Painting New Plaster

nickj_2

i don't know why there is so much confusion over whether to pva new plaster , paint manufacturers put instructions on the tin , NOWHERE DOES IT MENTION USING PVA , and presumeably they know their products than joe bloggs the builder ,

Cj25

Help! I'm still confused. Consensus seems to be that we don't need to PVA nearly plastered or skimmed walls, but when people are saying watered down emulsion - how watered down do we mean? I also wanted to ask do you paint plaster with white paint first and then once the paint seems to have stopped absorbing it then paint with the colour you want?

One last question - any one know how to paint on 1930's eggshell plaster?

Many thanks

Leif

Definitely not PVA as it reduces the adhesion of paint as said above.

Water down cheap white emulsion, about 20% water by volume did me. Not sure if you can use a colour. One coat of watered down paint is enough, followed by neat paint, one or two coats depending on how well it covers.

nickj_2

Hyphae wrote: »

This discussion has been useful, but I'll also add my 2 cents worth as I feel most of the posts miss an important point:

Using PVA to seal new plaster (some painters I know use it everytime, even on old plaster after wallpaper has been stripped) may work and cause no problems.

However, when someone tries to REPAINT in the future, especially with water-based paints (which most are now), the PVA reactivates due to soaking and the roller pulls off large sections of the paintwork. The solution to this, invariably, is to strip the walls entirely of paint, wash well and start from scratch.

Of course, this problem only raises its head on repainting, so I expect many decorators, especially on new builds, simply don't care

In short, DO NOT use PVA on plaster when painting

i think you'll find that they are not actually painters ,but people who only think they are

byngo1

Having read through this thread and in the process of decorating some newly skimm plastered rooms I have come to the conclusion that if I am painting new plaster the best preparation is to apply a watered down matt emulsion first and never use PVA.

However, I need some help please.

1) If I want to wallpaper this new plaster is the prep the same for painting ie a watered down matt emulsion.

2) After my new plaster was dry and Before reading up on this I did (mistakenly it seems), apply watered down (5 parts to 1) PVA to one wall of new plaster and two walls of old (original) plastered walls.
I have not put anything on the newly skimmed ceiling which I intend to paper.
I was hoping to paint the new plastered wall and wallpaper the older 2 walls.
With my mistake of using watered down PVA already. What should I do before I paint or wallpaper anything??? Maybe I should wash the pva'd walls down with sugar soap or something?? Try and get it off??

Thanks, and apologies for being an idiot.:mad:

rimce44

Plaster sealer, plaster primer, sealer primer, pva adhesive primer... or just cheap emulsion. Add water to any of them or mix it in between and prime the plaster then, even you can wash the wall and then just paint, it is so simple - primer only removes dust from wall and wet it, which prevents cracking final coat :eek:
Painters and Decorators London
Painters and Decorators South West London

Leif

rimce44 wrote: »

Plaster sealer, plaster primer, sealer primer, pva adhesive primer... or just cheap emulsion. Add water to any of them or mix it in between and prime the plaster then, even you can wash the wall and then just paint, it is so simple - primer only removes dust from wall and wet it, which prevents cracking final coat :eek:

Not sure what the first sentence means, but primer seals the plaster. Without a primer, the plaster sucks water out of the paint so fast that it dries before it has a chance to soak into the plaster and form a strong bond. The result is that the paint simply peels off. I've tried it on a small area of plaster, and the paint really does not stick!

As others have said, do not use PVA as a primer. Paint does not bond to it. If PVA has been applied, it might be okay to put on a sealer such as Zinsser Gardz, followed by paint. That is a guess. Please check with someone who knows.

Steel_2

Just to add my two pennies worth, I am currently trying to solve a PVA nightmare in one of my bedrooms. The former owner sealed all the plasterwork with PVA, then decided to wallpaper the walls and paint the ceiling.

We have stripped off the 1980s wallpaper and want to paint.

The paint does not stick to the wall, one sweep with the roller and on it goes, another sweep with the roller and it comes off in tiny bubbly patches.

In addition, I have discovered the existing paintwork on the ceiling is not sticking either, so there are large sections of the paint lifting. You can put a scaper underneath and take off a whole section. So my plan to emulsion the ceiling and brighten it up has been dashed.

I'm now looking at stripping back everything and starting from scratch. I have given up on the idea of painting the walls, as I can't face the massive job of sanding back all of them, so will wallpaper once more. However, I will have to sand back the ceiling if I want anything to stick to the plaster.

I am p*****d off beyond belief and looking at forking out a lot more time and money than I planned to decorate this room.

DO NOT PVA.

Leif

Steel wrote: »

Just to add my two pennies worth, I am currently trying to solve a PVA nightmare in one of my bedrooms. The former owner sealed all the plasterwork with PVA, then decided to wallpaper the walls and paint the ceiling.

I would try Zinsser Gardz, which is a sealer that provides a good key for paint. I do not know for certain that it will work, so ask around, but I would guess that it will bond to the PVA. You could always try some on a patch of wall, such as inside a built in cupboard, or even a small exposed patch, then paint over, wait a few days and then check how well it has adhered. The worst case is that it does not work. It only costs ~£20 a tin. I used it on walls with soaked in wall paper paste and alkaline paint stripper, and it did the trick.

SeriouslyStressed

Oh brilliant.. just found this thread

My sister needed to move into town from a village for various reasons and found a suitable house on a housing association list. They accepted her for it then told her it needed to be refitted etc. SIX WEEKS later ( major internal work, nearly every interior wall stripped out to brick/wood laths and re-plastered etc.. The HA employed builder has said it's an inch thick ) she was given the go ahead to sign for the house which after so long looking for one, plus the building work delay she was only too happy to sign for it.

Turns out though, that all those 6 weeks, the house has had no heating on, and that, plus the all new plaster walls and some ceilings, it was rather cold and damp. A delay in the gas people coming to turn the gas on meant another 5 days of no heating, and it was a rather damp cold atmosphere in there ( extra problem turns out the gas central heating thermostat is faulty so it's all or nothing heat wise at the moment )

Without being told otherwise, and being given just a week to give up her current house to move into the new one she has painted all the walls and ceilings mostly in matt emulsion, and kitchen in kitchen satin matt white. Of course with no heating on the walls where very awkward to paint, bleeding through and taking a day to dry each coat, and even after the heating had been on 3 days and 5 coats of paint later everywhere the house is so humid and damp it's like a Turkish sauna.

Having just read this thread, I see what's majorly wrong now... and the obvious question jumps to mind.. why on earth did the housing association say the house was ready to move into, when it clearly is'nt !!! ???

It's bare floorboards throughout and freshly skimmed concrete in the kitchen so hardly habitable to move three boys ( 18yrs, 16yrs with special needs and a 3yr old ) and her into.

Apart from what now looks like a disaster by having painted the still damp plaster walls ( HA never said don't or warn not to etc ) she's already hired a removal van for a week and paid for carpets to be fitted this monday 14th coming, and bought laminate flooring for the kitchen today.

Looks like the proverbial has hit the fan here.

Desperate for a solution I urged her to get a dehumidifier provided by HA, and they've given her a little DIY unit.
When it was switched on in a small upstairs bedroom ( 4m Long x2m wide x2.4m high ) we'd gotten just over a pint of water in an hour out of the air !!! Leaving it a further 4 hours got another 2 pints of water out of that room.

I'm shocked that HA could let anyone sign for a house that's clearly not fit to be decorated or moved into, and of course the clock is ticking on her existing house tenancy remaining as the next people allocated to it want to be moving in.

The builder today said give each room 24 hours with the dehumidifier in it.. but we just worked out... 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen a landing and a hall.. that's 7x24hrs and bang.. the van has to go back... so wasted hire costs of around £250 there. Others have said dont put your stuff in a damp house or it'll go musty and there's a danger of sorts when it comes to electrical items like TV's etc in such a damp house. The house is already far smaller than her existing one so she's having to throw lots out as it is just to move into it.

I'm going on way too much I know.. but what can be done? and who is at fault or legally accountable here?
What are the chances, having now painted the walls, that it might all have to come off again so the plaster can dry out properly?

My sister has asked for an extension to her 1 week remaining tenancy of the existing home to try and buy some time to put things right, but the HA are reluctant to allow this, and in any case if allowed the time extension say she will have to pay the extra weeks rent, plus the rent on the new home as she signed for it Thursday last week ( even though it turns out it's not ready to be moved into )

If this long long post is in the wrong place.. MODS please move it to the correct thread to gain maximum exposure to any helpful replies, thank you.