How long to wait after Skimming for Painting

mazibee

Hi All,

Removed the wall paper and builders have finished skimming the walls.

Now how long we have to wait before we can start the painting the walls ceiling.

The three bedrooms upstairs have dried already (Day before yesterday I used 2 dehumidifiers in two upstair bedrooms and have emptied the water collection trays few times since then,
I plan to bring the dehumidifiers downstairs from tomorrow morning so that walls can be dried up. (Hope this speeds up the process)

Any suggestions on when to start the paiting the walls, how to seal the freshly skimmed walls and which material to use for the better and quick results.

Thanks in advance.

neilmcl

I'd leave it for a couple of weeks yet then seal with a watered down emulsion.

Grenage

I wouldn't use a dehumidifier, especially in this weather. I used one once years ago and ended up with hairline cracks.

TheCyclingProgrammer

In this weather, I would imagine it wouldn't be more than a week before you can paint. Once it's all pale, it's ready for a mist coat (you can use watered down contract matt emulsion (non-vinyl) or something like Screwfix bare plaster paint which I recommend highly as it is much less faff). Obligatory reminder to ignore anybody telling you to "seal" the plaster with PVA unless you want to ruin your walls.

I like to do one mist coat to reveal any imperfections, then do any snagging on the plaster (remove any snots, fill any nicks and holes) and give it a very light rub down, then a second mist coat before two coats of your final finish.