Painting New Plaster

misgrace

adammcd02 wrote: »

Help, i've read so many conflicting answers my head is in a spin.

We recently got our entire new flat plastered and have sealed it using B&Q emulsion. Now we're ready to paint the walls and the ceilings. I have bought Dulux matt emulsion for the ceilings which i believe will be fine. We have bought Dulux Vinyl Silk for the walls. I think it's actually called 'luxurious' silk. Will this be ok to use on my new walls? We paid alot of money for the plaster work and i really don't want to mess it up.

Thanks

like jason said, as long as you sealed your new plaster with a non vinyl matt, you then can apply silk.

But to be on the safe side, and I am a decorator, I would still thin your dulux silk for your first coat.
Like you said you have spent a load of money, and for the sake of an extra coat or whatever, please thin down your first coat.

Personally I would thin by 20%, I know it seems a fair bit of thinning as you have already done your miscoat, but it wont do any harm, and save you loads of grief.
Then for your second coat, thin again by 10%, you wont loase any of the coverage and this will make life easier for you when you come to do your second or even third coat, as silk has what I call a slimy feel to it, and you dont wont it dragging, or going clumpy and thick on your new flat walls.

if you apply silk too thick, you can still have problems, but do it this way, and you will have lovely paintwork, and no problems with the coats.:D

misgrace

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

NEVER PVA fresh plastered walls...!! :mad:

I can't tell you how many problems this can cause in the long run. Believe me, speaking from bitter experience here...in a house we own, not us but some burke PVA'd all the newly plastered walls AND I swear it wasn't watered down either. :eek: We had soooo many problems with decorating, dampness, peeling you name it, I had nightmares for weeks.

Wait until the walls are a very light pink, then paint (or better still, spray..) with a 50/50 mix of the cheapest carp emulsion you can buy, twice. Then use vinyl or whatever paint you like.

Failing that, if you want to get it done faster, you can paint over with eggshell paint, the stuff that does not contain any vinyl at all, and the walls will still be able to 'breathe' and dry out.

PVA?? Pah!! I bluddy hate the stuff..it has it's uses yes, but so many people mis-use it, like silicon...which I also hate...or is it just the people who use silicon to fill the gaps between skirtings and walls who I hate?? :mad:

Sorry...went on a bit of a rant there.....:o

Your right, PVA on new plaster is the Devils work lol.

Personally I feel 50/50 is too thin, 25-30% is enough, but depending on the paint also.

nickj_2

this debate rumbles on and on like an old record ( black disc with music on it played on grammaphone ) stuck in a rut , it is not rocket science . if you care to read the advice on the side of a tin of paint it will tell you to use thinned paint on new plaster , at no point does it mention pva , wallpaper paste or any other substance . so why would anyone suggest other wise is beyond me , the only people who give conflicting views clearly do not know what they are talking about , if they told you to fill your car with water instead of petrol would you do it ?

here endeth the lesson for today . amen

jason_s_2

You didn't have to click on the topic and read it did you nick?

George_Bray

Kuztardd wrote: »

I have had annoying problems with painting a room at the moment so am watching this thread with interest...As with all advice, if people give 100% thumbs up to something i will go with that advice, but if people then give conflicting advice, i would try to work out who is correct.

It used to make sense to me NOT to use PVA on top of plaster, before applying emulsion. From various Internet sites, I'd say 80% or 90% of people advise against using PVA. But the other 10 or 20% say the opposite!

So I put on dilute emulsion, thinking it would sort of 'soak in' to my plaster and Polyfilla. By chance, I then decided to 'revisit' one or two areas again, which involved sanding back below the dried, dilute emulsion. The emulsion didn't seem to have soaked in at all and just sits on the surface of the plaster or Polyfilla. So on one or two test areas, I've used dilute PVA below neat emulsion. The PVA gives the plaster and Polyfilla a reassuring firm, smooth character. The emulsion went on fine and looks good. Time will tell as to whether there are any bubbles or other problems whatsoever but I'll be amazed if there are.

It's an inevitable and rather unfortunate consequence of lots of advice on the Internet, that unless there's a fairly good concensus, all the advice on a topic like this can effectively cancel out to zero!

George_Bray

nickj wrote: »

if you care to read the advice on the side of a tin of paint it will tell you to use thinned paint on new plaster , at no point does it mention pva , wallpaper paste or any other substance . so why would anyone suggest other wise is beyond me

I agree with you that it probably makes sense to play safe and use dilute emulsion, avoiding PVA. But, also, please see my previous post where I said that PVA seems to be working well for me (so far).

Decorating product manufacturers often recommend products which are widely considered to be 'rubbish' like the ultra-expensive tubs of smooth-over or whatever it's called for smoothing walls and ceilings.

madeane

You will be able to tell when it dries as it will go much paler. I have sealed with PVA as recommended by Nelly but also have recommended dulux plaster sealer to customers, available at B and Q. Obviously more expensive though!!

nickj_2

jason_s wrote: »

You didn't have to click on the topic and read it did you nick?

i am a painter and i like to offer my honest opinion to save diyers from making a simple , preventable mistake as i believe this forum is for people in the know to offer advice. as this topic rears its ugly head time and time again and people probably with no idea still go down the pva route as the answer , also the other day people on here were suggesting using nitromors paint stripper for stripping door frames inside probably with no idea of the consequences of breathing in the vapours which are extremely dangerous .
the 1st coat of new plaster is the most important one , if you get it wrong it will effect future coatings , if it says seal new plaster on the tin , why risk anything else ?
i have dealt with the results of someone pva new plaster and it involved stripping all the emulsion off and sealing with a solvent based sealer ,

jason_s_2

Yep, i totally agree with you nick, it was just a bit abrupt. If it wasn't for other tradesman who post on here I'd be will in the !!!!!!.

sarahmoon_2

hi, you leave the plaster till it drys,normally plaster these days starts off a bronze colour then goes lighter as its drying,you cant put anything on it till it all goes the lighter colour,there are different primers to put on these days so read labels carefully.as the reason being if you use the wrong primer the paint will bubble not the plaster

mr sarahmoon (timeserved plasterer)