Getting Brilliant White onto Plaster or Artex

fitzgerald99

I think this may be an issue relevant to anyone painting light colours over new artex or plaster:::

I painted my newly artexed ceiling using B&Q Colours Pure Brilliant White Matt Emulsion. After several coats, the ceiling still looks off-white, with the artex colour showing through somewhat. I take this to mean that the covering power of the B&Q paint is poor, OR that the artex is too thirsty for any paint and requires sealing first.

I'm changing paint in the hope of getting better whiteness (opacity).

I've now bought Dulux Trade Supermatt thinking it is ideal for new artex as I read that you shouldn't cover new artex in a matt containing vinyl. But, I'm a bit worried about using the Supermatt now because it is just White (everything else is Pure Brilliant White). So my questions are these:

1. If I seal the whole ceiling in thinned Undercoat or BIN, why can't I then use a vinyl matt emulsion without problems? As long as the artex has been sealed first, it seems logical that any paint (even a vinyl silk) should settle fine on it without peeling.

2. In fact, for future reference when painting over artex or plaster, instead of the often-recommended process of mistcoating and being restricted on paint to non-vinyls, isn't it better just to seal the whole ceiling with Undercoat/BIN and then use any paint you like on top (including vinyl) because the sealing prevents the thirstiness of the artex from causing problems?

If the seal+chooseAnyPaintYouLike option is best, I think I'll go for Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt or Flat Matt or something else that is available in Pure Brilliant White instead of just white, and also that forms a neater film rather than what I've read re Supermatt as being a chalky finish that will come off with a wet sponge(true?).

Thanks.

andrew-b

Supermatt isn't really suitable for finishing coat like you say it is a bit "chalky". Does comes off if you rub it with a wet sponge..can vouch for that as i tiled next to some (before final colour) and removing excess tile adhesive with sponge the paint came off again.

I painted our newly artexed kitchen ceiling before i was aware of vinyl content in vinyl matt being a possible problem but i used Dulux Pure Brilliant White Vinyl Matt...fortunately i got away with it without problem. I think i did about 3 coats ...2 watered down (1st diluted more than 2nd) and 1 with no water added which was enough to give a good covering. I used brushes to paint it. I suspect your problem is simply using rubbish B&Q paint.

As you've already painted it with a mist coat (problems would have surfaced by now i expect), i'd just get a small pot of dulux pure brilliant white matt and use that straight out the tub (if it's a kitchen or bathroom use the kitchen/bathroom version).. a coat or two should do it. My freshly plastered bathroom ceiling took 2 coats of white supermatt and 2 dulux bathroom+ pure brilliant white emulsion to complete. You could see the difference in whiteness as the pbw went ontop of the white supermatt.