polycell basecoat

[steve]

spent ages getting my plastered ceiling as flat as possible. but after my first coat of paint i could slighty notice some parts where i had filled and sanded. decided to invest in polycell basecoat after reading good things on here. put it on with my cheap short nap roller and when dried the finish is all bumpy ( people seem to refer to it as an orange peel effect ). as i wanted a flat finish after all. i dont really rate this product. ever so slighty got rid of the flaws in the patch work but left the ceiling with a crappy finish. i gave it a quick sand and bought another roller, better quality this time said smooth finish on the packaging and was a very nice feel to it, like a towel. anyways. gave it a second coat with the nasty stuff hopeing it was the cheap roller that gave it that bumpy finsh. same effect. im thinking of really going to work on it tomorrow with a sander gettting the high spots off then painting with my top coat. hopeing for a fairly flat finish.

will my top coat dry with that orange peel look even after sanding down this polycell stuff?

should i use a paint pad to apply the top coat? or just a plain old prush?

any advice would be geat. im just glad i havent used this stuff on any of my walls yet.

[deano]

Try not to go down the route of blaming tools and materials.

A good plaster finish will provide the best background for almost any half decent paint and a short pile roller. It takes a lot of practice to get a good plaster finish and with that, almost anyone can apply a coat of paint that will look great... believe me, I've been that soldier and the surfaces I have plastered and painted myself don't look anywhere near as good as the surfaces I have had professionally plastered then painted myself!

Preparation, preparation and preparation. :)

d.

[Phil L]

More importantly, know your limitations!

route 1: attempt to plaster cieling, realise half way through that you can't get it right and say to yourself, 'f**kit, it'll do'. next day realise that it looks like a ploughed field and buy umpteen buckets of filler and apply. Get half way through and say 'f**kit' again. next day sand down until your arms are dropping off. next day buy some 'miracle ceiling paint' and apply. next day realise that it now looks like corrugated carboard painted white. Eventually buy woodchip, apply and emulsion.

COST = Filler £25, MCP, £25, woodchip and emulsion £25, wasted time 25 hours+ 1 bad neck.

route 2. phone plasterer out of local rag, he arranges to do it next day for £100 next day, drink 2 cans of lager while watching TV

2 days later give it 2 coats of white emulsion, admire glass like finish.

COST = £100 plasterer, £15 emulsion, £2 lager, time spent; 2 hours.

[Staffbull]

Plasterer coming at W/E to price the extension, I know my limits and they end way before two entire rooms of sand/cement & Pink & 2 ceilings. I'd love to have a bash at it sometime though :-) Might do one of the night courses just for a looksee :-)

[steve]

think your both missing my point. the job on my ceiling was decent enough, just needed a little filler in places. first coat went up and looked smooth, just a few places where i filled were noticeable. then instead of just giving it another coat of paint i went for the option of this polcell basecoat which made the ceiling a orange peel effect.

[Phil L]

Wasn't getting at you Steve, just an observation in general, my bricklaying skills are not dissimilar to those of a four year old and I've been in the building industry for over 25 years! (it doewsn't stop me trying though :-p )

I think your problem is the polycell basecoat and not the roller, am i right in thinking that it's very thick? - and like glue? IIRC it's a flexible filler/paint for use on old plaster, to hide imperfections and form a flexible skin over cracks etc- what you should have used was normal emulsion, thinned down so that it soaks in.

You /could/ try scraping the basecoat off (if it's flexible, it might come off in decent sized strips), other than that it may take a lot of sanding down, or several more coats of paint to fill any minor imperfections in the suface of the basecoat.