PVA'ing new plaster?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Your plasterer is not a decorator. He is an idiot. Do not put any PVA near your newly plastered wall. All it needs is a quick light skim over with some sandpaper (not to sand it, literally to just remove any plaster snots, no pressure applied), a quick dust down with a dry brush, a mist coat with watered down contract (non vinyl) emulsion and maybe a second less dilute coat before you apply two topcoats of your chosen finish.

As to how much to dilute, everyone seems to have their own ideas and there probably isn't a definitive answer so just go with the guidelines on the tub. I can recommend Screwfix bare plaster paint (doesn't need watering down) too, otherwise Leyland trade or Dulux supermatt are bo fine choices.

TheCyclingProgrammer

One other tip, when you apply the first mist coat you may find the odd spot where the paint doesn't want to adhere and just slides around. This is probably down to one of two things:

* Plasterer is messy and has splashed PVA on the wall (normally when doing another area like a ceiling after a wall) or:
* Plasterer has over polished in that section, possibly a high spot in the wall that's being skimmed over has caused this.

If it's the former, see if you can scrape the PVA off (it should peel off) then paint over.

If it's the latter, forget about it and keep painting. Once dry, give those spots a light rub over with some medium grit sandpaper, not too hard, you're just giving it a bit of a key. Spot prime the spots with your watered down emulsion before doing the second coat.

eastonian

PVA seems to cause so much confusion to people who have just had some plastering done - I've only ever seen it used by plasterers before they put on a bonding coat, to help the plaster stick to stuff which has a shiny / non-adhesive surface (like electrical capping).

Somehow that has turned into this theory that you should slap it all over freshly skimmed walls, which seems like a terrible plan!!

LJS2014

Thank you all for taking the time to give me your comments, I've lots of great advice to take away from this thread which is exactly what I needed.

Cheers all!

:beer:

DavidJonas

Depending on the paint you are going to use, just follow the instructions on the paint pot. I don't think you will find any of them recommending PVA.