Painting new plaster cornice for the first time

scottishblondie

We had brand new plaster cornice manufactured and installed in one room just before Christmas.  It's now nice and dry and ready to paint.  I had intended to use a watered down coat of emulsion first, as I did on the freshly skimmed walls, but I checked with the installer and he said just a regular coat straight away would be fine.  Normally I wouldn't hesitate to follow the advice of the tradesman, but getting this done has been rather expensive and I'd hate to ruin it at this point!  The cornice is fairly plain, so no intricate nooks and crannies to work the paint into.  Has anyone painted new plaster cornice before and has some words of wisdom?  Thanks.

Le_Kirk

Did it perhaps come pre-primed?

scottishblondie

Le_Kirk said:

Did it perhaps come pre-primed?

No I don't think so.  It came basically straight from the manufacturer - it was still damp when they installed it!

Mickey666

Has it fully dried out yet?  I'd be wary of painting it with a vinyl emulsion as the plastic coating wont allow it to easily dry out.

I once had some custom cornice made (nothing fancy but quite large) and painted it with a 'mist coat' of contract matt emulsion before leaving it for a month to thoroughly dry (I'm rarely in a rush when it comes to decorating!). 

Contract emulsion has little or no vinyl in it so is more breathable than vinyl emulsion.  A 'mist coat' just means it is diluted roughly 2:1 (ie 2 parts paint, 1 part water), but it's not critical and is just to allow the mixture to soak into the new plaster.  One coat is usually enough but more coats won't do any harm.   Maybe a few coats with decreasing dilution?

The contract matt can also be used undiluted as the top coat.  It won't be as hard-wearing or 'scrubable' clean as a vinyl emulsion, but that's not usually a problem for ceilings!

scottishblondie

It is fully dry now, it has gone almost white.  The installer confirmed we're OK to go ahead and paint.  What you did was exactly what I had planned, so maybe that is the right course of action!

MrsStepford

Wickes Trade Paint For New Plaster is a breatheable vinyl white paint. English Heritage said we could use it on horsehair plaster. It's opaque, goes on smoothly and if you want a nice soft sheen fiish you can do it in one coat.