Prepping previously painted 'raw' wall for painting

ChilliBob

Guys, I'm in the process of stripping off a feature wall behind our bed. At the moment it looks like it's a mix of bare plaster and some parts a little painted, not stripped enough to tell what's what.

End game is to paint it. 

Once fully stripped, what should I do to the wall prior to doing a mist coat? - fairy liquid and let it dry? (plaster is obviously super absorbant!)

Should I fill after the mist coat, then mist those bits.

Then a coat of Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt as my 'base'

Before two top coats. 

Am I missing anything? I've not painted over removed wallpaper before, I just don't know if the act of wallpaper paste on a mix of paint and raw plaster needs soke special care to make the pant adhere and not bubble etc!

Advice much welcome! 

Bendy_House

Remove the wallpaper - and then remove all traces of paste!

Yes, there are primer/sealers (like Zinsser) that's designed to cope with old paste and stuff, but I personally think that's Mickey-mouse, and is unlikely to give the best finish for painting. Also, if you rub any parts down after sealing and painting - and you likely will - then you might expose old paste again. Believe me, you do NOT want to emulsion over traces of old paste...

So, gives the walls a good wash (don't soak) after the paper comes off, and remove all traces. Use summat like old dish towels, and rinse regularly.

Allow to dry. Examine the wall.

Any bumps and high spots, flatten them down with ~180 grit on a large pad. You can get third-sheet sizes on a pad with a handle. Any dips and hollows, I personally wouldn't worry about yet. When you feel you have all the high spots levelled, I'd now give it all a good thick mist coat using matt white emulsion. It doesn't have to be top quality stuff, but don't go bargain-basement either. Add - ooh - 10 to 15% water, and mix it thoroughly. Roller it on generously, and go over to remove all tramlines.

Let it dry, and look at it. You should now have a very good idea of what else - if anything - is required. The wall will have been 'balanced' - ie all of it should have the same level of absorbancy and stuff - so filling in any dips with surface filler should be straight-forward (if you'd tried this on the pre-painted plaster, chances are it would have been sucked dry...) Use a wide-bladed filling knife, and sand it flat afterwards.

Lather, rinse, youknowwhat.

Ebe_Scrooge

In general, if you want a decent finish this is what I'd do.

1.  Fill anything that needs filling.

2.  Give the whole lot a light sanding to get rid of any flaky old paint or lumps of filler or whatever.  This makes a lot of dust - remove what you can from the room before you start, cover anything you can't remove.

3.  Wash it off with sugar-soap.

4.  Mist coat of diluted emulsion.

5.  Couple of coats of top-coat

Job's a good-un

ChilliBob

Cheers both. For what it's worth I have a tin of Zinsser 123 and a can of matt perma white too

I have some Wickes matt white which seems pretty decent for this purpose. It's not like the water white paint or the super thick Dulux, a good compromise.

I tend to prefer a brush for a mist coat thou, I remember using a roller before, blimey, was like inviting a new foundland dog into the hallway lol.

I was keen to paper over the paper as I thought it be less hassle. Alas we couldn't agree on a paper lol. If the wall is a right state we may revisit.

It's part of an extension so it can't be more than 13 years old, so no rewiring nonsense or lathe and plaster or anything super grim.

We shall see, furnitue sliders arriving tomorrow to help me move the stupidly heavy super king bed! 

Bendy_House

I would not use a primer/sealer unless it was essential. I would not rely on it to cover paste; I would ensure all paste was removed.

I'd also roller on the mist coat - just do it slowly! It gives a much neater finish.

ChilliBob

Cheers, yeah I tend to use the Zinsser over oil based trims mostly, or the perma white for bathroom bits not tiled. 

Hopefully I'll know more tomorrow! 

FreeBear

ChilliBob said: I was keen to paper over the paper as I thought it be less hassle. Alas we couldn't agree on a paper lol. If the wall is a right state we may revisit.

A heavy duty lining paper. Fill any gaps between the joints with Easyi-fill, and then paint over the top. The lining paper will hide a multitude of sins and save you vaving to fill & sand every single crack & ding.

ChilliBob

Yeah, although I'm a sucker for a pattern and stuff so if I'm going to the hassle of hanging paper I'd try to convince my wife one of the papers I had samples of was decent lol.

I stumbled upon a very good lining paper by accident on a different thread on I think the Screwfix forum, so, if I go down that route I have a plan

Just need these sliders to arrive now!

Done my back in trying to move thie super king bed, bent some appliance wheels and faffed around with a dolly, oh and ended up ripping the mattress whilst dragging it off! 

FreeBear

ChilliBob said: I stumbled upon a very good lining paper by accident on a different thread on I think the Screwfix forum, so, if I go down that route I have a plan

https://www.toolstation.com/double-roll-lining-paper/p72961 - Available in different weights from 1000g all the way up to 2000g. I've been using the 1400g paper as a reasonable compromise.

ChilliBob

It was the WallRock sfuff I had seen mentioned, also seems to get good reviews at toolstation, critically it's a one wall jobbie so no folds! 

Anyhoe, sliders just arrived and bed moved, so, stripping can be finalised tomorrow  

ChilliBob

Well it's scraped off now, and I have a bit of a hotch potch. 

Most importantly, the wall looks sound and flat, pretty decent in fact. Now to the bad. 

Three levels, bare plaster, something white, and some kind of top coat.

I'm not sure if the glue from the wallpaper in places has took it all off of what, my suspicion is that a mist coat wasn't done - wallpaper glue wouldn't pull off a mist coat, it sinks in!

So I guess I need to clean off the glue, then scrape (or sand?) back to bare plaster as much as I can.

I used a steamer, I wonder if that would help remove the paint?

See pics