx3

I did buy a branded (Dulux) ready mixed plaster sealing paint once (before I knew about the watered down PVA trick). It wasn't white - it was pale green while painting (to help you see which bits you had painted) and then transparent when dry. I used it in a bathroom and later painted over with kitchen and bathroom emulsion. The only thing I didn't like (apart from the price compared to watered down PVA) is that it was thicker than normal paint so the brush strokes were visible when the emulsion was painted over it. I used the same emulsion paint on the downstairs cloakroom but without the plaster sealer and there were no brish strokes visible.

economiser

I've always used a first coat of watered down emulsion and don't seem to have had any adverse effects.

dell_2

Yip watered down emulsion works for me too

Mr_Proctalgia

I just use wallpaper paste - Works for me

Quincy_3

Yep watered down emulsion for a first "mist" coat.

weekendwarrior

You should not use PVA, this is a common mistake often wrongly advised by the TV programmes, it can seal in mositure and cause problems later!-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/when_to_paint_new_plaster.htm

tomstickland

I used watered down emulsion - two coats of.

Mikeyorks

weekendwarrior wrote:

You should not use PVA, this is a common mistake often wrongly advised by the TV programmes, it can seal in mositure and cause problems later!-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/when_to_paint_new_plaster.htm

Fully agree with that. It effectively seals the surface too well. So not only can it seal in moisture - it leaves a subsequent paint coat without a proper 'key' to the plaster.

I know builders do it - to economise on paint - but they don't have to sort the problems in subsequent years when the paint comes off in sheets. Particularly if you subsequently wallpaper over it - when you remove the paper the paint comes off in haphazard chunks.

Heath_Robinson

on makeover programs they can't let anything dry out properly before carrying on with the next phase, the cameras are long gone before it all starts falling apart.

I remember watching challenge anneka many years ago with my dad and he was cursing the way they were throwing up this romanian orphanage in a couple of days. drying the concrete overnight using space heaters. I wonder if it's still standing.

itsfrommark

A watered down emulsion is fine or if in doubt and you are in a hurry you can use 'obliteration paint' - designed for recently plastered walls often available in up to 10 litre drums...

best wishes Mark