New plaster painting

[Jobramm]

Hi,

Had an extension done and builder has skim plastered the walls.
He recommended using matt emulsion to prime the walls rather than artex sealer as this would stop the plaster drying.
He was keen to stress that we shouldn’t use silk as it would peel off. However, the final paint I want to use is silk emulsion. Will this be ok to put over the primed surface? Should I leave the plaster to dry for a set time?

There’s one more wall in the kitchen to plaster on Monday, the others were done last week. Kitchen fitter is coming on 22nd and I’d like to have the kitchen decorated by then. Do you think that’s reaslistic or are we asking for trouble?

Thanks

 

[Bonni]

On new plaster, add 10% water to matt emulsion and coat the new plaster first. You can put this coat on plaster the day after if you wish. But once it's all dried out it a couple of days or so, you can then put your next coats of colour on. I would personally opt for soft sheen as opposed to silk. Silk has too much of a sheen to it and can often take many coats to cover depending on the colour.

 

[Adam182]

Being ready for the fitter on the 22nd is easily enough time, currently on with a full house renovation myself and had fresh skim to paint throughout.

As the mist coat I used 2 coats of contract matt emulsion watered down 50/50 I used whatever brand was cheapest at the time (Macphersons for the first batch and Crown for the second). After this dried I went over the lot with a sanding block to remove any plaster snots and to knock back the texture from the mist coats.

I finished off the walls with two coats of my chosen paint which was mostly Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt. For the ceilings I used two coats of the contract matt undiluted.

I will absolutely +1 on the suggestion Bonni made to go with a paint with a less of a sheen.

 

[Jobramm]

Thanks both. Can I ask, why water down the base layer?

Also, how do you mean about the silk being too shiny? I’m after something thouroughly wipable and non chip, which is why I went for silk.

Thanks

 

[Adam182]

The base layer needs watering down to combat the absorption property's of fresh plaster and give a good key for the subsequent paint layers to adhere to.

If you just apply undiluted paint the fresh plaster sucks all the water out real quick and just leaves the paint sitting on top like a skin, in some cases it can literally just be peeled off.

The more shiny a paint, the more it reflects light thus making defects a lot more visible. The sheen of the finish itself is more of a personal preference thing but it seems Matt finishes are alot more popular these days.

Where I have required a wipeable hard wearing finish I have used Dulux Trade Diamond Matt, it is more expensive than your standard Matt (it claims 10x) but I can vouch for its durability already.

There is always the option of going for an eggshell finish, which is shinier than Matt but less than Silk.

 

[Jobramm]

Oh dear, our builder just told me to paint cheap white paint as a base layer. I’ve done that to half of one room already. Should I sand it off?!

 

[Adam182]

Don't panic, find an area where it's least in view and try scrape a bit off with your nail or a hard edge, it should give you a good idea of how well it has adhered to the wall.

If it scrapes off like a skin your best bet is to sand it back, you might be ok though. I would do any further surfaces with a watered down coat though just to be sure.

 

[Jobramm]

Ok, will do. Thanks for the advice! I’ll see if I can change the silk paint for an alternative.

 

[opps]

Oh dear, our builder just told me to paint cheap white paint as a base layer. I’ve done that to half of one room already. Should I sand it off?!

A friend of mine used contract leyland paint throughout the whole of his house without diluting it first. Luckily for him he didn't have any problems.

I have encountered many walls where as I started applying the new paint, the old (undiluted) paint has ripped away from the wall. Most times, I have just sprayed the walls with water and scraped the old paint off, sanding the stubborn areas.