Preparing plaster for paint

sue_balu

Hi Can anyone advise me please. I have a New plasterboarded area which has been professionally plastered (smooth bare pinkish finish) I wish to paint with emulsion paint. How long should I leave the plaster to dry and then do I need to "prime" it or prepare it i any other way before painting it? If so what with and how would you recommend?

Many Thanks
:beer:

Troubleatmill_2

Once it has fully dried out - depends on ambient temperature - could be 1 day - could be 3 days...

Once dry..
Pop down to B&Q - but a massive tub of cheap magnolia paint.
Dilute it about 50/50 with water.

Paint your walls with a couple of coats - this will prime them nicely.


Otherwise all that nice new paint you have - will just be sponged up by the plaster.

Best
Troubleatmill

emilyt

sue_balu wrote:

Hi Can anyone advise me please. I have a New plasterboarded area which has been professionally plastered (smooth bare pinkish finish) I wish to paint with emulsion paint. How long should I leave the plaster to dry and then do I need to "prime" it or prepare it i any other way before painting it? If so what with and how would you recommend?

Many Thanks
:beer:

Hi there sue-balu,
Just done the same job ourselves.
We waited for the plaster to go a very pale pink. This is when you know it is dry.Took about 4 days for us.
We then painted on some Universal primer sealer clear bought from B&Q. This is usually ready to be painted over after 3 hours. We left it 24 hours just in case.
Next we had to emulsion the walls and cealing about 6 times before it looked right.
We have made the mistake in the past of painting emulsion straight onto a newly plastered walls and the paint ended up peeling. We learnt from our mistake.
Hope this is of some help to you.
Emilyt

misgrace

To get a good finish on new skimmed plaster you need to apply a miscoat, similar to what troubleatmill said, but if you go for the B&Q stuff as a cheap undercoat, be very careful if you then buy a good quality paint say for example 'dulux' as a top coat.

if your going to use B&Q paint, then stick with it all the way, dont mix the two.

Do a watered down first coat, (miscoat), this seals the plaster, (please do not use PVA there is no need), then your second coat water down again, but not as much, and then the third coat just maybe a tad bit of water, this is if your using 'Dulux', or 'crown' but if your using inferior paint, it might not need a lot of water for the second and further coats.

Go for Matt, you can get away with using Vinyl matt for a skim plaster, but dont use silk or soft sheen.

sue_balu

Many Many thanks to you for all the advice - The 50/50 mix emulsion water miscoat sounds sensible. Only thing is, I've got my heart set on Farrow & Ball emulsion in "light grey" for the final finish.
What brand of white emulsion should I use for the miscoat do you think? I dont want to risk any mismatch/conflict and end up with the F&B peeling off!!
I know F&B is not cheap but we dont decorate very often and we've found it covers very well when we used it before - seldom needing a second coat.
Hence less work - all for that!!

handyman.

Al_Mac wrote:

Mix PVA glue with water, about 10% PVA, does the job. Not sure if it is cheaper

100% wrong, you have just made that up, have you not?? Please give us a link to a paint suppliers site that states this is the correct way to seal plaster.

Unbelievable:eek:

Sooler

Dulux Plaster Sealer is ideal for priming bare plaster surfaces, plasterboard and powdery surfaces inside. It penetrates the surface, sealing it ready for painting. Where staining is a problem, a specialist primer should be used.

http://www.dulux.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PracticalitiesProductDetailsControllerCmd?storeId=10752&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&code=DPS

abbecer

Handyman, I've not used PVA myself but i have heard of many people who do. We usually just use up watered down odds and sods of pale emulsion.

Rebecca x

save-a-lot

Al_Mac wrote:

Mix PVA glue with water, about 10% PVA, does the job. Not sure if it is cheaper

When preparing a wall for a skim of plaster you use watered down PVA glue to aide the adhesion of the plastered skim to the underlying wall surface.

If you get PVA glue on the top of a surface you want to emulsion then the places where the PVA has been applied is waterproof and the emulsion will run-off those areas. Don't use PVA

handyman.

asi say every time posts about pva and painting.........find a link in a paint manufactures website that says to pva a wall before painting.....and knowone ever does

handyman.

mist coat of non vinyl matt emulsion watered down 30%. Then paint as normal. Would go for dulux trade supermatt, which can also be painted on wet 1 day old plaster