painting plaster wall

FreshlyCutFlowers

DRP said:

Another no to PVA. I've never used it and had no issues, whereas forums seem to be full of people with issues after using PVA.

Mist coat with diluted white emulsion or bare plaster paint have both been fine for me.

For those who use PVA, what kind of issues would they end up seeing and when?

fenwick458

regarding the mist coat, I used to mix it 50:50, and used to have a really hard time getting as much on the wall as I did on the floors and everywhere else and basically used to make a right mess. it's too thin IMO I now do it about 3:1 paint to water, and never had problems and i've probably been doing that for 7-8 years now. I've even met decorators that don't water it down at all....
one thing I would add is give the wall a good clean first, as it's been10 years it may have accumulated dust and dirt

davemorton

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

DRP said:

Another no to PVA. I've never used it and had no issues, whereas forums seem to be full of people with issues after using PVA.

Mist coat with diluted white emulsion or bare plaster paint have both been fine for me.

For those who use PVA, what kind of issues would they end up seeing and when?

I have painted a wall that was previously PVA'ed and the paint seemed to re-moisturise/react with the PVA and went all wrinkly.  Had to scrape the whole wall.  

NSG666

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

DRP said:

Another no to PVA. I've never used it and had no issues, whereas forums seem to be full of people with issues after using PVA.

Mist coat with diluted white emulsion or bare plaster paint have both been fine for me.

For those who use PVA, what kind of issues would they end up seeing and when?

It crazes pretty much straight away. The main problem with using pva instead of a mist coat is that most people don't realise how much it needs diluting so use too strong a mix. If in doubt don't use it.