Painting on Newly Skimmed Walls

Danger_Mouse

Hey,

Just had walls and ceilings skimmed and intending on painting straight onto the plaster.

From what I've read, I will need a coat of watered down emulsion but im not sure of how many further coats I would need.

Im thinking the first watered down emulsion coat (white) then another coat of standard emulsion then 2 coats of the actual colour?

Doozergirl

White can be as difficult to paint over as black. You'll end up with as many or more coats as you would have done anyway.

I'd just go for one mist coat and then whatever you're using.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I've used both Screwfix bare plaster paint and standard contract matt emulsion, watered down and to be honest, I had better success with the bare plaster paint and there was barely anything in it price-wise. The main advantage of the bare plaster paint was that there was no guesswork involved in trying to get the ratio of water to paint right. It covered well, adhered to the plaster properly and covered with two standard coats of our finish coat.

red_imps_2003

Another vote for just watering down whichever emulsion you are planning on using then applying two further coats at full thickness. Has worked fine for all newly-skimmed walls and ceilings I have done in our place over the years.

FreeBear

Just don't use watered down PVA to seal the plaster - It will just peal off the wall in a year or so, sooner if you use a latex paint over the top.

thescouselander

I'm not convinced mist coats do anything on new plaster. We've had a lot of plastering done over the last couple of years and on some walls I used a mist coat but on others I just put the paint straight on - I've never had any problems either way.

Doozergirl

thescouselander wrote: »

I'm not convinced mist coats do anything on new plaster. We've had a lot of plastering done over the last couple of years and on some walls I used a mist coat but on others I just put the paint straight on - I've never had any problems either way.

Firstly, you waste paint because the plaster literally sucks the moisture out of it, meaning you use more than needed.

And there is a high risk that it forms a skin and does not adhere properly. It bubbles, lifts or peels off. It may not be a problem initially but it can be a problem later when you decorate again.

Sicard

Also make sure the walls are dried off too beforehand.

greenbee

Doozergirl wrote: »

And there is a high risk that it forms a skin and does not adhere properly. It bubbles, lifts or peels off. It may not be a problem initially but it can be a problem later when you decorate again.

We've had to scrape the original 1980s paint off the walls here before repainting. It hasn't been fun. There was enough dust already...

adamclarke88

just had my house plastered also, will be giving it a mist coat of cheap emulsion

thescouselander

Doozergirl wrote: »

Firstly, you waste paint because the plaster literally sucks the moisture out of it, meaning you use more than needed.

And there is a high risk that it forms a skin and does not adhere properly. It bubbles, lifts or peels off. It may not be a problem initially but it can be a problem later when you decorate again.

Yes, that's what I've read in a few places but in reality I've never found it to be a problem. I suspect the actual risk of the paint falling off is quite small.