Painting on plaster

[MD2010uk]

We’ve recently had our walls skimmed and are now ready to paint.

Is the best course of action to do the mist coat with some watered down emulsion, let that soak in and then paint with our colour?

 

[Richard C]

Use ordinary cheap matt white emulsion, thin 25-30% & apply 2/3 coats in quick succession. Leave to dry over night, fill sand & prime any blemishes but if your spread was any good there really shouldn’t be any; finish off with your chosen paint system when dry. I also thin finish coats a little, makes it easier to apply & helps give a good finish.

 

[MD2010uk]

Use ordinary cheap matt white emulsion, thin 25-30% & apply 2/3 coats in quick succession. Leave to dry over night, fill sand & prime any blemishes but if your spread was any good there really shouldn’t be any; finish off with your chosen paint system when dry. I also thin finish coats a little, makes it easier to apply & helps give a good finish.

The spread wasnt perfect around the switches and plugs so I have already done a bit sanding around those areas.

Should I not have done this?

 

[Richard C]

You mean he didn't remove the switch plates?

 

[sheldon1982]

im a diy plasterer and i leave a nice tidy smooth finish around switches and radiator pipes etc.

there is no excuse, he should have paid more attention to detail.

use someone else next time.

also i took richards advise about the paint and my walls look awesome, so i would go with that if i were you

 

[sheldon1982]

he should definately have removed the switch plates.

joker

 

[MD2010uk]

im a diy plasterer and i leave a nice tidy smooth finish around switches and radiator pipes etc.

there is no excuse, he should have paid more attention to detail.

use someone else next time.

also i took richards advise about the paint and my walls look awesome, so i would go with that if i were you

To be fair to the lad that did it - he is newly qualified and lacked experience but he was very cheap but you do get what you pay for.

 

[Richard C]

Switch plates should always be removed; I fit a terminal block to the cables, tape the block into a sandwich bag & tape the sandwich bag to the back of the box, it adds only a few extra minutes to the average room. You can't do a decent job of it with them in place & what happens if you or someone else wants to change the plates in the future!

Plaster is not designed for & shouldn’t be sanded except for filling minor blemishes or it’s been over polished. Go too mad with sanding & you’ll remove the trowlled surface finish which, when painted, will leave it looking like suede brushed the wrong way requiring extra paint coats to hide it.

 

[sheldon1982]

very true if you want quality work then you have to pay for it. although there are exceptions to the rule.

i had a plaster come to my house last year and plastered all my staircase and landing for £130 per day. took him 2 days +materials, which i thought was very cheap for the quality of work i got. although i did find out that he only done one coat of board finish , i always do 2 coats of multi,