Prepping wall advice

[cw3742]

I’m currently redecorating our dining room and was hoping for some advice about prepping a couple of walls prior to decorating.

Wall 1

Had a previously poorly patched area (of redundant electrical chases/sockets) hacked back, PVA’d, bonded and skimmed with thistle multifinish by a plasterer, who also skimmed the rest of wall at same time. The plaster is currently 10 days old. Will do two 1:1 dulux trade supermatt mist coats soon (plasterers’ advice). After this will it be ok to use a finish coat of dulux light and space (particularly dark room) or should I give it a couple of neat coats of supermatt and then finish with the light and space in a few months?

Wall 2

Lime plaster (in pretty good nick but with filler aplenty) except one new replacement patch (about 20x25cm) with bonding down to the brickwork (maybe 1cm deep?) and multifinish on top. The older plaster was previously wallpapered and although most of the paste has been cleaned off, some probably remains. The patch is down by the skirting board where it original looks to have been covering the sealed off end of an old lead pipe. The pipe wasn’t chased into the brick work.

My plan for this (as with walls 3 and 4) was to seal the whole wall with Zinsser Gardz to inactivate the paste and protect old plaster/filler medley then put up lining paper and paint. However, I’ve since considered whether this might be inappropriate for the drying of the new patch since there is the small area of bonding plaster. If I want to be sympathetic, should I Gardz the old plaster to seal off the paste and mist coat the patch with supermatt, then neat supermatt the whole wall and paper in a few months’ time? I don’t know how good that wall will look just painted, but will probably look better with lining paper.

Sorry if a bit rambling. Figured more info would be better!

Cheers.

 

[misterhelpful]

Wall 1: The plasterer gave you good advice (many don't) with regards to using the Supermatt - it's a contract matt which allows any moisture still within the substrate to dry out. As for the Light & Space, it's a bit of a gimmicky product to me, but does the job as well as any Dulux retail emulsion. I would dilute it a little, maybe 10% water, just to ease application. Before doing so, you will need to ensure the area that was bonded has thoroughly dried out. This can take several weeks, depending on how thickly it was applied, so if you can live with the Supermatt for a little while, all the better.

Wall 2: Traditional lime plasters really need to breathe, so sealing with Gardz may not be the best option, but some types of lime plaster are ok when sealed. Personally, if the walls have been previously papered without issue, I would stick to re-papering and painting because painting the type of wall you describe never really looks good. If you do re-paper, there is no need to use Gardz as sizing the surface with diluted wallpaper paste, and allowing to dry before hanging the paper, is sufficient.

 

[cw3742]

Thanks misterhelpful. You advice is...helpful!

Wall 1. Will live with the supermatt for a while I think. The dulux light and space does seem to brighten up a room from having used it previously (not discounting placebo effect...) and neighbours use it in their equivalent room (even complaining it's too bright!). Not convinced about the "space" claim though.

Wall 2. I was previously worried about the lime plaster breathing, but as you say they've had paper on already (for a long while judging by some previous papers...) and not complained so I stopped worrying about it. I was thinking of the Gardz just because the surface was a little crumbly (previous paper came away a little sandy) so figured it might help it in the future. Will repaper as you suggest though.

Cheers

 

[misterhelpful]

I was thinking of the Gardz just because the surface was a little crumbly (previous paper came away a little sandy) so figured it might help it in the future. Will repaper as you suggest though.

If the surface is crumbly then maybe Gardz would be a good option. It's difficult to tell without seeing the plaster but from what you have described I think it would be ok. The choice is yours.