Painting joists in Cellar

[b00gieman]

I bought an old 1900 terraced back-to-back property in Leeds over the summer. I have had some of the joists in the cellar replaced due to wet rot, had a second airbrick installed and a fixed UPVC window installed with a small vent above it. As the property is a back to back mid terrace, all of the ventilation is on the front wall. However the joists that needed replaced were also at the front.

I would like to use the cellar a bit more and to make it more inviting, I'd like to paint the joists white. I know that the joists should be allowed to breathe, so would anyone be able to recommend a white paint suitable for this job?

I was also thinking about covering the brick walls in the cellar with tanking slurry and then painting. Would anyone recommend or have experience with this?

 

[b00gieman]

Any advice on this?

I am going to paint the cellar floor with Laylands trade floor paint but before I do this I want to paint the joists above.

I have tried looking for advice everywhere but either I read not to paint them or just to put on any old paint.


Is there a best paint to use? or is there a way of staining the wood to a light (preferably white) colour?

 

[TheVictorian]

I think mine were painted with normal, bog standard, matt white emulsion and it seems to be fine. Ventilation is the key as you have realised.

If I was to do ti from scratch then I'd probably use something like:

http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com...Ym8hNEGPEB0qr-7_JxeTQQuc-4xoC0Ifw_wcB#tabstop

 

[b00gieman]

TheVictorian, thanks for that.

The paint link you sent looks good but very expensive, £60+ for 2.5L.. I imagine I will need 5L+ so will cost me much more than I was expecting

 

[ic1927]

Solignum architectural is a good choice, it's microporous and flexible and comes in white, get the solvent based one, it's an excellent product, Decorating Direct sell it for about £70 for 5 litres.

 

[ic1927]

Forgot to add, as regards the walls I would use Zinsser watertite, no need to tank the walls if you use this.