Help! New plaster won't take paint.

Falling_Down_House

Recently had our walls plaster-skimmed, were advised to do to first couple of layers of paint with really watery emulsion to allow the plaster to absorb it - which on the whole is fine, but we have 'odd' patches in places

These patches just won't take the paint, it kind of webs when you try and paint them (almost like there is wax on there). A 2nd/3rd coat wouldn't cover it and the wall began to look pitted, so we sanded it back and tried again, still with no joy.

Please help, all I want to do is be able to put a top coat on!

Every forum I look at debates what type of mist coat/primer you should put on but no one seems to have this type of problem.

jcb208

Its usually down to the plaster being over troweled which leaves a polished surface,Have you got a close up picture of the wall? ,without seeing all I can surgest is rub the paint back and seal with a thinned oil based plaster primer where the problem is, thinned undercoat will also do the job if no primer is available
I have found on polished plaster your better off not over thinning the first coat of emulsion and t usually does cover with 3 coats If left to dry between coats

Myser

Perhaps if Plasterer is around on the forums, he can advise?

CurlyTop

Hi

When we moved into our house 10 years ago, there were mock tudor beams up the wall across the ceiling and back down the other side. When we removed them, it meant that the walls needed replastering. The guy who did it for us at the time, when the plaster was dry, covered the walls in a coat of upva glue (like the copydex white smelly glue, you used at school). This acted as a sealant on the walls. When that was dry, a thin coat of white emulsion was put on and then we were okay to do whatever colour we wanted. Walls have been fab since. Not sure this helps and if when fresh plaster goes on your walls you need to put a sealant on (am sure someone else will correct me if I'm wrong) but maybe this is what was needed.

Ruski

Oh dear - another debate on "to PVA or not to PVA"

Dont.

HTH

Russ

jcb208

Correct do not NO PVA ,paint does not take to this very well it just re activates the adhesive

Falling_Down_House

Thanks, I've read lots about why you shouldn't use PVA, the oil-based primer (thanks jcb208) seems like an option though. I have a photo but don't know how to load it up as the photo loader only seems to load from webpage not file.

Myser

As you are a new member, it probably won't let you upload photos to this forum yet. Try using a free online photo upload website such as imageshack or Free Image Hosting.

http://imageshack.us/

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/

Then post the link to the image here.

Leif

Yes, do not use PVA. If the walls were too smooth, sand them enough to get a slightly rough surface.

How big are the patches? It could be PVA residue. I had some new plaster with patches of soaked in PVA in my bathroom. The first coat did not cover the PVA areas properly but it seemed to seal it in. The second coat covered well. I did a third coat for luck. I was using an acrylic paint (Dulux Endurance). I believe normal paint would not cover PVA, and would bubble. In which case use a primer/sealer such as Zinsser Gardz.

Procrastinator333

We have just had the whole house skimmed - all walls and ceilings. This has resulted in lots of painting!

We are using Dulux Super Matt (B&Q seems to be cheapest for this, but still £35 for 10L). 1st Mist coat - Adding about 30% water. Then a second and 3rd coat with about 15-20% water. Then after the 3 coats we are going for the topcoats.

This seems to be working well for us. Might be worth a try?

Leif

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

We have just had the whole house skimmed - all walls and ceilings. This has resulted in lots of painting!

We are using Dulux Super Matt (B&Q seems to be cheapest for this, but still £35 for 10L). 1st Mist coat - Adding about 30% water. Then a second and 3rd coat with about 15-20% water. Then after the 3 coats we are going for the topcoats.

This seems to be working well for us. Might be worth a try?

Builders told me to add 20% water to the first mist coat, then use neat paint. I did 1 mist coat and 2 neat coats of Dulux brilliant white matt in the kitchen and on ceilings. Seems fine!