How long should I wait before painting?

[Fill]

I have a question regarding painting of bare plaster - I've had an extension built and some walls are dry lined/skimmed (internal partitions) and some hardwalled/skimmed. How long should I allow before painting the walls, and should I prime the walls at all (apart from sanding any rough areas) or paint stright on to them?

 

[Zampa]

Its so hard to say how long..lots of different factors, thickness of the plaster, tempreture in the room, tempreture outside etc..

You really need to let it go pale pink..

As for the painting side of it...

Never rub down a bare plaster wall, youll scratch it to pieces..

Give the wall a light scrape over to remove any 'snots'

Apply a mist coat of emulsion paint thinned by about 25-30%

Check for filling and do it

Rub the wall down with 80-100 grade abrasive paper

Apply two more coats the first one thinned by about 20% the second thinned by about 15%

Dont use silk of anything with a sheen, its shws up every single mark, contract (non vinyl ) matt is better for new plaster..its cheaper and allows the walls to breath...youll probably get some settlement cracks in it and it may need doing again after about a year...so its better to ue cheaper stuff first time round

 

[Fill]

Excellent thanks for that, although the plaster is so rough I am still tempted to sand it.

Mind you all that dust.

The extension is comming on, I am now looking at the plumbing.

Cheers

Fill

 

[Zampa]

No schwet...

If its that bad and you do have to rub it down you can always face fill the walls with some easi fil after you have done the mist cost..its easier to see what you need to do that way.