smoothing wall with easi-fill ?

[munteros]

Hi
After reading various posts on here about getting a smooth surface to paint on, it seems like some gyproc easy-fill is the best solution for smoothing out my walls.
I was wondering how, is this stuff applied ?
Is it just stuck on with a trowel and smoothed out with a float ?

Ive got to cover a fairly large area as the walls are in a bit of a state after i removed very old textured paper and half the paint underneath went with it.
Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Zampa]

I would be tempted to seal the walls first with a decent primer Dulux stain block is very good.

It will give you more working ties with the filler...stopping the moisture in the mix being drawn into the wall...it will also bind the surface down nicerly.

As for applicators.....all you need id a wide filling knife...a trowel may put too much on.

The type dry liners use is probably the best..failing that a caulking tool of vinyl smoother will do.

Oh...a tip when mixing...follow the instructions!....add the mix to the water....but be careful..just an inch of water in a bucket will mix up hell of a lot of stuff....dont mix more than you can handle.

 

[Jasonb]

As zampa says a drywall taping knife is best, also worth investing in one of the rectangular mixing trays and a drywall sander. Also it goes off quite fast so don't mix up too much.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/category.asp?cat_id=207832&pf_id=&jump=16&sfile=1

Jason

 

[jbonding]

i would seal up the doors because the dust of this stuff when you sand it goes everywhere.

 

[munteros]

muchos gracios for the replys.

So, heres my plan:
Fill major holes, sand down
wash down walls
paint on an undercoat of watered down emulsion (cant really afford to layout for more primer as on v tight budget)
mix up a load of easy-fill and apply with a nice wide filling knife, i guess a small area at a time

does this sound like a master plan ?

 

[Zampa]

Sounds ok to me...but im a bit worried about the thinned down emulsion....it may work....but you might be better to go for a 50/50 mix emulsion/pva.......and then thin it by half again.

Use vinyl emulsion..any old stuff will do...it will give better adhesion than contract.

Mixing emul and pva also has the added beneftit of allowing you to see what you have done easier.

Add some to whatever you size a wall with too...works wonders.

 

[munteros]

Thanks for the help, the muck went on superbly.
I have now sanded in down and it looks great, however i am unsure of one more thing.
Do i need to put an undercoat on this stuff, maybe using the same mix as above, or is it fine to put the colour straight on ?

As it is a bathroom im justa bit worried about humidity etc ?


thanks again

 

[Zampa]

If you have a lot of filler on the wall id say thin the emulsion out by about 15/20 5 for the first coat, this will allow it to flow better over the porous areas of filler.

If the paint is too thick the water from it is absored into the filler and the pigment sits on the surface....which could casue lifting of the paint as you roll

Make sure you give the surface a good dusting down first.

 

[munteros]

turned out spiffing.

followed advice and it looks great.

Thanks all