Painting Walls

[digitalbiscuit]

Hi All

I have just purchased a new house which is going to need a lot of decorating so may be on here quite a lot!!!

I have a few questions regarding our first room we are attempting to redecorate!

We have already stripped all the wallpaper and there is a mix of plaster and plasterboard of which some is painted and some is not, and some containing small cracks and holes. How should I prepare these walls ready for painting? We want to paint directly on to the plaster, mostly in an off-white and one wall in burgundy.

Also, joins between plasterboard and plastered walls, and walls and ceilings now have gaps between them. I am guessing I should seal these somehow? Any ideas how?

Thanks in advance for any help and guidance you can offer!!

Regards,
Digi

 

[misterhelpful]

It may be wise to consider getting the bare plasterboards skimmed to match the rest of the existing plaster otherwise you may notice the difference in surfaces when it's all painted.

If you think you can get away without that, the joints should be taped and filled to avoid them cracking/opening up in future. Using scrim tape and Easi-fill is the best method for doing this as it can be sanded smooth easily. The only problem is that if you don't have tapered edge plasterboards, the taping/filling will stand proud of the boards - another the reason to consider skimming.

All old wallpaper paste residue must be completely removed with warm water and a wide scraper and thoroughly rinsed before attempting to paint the walls, unless you use something like Zinsser Gardz to seal the paste residue in first (sand the walls smooth and dust off before using it though).