Dulux Trade Paint -Ruined Walls!!

George_Bray · 8 May 2006 at 9:38AM

I'm a bit confused here, with all the different advice about whether to seal and, if so, what to use. I should have suggested using thinned emulsion as the sealing product (1 water to 4 emulsion), rather than PVA but I still reckon PVA would have worked fine. weekendwarrior disagreed and may well be right.

Then there are proprietary sealant products which I always avoid, as a money saver. The Dulux trade primer sealer sounds good though, if money is no object, but I would never use it myself.

Also, do remember that the base being discussed here is presumably paper/cardboard (the outer skin of the board) and earlier layers of paint, of course. This strikes me as nothing at all to do with painting 'plaster' as such.

Here's some additional views, worth reading. It seems that a consensus is hard to find on the sealing issue.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.d-i-y/browse_thread/thread/c7e9b2549e14d4cb/8f818539f373b7ba?lnk=st&q=emulsion+diluted+water&rnum=1&hl=en#8f818539f373b7ba

and

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.d-i-y/browse_thread/thread/117809bb28cd21cd/a6e3bab2519a1a59?lnk=st&q=emulsion+diluted+water&rnum=15&hl=en#a6e3bab2519a1a59

As a contributor in the second link says: "The paint will come off in great sheets if the plaster isn't prepared properly first....stripping the remains of the paint left pristine plaster underneath!"

This comes back to my question, above. Are we painting plaster or cardboard when painting standard plasterboards?

Regards
George

chrisw · 8 May 2006 at 9:42AM

laurz121 wrote:

The best paint by far has to be the B&Q paints that you get mixed up for you.

If your B&Q is a Supercentre then they may only do 'retail' mixed paints which are in a bluey purple tin, if it is a warehouse then they will be the far superior 'trade' paints and are in a white (horrible looking) tin.

The trade paint is the one that you want because it is made of far superior ingredients (is that the word?) and beats the normal B&Q stuff off the shelf every time, it also beats dulux the dulux off the shelf stuff as well because it is dulux but again is trade and not retail.

Even if the colour is available on the shelf in your b&q just make a note of the colour and go to the paint mixing desk and ask them to make you some up. It will be far better quality and is also better value for money because although a tin may cost a couple of quid more it will cover a lot more too. Ask the people at the desk to check the surface area coverage on the tins so that you can compare it with that of the normal dulux paints.

I always thought the 'trade' paints were the cheap version to give a bit of colour where the finish didn't matter too much and it wasn't going over any strong colours. I once bought a tub of trade emulsion which was like milk so I've always avoided the trade versions ever since.

Is this right, or was I just unlucky with the tub I bought?

George_Bray · 8 May 2006 at 9:44AM

BC2K3 wrote:

4. Using ultra fine filler; repair the peeled of areas.

I bought some the other day - Polycell Fine Surface Polyfilla 'for a glass smooth finish'.

I hated it and went straight back to ordinary Polyfilla for filling small imperfections. The standard Polyfilla achieves a pefectly smooth finish and is easy to sand. The fine surface product sets rock hard and is much more difficult to sand. You have to sand it for much longer/harder and, as a result, the surrounding area can get damaged.

Regards
George

BC2K3 · 8 May 2006 at 6:15PM

Whooo! Lots of activity while I've been busy in my overalls! :j
Thanks for all the replies, I cant believe how much advice I've had from this post.

Indeed George, Polycell Fine Surface Polyfiller was what I bought and used, and certainly agree with your comment regarding sanding it, and how I ended up sanding away the surrounding area.

Well, the Dulux Trade Primer Sealer appers to have done the job because its no longer bubbling or cracking on the emulsion application... :T

..however, after leaving the sealer to dry overnight and re-painting the walls today with Dulux Trade Suppermatt Emulsion; it seems to be drying very 'patchy'.
I've taken some pics (but haven't got a clue how to upload them onto here).
Now - Am I doing something stupidily wrong here?
Granted I'm not a seasoned decorator; but I've used the correct roller <thin pile for emulsion> and haven't 'overloaded' the roller in paint.
I've then evenly zig-zagged the paint onto the wall (which looked fine and fully covered when wet) but is drying out patchy!! :mad:
This would have been the 2nd coat of emulsion; 1 before the sealer, then the sealer then todays one. Does that count as 2 or after sealer is really only 1?

As far as I know George is 'plaster' plasterboard. Theres no carboard, but how would I tell?

So much for being a money-saver!! This quick freshen up would have been cheaper if I'd hired 'Changing Rooms' to come do it!! LOL!

Thanks

Nile · 8 May 2006 at 6:35PM

Hello BC2K3

Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

Ericson_2 · 8 May 2006 at 8:48PM

Looks like your nearly there, your Decorator gave good advice, don't know what colour you are applying but all walls always look patchy after the first coat even after sealing them, if its settled down and there is no bubling or cracking give it a second coat and you should be home and dry, if not run for the hills !!

George_Bray · 9 May 2006 at 12:29AM

BC2K3

One further thought, for what it's worth. To be on the safe side, I would leave longer for the drying of each coat of paint, or filler, than the minimum times suggested on the tins. Good luck...

Regards
George

MGAstra · 9 May 2006 at 5:32PM

In some new appartments/flats the walls are 'dry-lined' which means the plaster board is stuck onto the bricks of the wall, then the joints between the plaster boards are filled in (effectively with similar stuff to polly filla). The joint is then sanded and the wall painted. So, paint is put directly onto plasterboard ie. a paper surface (or thin cardboard if you like). This surface can easily pick up dust when the joints have been sanded and therefore should be sealed.

Alternativley, plasterboard is stuck onto the brick wall then skimmed with plaster. So this is a plaster surface and does not require sanding. However plaster tends to be a dusty surface anyway so still requires sealing.

I've recently modernised a house and I dry-lined wall some walls (and ceilings) and plastered most walls. I used watered-down emulsion paint to seal the walls. Then a further 2 or 3 coats B&Q own brand emulsion. Each coat was left to thouroughly dry before the next and I didn't experience any pealing.

I think using watered down PVA would work really well as a sealer. Somebody said above that this would seal in damp. I dont understand why as the walls shouldnt be damp and even so PVA likes to absorb water so I cant see as this would be a problem. That's just my opinion tho!

I think the inital problem in this post was that the wall wasn't sealed properly.

BC2K3 · 29 May 2006 at 10:19PM

Hello all, an update on my nightmare walls...

Well, after the sealing process using Dulux Trade Primer Sealer I decided to let a decorator repaint the walls.
Again, the Supermatt was rolled on; and AGAIN on drying it bubbled and cracked! :mad:

The decorator advised that 'lining paper' on the walls would be the best bet - and so proceeded to paper the walls.

2 days later he painted the walls; and guess what! Its bubbled and come away from the wall! He used Solvite Extra Strong to adhere the paper to the wall, and yet I can easily peel the paper from the wall. (leaving like a dust to wipe from the wall).

I've now been told to remove all the paper, clean the wall with sugar-salt(? something like that) then PVA it, as this will seal it 100%...but as far as I can see nothing is adhering to the actual wall!

I've attached some links to pics if anyone can advise?

Thanks again!!

Original patches after walls were painted:
http://bcunningham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Home/drypatches.jpg

Bubbles and cracks after painting wall:
http://bcunningham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Home/bubbles.jpg

...and where the paint could be picked off:
http://bcunningham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Home/bubblepeel.jpg

Then the walls were lining papered - which brought more tears:
http://bcunningham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Home/tear.jpg

Paper cut away to show under paint and plasterboard:
http://bcunningham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Home/paperpeelpaint.jpg

Lining paper bubbles easily peel away; back to original wall paint:
http://bcunningham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Home/liningpaper.jpg

davethedecorator · 29 May 2006 at 10:55PM

having looked at the pictures unfortunately they bring up more questions than they do answers i am affraid, you seem to have more than one problem there but i would suspect you may have damp issues in places, combined with a poor job from your decorator on top of an equaly poor job from the original builders (or at least the guy(s) that finished the walls) !!!

Personaly i would go with getting it all striped back, giving the walls a good sans down making sure any loose flaking paint is fully removed, if there are signes of damp inform your landlord and tell him what problems you have had.

Dulux Trade Paint -Ruined Walls!!

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